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As critically important as welding is to a wide spectrum of manufacturing, construction, and repair, it is not without its problems. Those dependent on welding know only too well how easy it is to find information on the host of available processes and on the essential metallurgy that can enable success, but how frustratingly difficult it can be to find guidance on solving problems that sooner or later arise with welding, welds, or weldments.

Here for the first time is the book those that practice and/or depend upon welding have needed and awaited. A Practical Guide to Welding Solutions addresses the numerous technical and material-specific issues that can interfere with success. Renowned industrial and academic welding expert and prolific author and speaker Robert W. Messler, Jr. guides readers to the solutions they seek with a well-organized search based on how a problem manifests itself (i.e., as distortion, defect, or appearance), where it appears (i.e., in the fusion zone heat-affected zone, or base metal), or it certain materials or situations.

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Introduction
Categorization of Welding & Weld Problems

PART I. MANIFESTATION OF PROBLEMS
Problems with Joint Set-up and Weld Joints
Shape Distortion, Dimensional Shrinkage, and Geometric Instability
Porosity
Non-metallic and Metallic Inclusions
Cracks
Weld Appearance

PART II. LOCATION OF PROBLEMS
Fusion Zone of Fusion Welds
Heat-affected Zone of Fusion Welds
Unaffected Base Metal Surrounding Fusion Welds
Non-fusion Welds

PART III. MATERIAL-SPECIFIC PROBLEMS
Embrittlement in Carbon-, Low- and Medium-alloy Steels
Sensitization Weld Decay and Knife-line Attack in Stainless Steels
Reheat-cracking and Liquation Cracking
Problems in Cold-worked Metals and Alloys
Long-term Embrittlement with High-chromium Contents
Weld Dilution & Segregation in Welds
Dissimilar Metal and Alloy Welding
Closing Thoughts

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Robert W. Messler, Jr., PhD, FASM, FAWS, is Emeritus Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He has more than three decades of expertise in diverse areas of advanced materials and processes in industry and academia. Professor Messler has authored seven books in engineering and over 140 papers in various technical journals. He has won several awards for excellence in teaching, and he is a Fellow of both ASM International and the American Welding Society.

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