Copper contamination in thin stainless steel sheet

The standard welding technique used at Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant for joining thin stainless sheet is the gas tungsten arc (GTA) welding process. One of the reoccurring problems with the sheet welds is surface cracking in the heat-affected zone (HAZ). Metallography shows that the cracks are only about 0.05 mm (0.002 in.) deep which is significant in a 0.25 mm (0.01 in.) thick sheet. Thus, welding requirements do not permit any surfacing cracking as detected by a fluorescent dye penetrant test conducted on every part after welding. Surface cracks have been found in both of the two most common weld designs in the thin sheet fabricated at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant. These butt joints are welded between two 0.25 mm thick stainless steel sheets and a tube with eyelet welded to a 25 mm (0.98 in.) thick sheet. The weld between the two sheets is made on a semiautomatic seam welding unit, whereas the tube-to-eyelet-to-sheet welds are done manually. The quality of both welds is very dependent on the welding procedure and the way the parts are placed in the weld fixturing. Metallographic examination has indicated that some welded parts with surface cracking in the weld region had copper particles on the surface, and the question of copper contamination has been raised. With the aid of a scanning electron microscope and an electron microprobe, the existence of copper in an around the surface cracks has been verified. The copper is on the surface of the parts prior to welding in the form of small dust particles