Weld Testing / Weld Engineering

A significant amount of metallurgical engineering is needed to successfully produce sound weldments in mechanical and structural applications.

MTi's weld engineering services can include welder and procedure qualification testing to insure compliance to industrial specifications.

We perform weld testing to evaluate the soundness, toughness, brittleness, hardness and other properties of weldments before production begins. Our team also frequently investigates weld failures to determine the root cause of fracture or degradation of the weldment in the field.

Welder & Procedure Qualification:

AWS
ASME
Tensile Strength
Bend Testing
Macro-Etch

Weld Failure Analysis:

We are a fully equipped metallurgical laboratory providing metallurgical engineering services and specializing in failure analysis. Metallurgical engineers can determine the cause of failure and make recommendations to prevent future reoccurrences.

To learn more about our advanced metal testing capabilities, please visit our Defect Investigation page.

Weld Testing & Material Weldability:

Evaluation of HAZ (heat affected zone)
- Microhardness
- Microstructure
Chemical Composition

Weld microhardness testing

Low magnification view of a weldment
cross-section. Material microhardness testing is performed across the weld through the HAZ and into the base metal. Small black spots are microhardness indentations.
Additional information about hardness traverses can be found on the Mechanical Testing page.

A low magnification optical image of a fillet weld cross-section.

Metallography - microstructure of weld failure

Low magnification view of fillet weld cross-section.
Improper use of fillet material resulted in crater cracks of the weld material as well as a brittle HAZ.
Hardness traverse profile is seen below.

Microhardness testing across weld and HAZ (Heat Affected Zone)

Weld, heat affected zone, and base
metal hardness profiles across 4140 steel
weldment. Microhardness testing
indicates a brittle HAZ (above 50 HRC)