Underwater Welding - A Review

The paper describes principles of underwater welding and recent trends in research works undertaken for enhance welding technology and properties of underwater welds. Department of Materials Technology and Welding at Gdansk University of Technology (GUT) has been involved in underwater welding research for over 25 years. Investigations include technology of underwater welding, and weld properties examinations. All tests have been performed with the use of self designed stands allow to perform welds in shallow depths as well as the depths up to 1000 m. The main investigation directions performed at the Department of Materials Technology and Welding are presented: - Weldability of HSLA steel and factors influencing susceptibility to cold cracking of welded joints. - The effects of wet welding conditions on diffusible hydrogen amount in the welds. - The effects of heat input, underwater welding depths and composition of shielded gases on welds toughness.