1 Introduction

The heat treatment given to a particular grade of steel by the steelmaker/

supplier should be shown on the material test certificate and may be
referred to as the supply condition.

Welding inspectors may need to refer to material test certificates and it is

appropriate that they are familiar with the terminology used and have some
understanding of the principles of some of the most commonly applied heat
treatments.

Welded joints may need to be subjected to heat treatment after welding

(PWHT) and the tasks of monitoring the thermal cycle and checking the heat
treatment records are often delegated to welding inspectors.

2 Heat Treatment of Steel

The main supply conditions for weldable steels are:

As-rolled, hot roller and hot finished

Plate is hot rolled to finished size and allowed to air cool; the temperature at
which rolling finishes may vary from plate to plate and so strength and
toughness properties vary and are not optimised.

Applied to
Relatively thin, lower strength C-steel.

Thermo-mechanical controlled processing (TMCP, control-rolled,

thermo-mechanically rolled
Steel plate given precisely controlled thickness reductions during hot rolling
within carefully controlled temperature ranges; final rolling temperature is
also carefully controlled.

Applied to
Relatively thin, high strength low alloy (HSLA) steels and some steels with
good toughness at low temperatures, eg cryogenic steels.

Normalised
After working (rolling or forging) the steel to size, it is heated to ~900°C and
then allowed to cool in air to ambient temperature; this optimises strength
and toughness and gives uniform properties from item to item for a
particular grade of steel (Figure 1).

Applied to
C-Mn steels and some low alloy steels.

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 Normalising
• Rapid heating to soak temperature (100% austenite)
• Short soak time at temperature
• Cool in air to ambient temperature

Temperature, °C
~ 900°C

Time
Figure 1 Typical normalising heat treatment applied to C-Mn and some low alloy
steels.

Quenched and tempered

After working the steel (rolling or forging) to size, it is heated to ~900°C and
then cooled as quickly as possible by quenching in water or oil; after
quenching, the steel must be tempered (softened) to improve the ductility of
the as-quenched steel (Figure 2).

Applied to
Some low alloy steels to give higher strength, toughness or wear resistance.

Quenching and tempering

• Rapid heating to soak temperature (100% austenite)
• Short soak time at temperature
• Rapid cooling by quenching in water or oil
• Reheat to tempering temperature, soak and air cool
Temperature, °C

~ 900°C

>~

Quenching Tempering
cycle cycle

Time
Figure 2 A typical quenching and tempering heat treatment applied to some low
alloy steels.

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 Solution annealed
Hot or cold working to size, steel heated to ~1100°C after.

Slab heating temperature > ~ 1050°C

Austenite
(γ)
Temperature (°C)

~ 900°C

Austenite + ferrite
(γ+α)

~
As-rolled or Control-rolled
Ferrite + pearlite
hot rolled or
(α) + iron carbide)
TMCP

Figure 3 Comparison of the control-rolled (TMCP) and as-rolled conditions (= hot

rolling)

Solution heat treated

Rapidly cooled by quenching into water to prevent any carbides or other
phases forming (Figure 4).

Applied to
Austenitic stainless steels such as 304 and 316 grades.

Annealed
After working the steel (pressing or forging etc) to size, it is heated to
~900°C, then allowed to cool in the furnace to ambient temperature; this
reduces strength and toughness but improves ductility (Figure 5).

Applied to
C-Mn steels and some low alloy steels.

Figures 1-5 show thermal cycles for the main supply conditions and
subsequent heat treatment that can be applied to steels.

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 Solution heat treatment
• Rapid heating to soak temperature (100% austenite)
• Short soak time at temperature
• Rapid cool cooling by quenching into water or oil

> ~ 1050°C

Temperature, °C

Quenching

Time

Figure 4 A typical solution heat treatment (solution annealing) applied to austenitic

stainless steels

Annealing
• Rapid heating to soak temperature (100% austenite)
• Short soak time at temperature
• Slow cool in furnace to ambient temperature
Temperature, °C

~ 900°C

Time
Figure 5 A typical annealing heat treatment applied to C-Mn and some low alloy
steels.

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3 Postweld Heat Treatment (PWHT)
Postweld heat treatment has to be applied to some welded steels to ensure
that the properties of the weldment will be suitable for their intended
applications.

The temperature at which PWHT is carried out is usually well below the
temperature where phase changes can occur (see Note), but high enough
to allow residual stresses to be relieved quickly and to soften (temper) any
hard regions in the HAZ.

There are major benefits of reducing residual stress and ensuring that the
HAZ hardness is not too high for steels for particular service applications.

• Improves the resistance of the joint to brittle fracture.

• Improves the resistance of the joint to stress corrosion cracking.
• Enables welded joints to be machined to accurate dimensional
tolerances.

Because the main reason for (and benefit of) PWHT is to reduce residual
stresses, PWHT is often called stress-relief.

Note: There are circumstances when a welded joint may need to be

normalised to restore HAZ toughness. However, these are relatively rare
circumstances and it is necessary to ensure that welding consumables are
carefully selected because normalising will significantly reduce weld metal
strength.

4 PWHT Thermal Cycle

The Application Standard/Code, will specify when PWHT is required to give
the first two benefits above and also give guidance about the thermal cycle
that must be used.

To ensure that a PWHT cycle is carried out in accordance with a particular

Code, it is essential that a PWHT procedure is prepared and that the
following parameters are specified:

Maximum heating rate.

Soak temperature range.
Minimum time at the soak temperature (soak time).
Maximum cooling rate.

4.1 Heating rate

This must be controlled to avoid large temperature differences within the
fabricated item. Large differences in temperature (large thermal gradients)
will produce large stresses and these may be high enough to cause
distortion (or even cracking).

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 Application Standards usually require control of the maximum heating rate
when the temperature of the item is above ~300°C. This is because steels
start to show significant loss of strength above this temperature and are
more susceptible to distortion if there are large thermal gradients.

The temperature of the fabricated item must be monitored during the

thermal cycle by means of thermocouples attached to the surface at
locations representing the thickness range of the item.

By monitoring furnace and item temperatures the rate of heating can be

controlled to ensure compliance with Code requirements at all positions
within the item.

Maximum heating rates specified for C-Mn steel depend on thickness of the
item but tend to be in the range ~60 to ~200°C/h.

4.2 Soak temperature

The soak temperature specified by the Code depends on the type of steel
and thus the temperature range required to reduce residual stresses to a
low level.

C and C-Mn steels require a soak temperature of ~600°C whereas some

low alloy steels (such as Cr-Mo steels used for elevated temperature
service) require higher temperatures – typically in the range ~700 to
~760°C.

Soak temperature is an essential variable for a WPQR. Thus, it is very

important it is controlled within the specified limits otherwise it may be
necessary to carry out a new WPQ test to validate the properties of the item
and at worst it may not be fit-for-purpose.

4.3 Soak time

It is necessary to allow time for all the welded joints to experience the
specified temperature throughout the full joint thickness.

The temperature is monitored by surface-contact thermocouples and it is

the thickest joint of the fabrication that governs the minimum time for
temperature equalisation.

Typical specified soak times are 1h per 25mm thickness.

4.4 Cooling rate

It is necessary to control the rate of cooling from the PWHT temperature for
the same reason that heating rate needs to be controlled – to avoid
distortion (or cracking) due to high stresses from thermal gradients.

Codes usually specify controlled cooling to ~300°C. Below this temperature

the item can be withdrawn from a furnace and allowed to cool in air because

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 steel is relatively strong and is unlikely to suffer plastic strain by any
temperature gradients that may develop.

Figure 6 shows a typical PWHT thermal cycle.

PWHT (C-Mn steels)

• Controlled heating rate from 300°C to soak
temperature
• Minimum soak time at temperature
• Controlled cooling to ~ 300°C
Temperature,°C

~ 600°C

Controlled heating
and cooling
rates
~ 300°C

Soak
time Air cool

Time

Figure 6 A typical PWHT applied to C-Mn steels.

5 Heat Treatment Furnaces

It is important that oil- and gas-fired furnaces used for PWHT do not allow
flame contact with the fabrication as this may induce large thermal
gradients.

It is also important to ensure that the fuel (particularly for oil-fired furnaces)
does not contain high levels of potentially harmful impurities – such as
sulphur.

6 Local PWHT
For a pipeline or pipe spool it is often necessary to apply PWHT to individual
welds by local application of heat.

For this, a PWHT procedure must specify the previously described

parameters for controlling the thermal cycle but it is also necessary to
specify the following:

• Width of the heated band (that must be within the soak temperature
range).
• Width of the temperature decay band (soak temperature to ~300°C).

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 Other considerations are:

• Position of the thermocouples within in the heated band width and the
decay band.
• If the item needs to be supported in a particular way to allow movement/
avoid distortion.

The commonest method of heating for local PWHT is by means of insulated

electrical elements (electrical mats) that are attached to the weld.

Gas-fired, radiant, heating elements can also be used.

Figure 7 shows typical control zones for localised PWHT of a pipe butt weld.

Weld seam

temp. temp.
decay heated band decay
band band

Figure 7 Local PWHT of a pipe girth seam.

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