Craft · 6 pages · 12 min

Why a weld can be harder and more brittle than the metal around it

The bead and the metal beside it can cool like a quench, harder and less willing to bend than the plate.

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From the opening

A weld can be harder and more brittle than the metal around it because the bead froze from a liquid and the band beside it was heated and then quenched by the cold plate. Steel farther away never passed through that cycle, so it keeps the softer, tougher structure it received at the mill. The opening covers the bead freezes like a casting, the heated band can quench hard, and mild steel has less to trap.

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Inside

The bead freezes like a casting
The heated band can quench hard
Mild steel has less to trap
A later heat can temper the band
Where the idea stops applying
A distinction worth keeping

Sources

Heat-affected zone beside a fusion weld
Hardening from rapid cooling after welding

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Why a weld can be harder and more brittle than the metal around it

From the opening

Inside

Sources

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