The State of the Art of Underwater Wet Welding Practice: Part 1

Abstract

Developments in underwater wet welding (UWW) over the past four decades are reviewed, with an emphasis on the research that has been conducted in the last ten years. Shielded metal arc welding with rutile-based coated electrodes was established as the most applied process in the practice of wet welding of structural steels in shallow water. The advancements achieved in previous decades had already led to control of the chemical com-position and microstructure of weld metals. Research and development in consumables formulation have led to control of the amount of hydrogen content and the level of weld porosity in the weld metal. The main focus of research and development in the last decade was on weldability of naval and offshore structural steels and acceptance of welding procedures for Class A weld classification according to American Welding Society D3.6, Under-water Welding Code. Applications of strictly controlled welding techniques, including new postweld heat treatment procedures, allowed for the welding of steels with carbon equivalent values greater than 0.40. Classification societies are meticulously scrutinizing wet welding procedures and wet weld properties in structural steels at depths smaller than 30 m prior to qualifying them as Class A capable. Alternate wet welding processes that have been tested in previous decades — such as friction stir welding, dry local habitat, and gas metal arc welding —have not achieved great success as originally claimed. Al-most all of the new UWW process developments in the last decade have focused on the flux cored arc welding (FCAW) process. Part 1 of this paper covers developments in microstructural optimization and weld metal porosity control for UWW. Part 2 discusses the hydrogen pickup mechanism, weld cooling rate control, design, and qualification of consumables. It ends with a description of the advancements in FCAW applications for UWW.