A novel strategy to prevent hydrogen charging via spontaneously molten-slag-covering droplet transfer mode in underwater wet FCAW

Underwater wet welding is widely used in offshore platform maintenance, oil pipeline repair and wreck salvage operations. A high diffusible hydrogen content is recognized as one of the critical reasons behind the reduction in the reliability of underwater wet welded joints. In this study, the entry route of hydrogen during underwater wet flux-cored arc welding of 304 stainless steel at a depth of 0.5 m was first confirmed experimentally using an in-situ X-ray imaging system. The hydrogen charging was deemed to dominantly occur when pendant droplets were formed due to the extremely high temperature of molten metal and the absence of slag coverage. This resulted in 13.51 mL/100 g of diffusible hydrogen remaining in the droplet and 9.42 mL/100 g in the deposited metal. To prevent hydrogen charging, an unprecedented molten-slag-covering droplet transfer mode was developed by reducing the CaF₂ content and maintaining the CaF₂/TiO₂ to an appropriate ratio in the flux, through which the molten slag spontaneously covered the droplet, electric arc and molten pool completely during the entire welding process and the entry of hydrogen was successfully blocked and the diffusible hydrogen content was reduced to the same level as that achieved via onshore welding (3.26 mL/100 g).