Hi Craig
I believe you are referring to austenitic managanese steel, also called Hadfield managanese steel? This material is typically used for crusher parts.
When welding this material, the big issue is to keep the heat input as low as possible, and to keep the interpass temperature as low as possible. This means NO pre-heat. Also, the cooling should be as fast as possible. This means NO blankets. In fact, if you are performing multi-pass welds, you may even cool the welding down using water as the component is rotated.
Another issue is the removal of the work-hardened surface layer before performing the repair welding. If you do not do this, you may experience spalling of the repaired surface once it goes into service again.
In other words, your typical repair procedure would be:
1) Remove damaged and work hardened material. (In the process, do not over-heat the material.)
2) Weld repair component using low heat input. (High speed GMAW & FCAW being a better process than SMAW.) Rather weld many small beads than a single large bead.
3) Ensure that the interpass temperature is as low as possible. Water cool if required.
4) Cool down following welding as rapidly as possible. - Can spray with water.
Hope this helps
Regards
Niekie Jooste
Niekie3&GRoberts
Thank you both for Your time. Ive asked my foreman to get me the information on the material. As of now it seems we're doing everything wrong.
I've posted previously, How can one get information necessary to weld a given material. I've a little knowledge of metalurgy, still rookie level, searching for answers. Any info. to start looking would help. Does ASME,ASTM or other publish any books with such info. that someone(not a rocket scientist) could understand?