AS/NZS 1554.4:1995

1 - AS/NZS 1554.4:1995 STRUCTURAL STEEL WELDING - WELDING OF HIGH STRENGTH QUENCHED AND TEMPERED STEELS
4 - PREFACE
5 - CONTENTS
7 - SECTION 1 SCOPE AND GENERAL
7 - 1.1 SCOPE
8 - 1.2 INNOVATION
8 - 1.3 REFERENCED DOCUMENTS
8 - 1.4 DEFINITIONS
8 - 1.4.1 Fabricator
8 - 1.4.2 Inspecting authority
8 - 1.4.3 Inspector
8 - 1.4.4 May
8 - 1.4.5 Principal
8 - 1.4.6 Shall
8 - 1.4.7 Should
9 - 1.5 WELD CATEGORIES
9 - 1.5.1 General
9 - 1.5.2 Categories
9 - 1.6 BASIC WELDING REQUIREMENTS
9 - 1.7 SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
9 - 1.7.1 Welding safety
9 - 1.7.2 Welding equipment
10 - SECTION 2 MATERIALS OF CONSTRUCTION
10 - 2.1 PARENT MATERIAL
10 - 2.2 BACKING MATERIAL
10 - 2.2.1 Permanent backing material
10 - 2.2.2 Temporary backing
10 - 2.3 WELDING CONSUMABLES
10 - 2.3.1 Electrodes and filler wires
10 - 2.3.2 Care of electrodes and filler wires
10 - 2.3.3 Flux
10 - 2.3.4 Shielding gas
11 - SECTION 3 DETAILS OF WELDED CONNECTIONS
11 - 3.1 GENERAL
11 - 3.1.1 Permissible weld types
11 - 3.1.2 Design stresses
11 - 3.1.3 Drawings
11 - 3.2 BUTT WELDS
11 - 3.2.1 Size of weld
11 - 3.2.2 Design throat thickness
12 - 3.2.3 Effective length
12 - 3.2.4 Effective area
12 - 3.2.5 Transition of thickness or width
12 - 3.3 FILLET WELDS
12 - 3.3.1 Size of weld
12 - 3.3.2 Design throat thickness
12 - 3.3.3 Effective length
12 - 3.3.4 Effective area
12 - 3.3.5 Minimum size of fillet welds
15 - 3.3.6 Maximum size of fillet welds along edges
15 - 3.4 COMPOUND WELDS
15 - 3.4.1 Description of compound weld
16 - 3.4.2 Design throat thickness
17 - 3.5 SEAL WELDS
17 - 3.5.1 Requirement
17 - 3.5.2 Size of seal weld
17 - 3.6 PLUG AND SLOT WELDS
17 - 3.6.1 General
17 - 3.6.2 Plug welds
17 - 3.6.2 Slot welds
17 - 3.6.3 Effective areas
18 - SECTION 4 QUALIFICATION OF PROCEDURES AND PERSONNEL
18 - 4.1 QUALIFICATION OF WELDING PROCEDURE
18 - 4.2 METHOD OF QUALIFICATION OF WELDING PROCEDURE
18 - 4.3 PREQUALIFIED WELDING PROCEDURES
19 - 4.4 PREQUALIFIED JOINT PREPARATIONS
19 - 4.4.1 General
19 - 4.4.2 Prequalified complete penetration butt welds
19 - 4.4.3 Prequalified incomplete penetration butt welds
19 - 4.4.4 Prequalified fillet welds
19 - 4.4.5 Additional requirements for welds in hollow section members
45 - 4.5 QUALIFICATION OF WELDING CONSUMABLES
45 - 4.5.1 Prequalified welding consumables
45 - 4.5.2 Qualification of welding consumables by testing
45 - 4.6 QUALIFICATION OF WELDING PROCEDURE BY TESTING
45 - 4.6.1 Method of qualification
46 - 4.6.2 Extent of testing
46 - 4.6.3 Preparation of special test piece
46 - 4.6.4 Dimensions of test pieces
46 - 4.6.5 Macro test
49 - 4.6.6 Transverse butt tensile test
49 - 4.6.7 Bend test
49 - 4.6.8 Charpy impact test
49 - 4.6.9 Hardness comparison test - Parent metal and weld metal
49 - 4.6.10 Hardness test - heat-affected zone
49 - 4.6.11 Retests
49 - 4.7 EXTENSION OF QUALIFICATION
49 - 4.8 COMBINATION OF PROCESSES
49 - 4.8.1 Single process each side of a weld
49 - 4.8.2 Combination of processes on the same side of a joint
50 - 4.9 RECORDS OF TESTS
50 - 4.10 REQUALIFICATION OF WELDING PROCEDURES
50 - 4.10.1 Changes in essential variables requiring requalification of welding procedure
50 - 4.10.2 Minor changes requiring requalification of welding procedure by macro test
50 - 4.11 QUALIFICATION OF WELDING PERSONNEL
50 - 4.11.1 Welding supervisor
50 - 4.11.2 Welders
55 - SECTION 5 WORKMANSHIP
55 - 5.1 PREPARATION OF EDGES FOR WELDING
55 - 5.1.1 General
55 - 5.1.2 Thermal cutting
55 - 5.2 ASSEMBLY
55 - 5.2.1 General
55 - 5.2.2 Alignment of butt welded joints
55 - 5.2.3 Alignment of fillet welds and in complete penetration butt welds
56 - 5.2.4 Separation of a backing material
56 - 5.3 PREHEATING AND INTERRUN TEMPERATURES AND ARC ENERGY
57 - 5.4 WELDING UNDER ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS
57 - 5.4.1 Rain, snow, wind, condensation
57 - 5.4.2 Low temperature
57 - 5.5 TACK WELDS
57 - 5.6 WELD DEPTH-TO-WIDTH RATIO
57 - 5.7 CONTROL OF DISTORTION AND RESIDUAL STRESS
57 - 5.7.1 General
58 - 5.7.2 Welding and cutting under stress
58 - 5.7.3 Peening
58 - 5.7.4 Correction of distortion
58 - 5.8 REPAIR OF DEFECTS IN WELDS
58 - 5.8.1 General
58 - 5.8.2 Grinding
59 - 5.8.3 Stop/Starts
59 - 5.9 TEMPORARY ATTACHMENTS
59 - 5.10 ARC STRIKES
59 - 5.11 CLEANING OF FINISHED WELDS
59 - 5.12 DRESSING OF BUTT WELDS
60 - SECTION 6 QUALITY OF WELDS
60 - 6.1 CATEGORIES OF WELDS
60 - 6.2 METHODS OF INSPECTION AND PERMISSIBLE LEVELS OF IMPERFECTIONS
60 - 6.2.1 Methods of inspection of completed welds
60 - 6.2.2 Permissiblel evels of imperfection
60 - 6.2.3 Adjacent imperfections
60 - 6.2.4 Qualifications of welding procedure by macro test and side-bend test
60 - 6.3 RADIOGRAPHY
60 - 6.3.1 Method
61 - 6.3.2 IQI sensitivity
61 - 6.3.3 Acceptance limits
61 - 6.4 ULTRASONIC EXAMINATION
61 - 6.4.1 Method
61 - 6.4.2 Equipment requirements
61 - 6.4.3 Evaluation
62 - 6.4.4 Acceptance limits
62 - 6.5 MAGNETIC PARTICLE EXAMINATION
62 - 6.5.1 Method
62 - 6.5.2 Acceptance limits
62 - 6.6 LIQUID PENETRANT EXAMINATION
62 - 6.6.1 Method
62 - 6.6.2 Acceptance limits
63 - 6.7 WELD DEFECTS
63 - 6.8 REPORTING
68 - SECTION 7 INSPECTION
68 - 7.1 GENERAL
68 - 7.2 QUALIFICATIONS OF INSPECTORS
68 - 7.3 VISUAL INSPECTION OF WORK
68 - 7.4 NON-DESTRUCTIVE EXAMINATION OTHER THAN VISUAL EXAMINATION
68 - 7.4.1 Extent of non-destructive examination
68 - 7.4.2 Personnel and operator requirements
69 - APPENDIX A - LIST OF REFERENCED DOCUMENTS
71 - APPENDIX B - A SUITABLE FORM OF WELDING PROCEDURE SHEET
72 - APPENDIX C - METHOD FOR JOINT AND PROCESS IDENTIFICATION
72 - C1 PREQUALIFIED JOINT IDENTIFICATION
72 - C2 PROCESS IDENTIFICATION
72 - C3 EXAMPLE
73 - APPENDIX D - CHECKLIST OF MATTERS FOR DISCUSSION
74 - APPENDIX E - SUGGESTED EXTENT OF NON-DESTRUCTIVE EXAMINATION

Specifies requirements for the welding of a wide range of welded construction using high strength quenched and tempered steels with a specified minimum yield strength not exceeding 800 MPa. It applies to statically loaded structures as well as some welds subject to fatigue conditions, and provides three categories of weld with three differing levels of weld quality assurance associated with different types of service to which the welds are subjected.

This Standard specifies materials of construction, weld preparations and weld qualities, qualification of welding procedures and welding personnel and fabrication and inspection requirements for welds related to the fusion welding of steelwork in structures made up of combinations of steel plate, sheet or sections, including hollow sections and built-up sections, or castings and forgings, by the following processes:(a) Manual metal-arc welding (MMAW).(b) Submerged arc welding (SAW).(c) Gas metal-arc welding (GMAW), including pulsed mode.(d) Flux-cored arc welding (FCAW).(e) Electroslag (including consumable guide) welding (ESW) (see Note).(f) Electrogas welding (EGW) (see Note).NOTE: These processes may not be suitable for welding quenched and tempered steels (see WTIA Technical Note 15).The Standard is limited to the welding of quenched and tempered steel parent material complying with Clause 2.1.The Standard applies specifically to the welding of steelwork in structures complying with appropriate Standards (see Note below). Where the proportions of welded joints in these structures are governed by dynamic loading conditions, the Standard applies only to those welded joints which comply with the fatigue provisions of AS 3990, as limited by (ii) below, or with the directly equivalent fatigue provisions of other application Standards.Where the operating temperature is lower than -10C, special consideration should be given to brittle fracture.The Standard applies to welded joints which are -(i) not subject to fatigue conditions; or (ii) subject to fatigue conditions; and- (A) the stress range in the welded joint complies with the permissible stress range of stress categories C, D, E, or F of AS 3990, or weld categories lower than or equal to detail category 112 of AS 4100 or NZS 3404.1; or (B) the stress range in the welded joint is not more than 80% of the permissible stress range of stress category B of AS 3990, (category SP weld, see Clause 1.5.2); or (C) the stress range in the welded joint is greater than 80% of the permissible stress range for stress category B of AS 3990, or exceeds the stress range permitted for detail category 112 of AS 4100 or NZS 3404.1 (category FP weld, see Clause 1.5.2), but does not exceed the maximum stress ranges permitted for these categories.In addition to the abovementioned structures, the Standard applies to the welding of cranes, hoists, earthmoving equipment and other dynamically loaded structures, the welding of road and pedestrian bridges and the welding of steelwork in applications other than structural.NOTE: Complementary codes which facilitate design in and fabrication of high strength quenched and tempered steels include the following:(a) American Institute of Steel Construction Specification for the Design, Fabrication and Erection of Structural Steel for Buildings.(b) American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges.(c) American Railway Engineering Association Specifications for Steel Railway Bridges. The Standard does not apply to the welding of structures by the following processes: (1) Oxy-fuel gas welding (GW). (2) Gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). (3) Resistance welding (RW). (4) Friction welding (FW). (5) Thermit welding (TW).The Standard does not apply to the welding of pressure vessels and pressure piping.The Standard does not cover the designof welded connections andpermissible stresses in welds, or the production and rectification repair of castings.

First published as AS 1554.4-1989.
Jointly revised and designated AS/NZS 1554.4:1995.