With the objective to supply subsidies to select ferritic electrodes for underwater wet welding, some weld metal characteristics of commercial electrodes were determined. The welding trials were carried out at 0.5m fresh water depth in an aquarium, using a gravity device for welding. The study aimed also to obtain data to help to elect the consumables of best performance to be tested in higher depths. The following characterizations were performed: microstructural analysis, quantification of inclusions, weld metal and inclusions chemical composition, mechanical properties, diffusible hydrogen and weldability evaluation. The obtained results helped to classify the tested consumables in two groups with quite different characteristics. The first group is composed of one oxidizing type electrode and the second one is composed of four rutile type electrodes. Regarding to hydrogen in the weld metal, the obtained results show that the oxidizing electrode is able to produce welds with considerable low diffusible hydrogen content. As a consequence, smaller potential risk of cold cracking is expected when using this electrode. Meantime, regarding to the arc stability and other operational indicators, the oxidizing electrode presented inferior performance. Considering mechanical properties, the rutile electrodes presented the best results. The properties differences among the electrodes tested are shown and discussed in the present work.
Wet welding; underwater welding; covered electrodes; weld metal; microstructure; mechanical properties; arc stability; operational characteristics; diffusible hydrogen
