Influence on properties of base metal after elimination of lifting-lug member in a dissimilar welding between steel base and steel lifting lug

Abstract

The increasing demands of lifting lugs can be attributed to the rapid advancement of shipbuilding and offshore-structure production technologies and an exponential increase in the size of the block units of ship structures. Therefore, to ensure safety during the transportation and turnover of large blocks, it is important to determine the structural integrity and position of lifting lugs. However, because the manufacturing cost and availability of lugs are important considerations, low cost and easily obtainable steel compositions of grades different from those of the blocks are often used as alternatives. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of a lifting-lug metal on the physical properties of a base metal in a dissimilar welding between the base metal and lifting lug. The effect was evaluated by observing the metal microstructures and determining the hardness and dilution values on the cross-sectional surface of the lifting lug. According to the results of the metal microstructures, impact, hardness, and emission spectrochemical analysis at the surface from where the lug was removed confirmed that the chemical composition of the lifting-lug metal did not influence the physical properties of the base metal. Keywords: Lifting lugs, Metal microstructure, Shipbuilding, Offshore construction, Emission spectrochemical analysis, Dissimilar welding