Design – technological optimization of the level of residual deformations during welding of pipe sections from PT-7m alloy

Abstract

Application of tubular elements in the chemical industry is widely used. The special properties of materials and their reaction to the welding thermal cycle is quite complex. This is especially true of titanium alloys, which when heated are sensitive to environmental influences, require special welding techniques and undergo residual welding deformations. The welded joints of tubular elements made of titanium alloy brand PT-7m, which undergo transverse deformations due to welding, are studied. It is necessary to ensure high-quality sealed welds. Analysis of the literature has shown that to obtain a guaranteed penetration it is necessary to increase the power of the arc discharge or perform multi-pass welding. This will provide larger cross sections of welded parts and should provide the specified strength characteristics. However, this technology, in turn, leads to an increase in residual deformation in the vicinity of the welded joint due to the intensive increase in the coefficient of linear expansion when heating the material. Also, the special thermophysical properties of titanium alloy such as increasing the affinity for gases when heated, increasing the grain size lead to a decrease in strength properties. In the presented work it is proposed to use a mechanical angular deformer with an indicator head and a reference base for the study of transverse residual deformations. Peculiarities of measuring sockets and methods of their preparation are revealed. A calculation scheme for determining the amount of deformation has been developed, which has been tested on flat welded specimens and transferred to tubular elements. The sequence of deformation measurement process is described and the peculiarities of their formation on flat samples and tubular sections are studied. The constructive decision of a welded joint of pipes which provides use of a compensation ring is offered. This approach allows to provide reliable protection of the root of the seam and its optimal formation with minimal residual deformation. At the same time it is possible to reach the reproducible form of a dagger of similar penetration in one pass. The result is a welded joint of the lock type, which is sealed and has a free formation of the seam root with high-quality protection by the gas atmosphere. The use of pulsed arc welding with a non-fusible electrode in an argon environment with filler wire allows to minimize the thermal impact on the base metal. Statistical processing of experimental data on the parameters of the welding mode and their influence on the residual transverse welding deformations is carried out. To obtain an unambiguous statistically reliable answer about the valid law of distribution of experimental data of the results of strain measurement, the balancing procedure and the development of an analytical pproximation distribution model are involved. It is shown that the measured values of the residual transverse deformation of the welded assembly are correctly described by the Laplace distribution, which predicts (probability not worse than 90 %) a decrease in the average value of the deformation value by 1.3 times.