Copper-Aluminothermic weld characterization on line pipes for cathodic protection

The necessary heat is obtained by the aluminum reducing effect above copper oxide, creating a high temperature exothermic reaction, in which melt and overheated copper is the filler material [1].This technique is used to joint rails in railway industry, in grounding welds [2, 3] and also in linepipes for cathodic protection. In this study copperaluminothermic weld is characterized for API 5L X46 and X52 steel linepipes for cathodic protection, considering two different thickness, changing the copper wire section and the flux amount.

The purpose is to obtain the optimum welding conditions, therefore macroscopic and microscopic tests, and microhardness sweep are going to be performed on the heat affected zone. Twenty-five test tubes were realized, taking also into account different flux and gunpowder brands and melting pot sizes. An inadequate contact area can cause lack of pipe cathodic protection as well as an excessive copper diffusion into the grain boundaries can produce accelerated corrosion and microcracks in the base metal [4,1], for that reason is necessary to obtain optimum welding conditions according to the steel grade and pipe thickness.