An autogenous gas tungsten arc closure weld was developed for the US Department of Energy's primary container for the storage of plutonium bearing materials. The occurrence of porosity at the tie-in point of the closure weld was investigated. The primary cause of the porosity was linked to the geometry at the root of the closure weld joint. The present paper describes the mechanistic model that was developed to describe and predict the porosity.
CannellG., DaughertyW., GastonL., HowardS., KorinkoP., MaxwellD., MckinneyG., SessionsC. and WestS.: ‘GTA welding research and development for plutonium containment’, Proc. 6th Int. Conf. on ‘Trends in welding research’; 2002, Materials Park, OH, USA, ASM International, 430–435.
2.
CannellG. R., DaughertyW. L. and StokesM. W.: Weld. J., July 2002, 81, (7), 42–46.
3.
1998 ASME boiler and pressure vessel code, section VIII division I, New York, USA, ASME, 1998.
