Are there any adverse effects to the weldability of the forging by making this heat treatment change?
The following recommendation is based on the limited information provided about the alloy: Changing the forging heat treatment from annealingto normalizing should result in little to no difference in the weldability of the material. The additional strength associated with the change to normalizing may increase the effect of restraint slightly on the weld. This can be rectified easily by increasing the preheat and interpass temperatures.
