Socket Weld
A socket weld is a fillet weld used in small-bore (typically up to 2") socket-welding pipe fittings, in which the pipe is inserted into a socket and the fillet weld is made around the resulting circumferential gap.
Definition
Socket welds are inspected primarily by visual examination. The required gap (typically 1.5 mm before welding) prevents through-wall liquid-metal embrittlement and accommodates thermal expansion. Socket welds are not recommended for severe cyclic service (B31.3).
Related terms
- Fillet Weld — A fillet weld is a weld of triangular cross-section that joins two surfaces approximately at right angles to each other (typically T-joints, lap joints, or corner joints), characterized by leg length and throat thickness rather than by groove preparation.
- Butt Weld — A butt weld is a weld in a butt joint, joining two components edge-to-edge in approximately the same plane, with groove preparation (V, U, J) that allows full-penetration welding from one or both sides.
- Welded Joint — A welded joint is the connection produced when two metal components are fused together by welding, classified by joint type (butt, fillet, lap, corner, edge) and groove geometry (V, U, J, square), with NDT scope driven by joint type and code.
More equipment terms
Calibration Block · Transducer · Dual-Element Probe · Angle-Beam Probe · Normal-Beam Probe · Couplant · Reference Reflector · Side-Drilled Hole · Flat-Bottom Hole · Notch Reference
Where this comes up in practice
Terms like this one appear in three places that matter commercially: the written practice that governs how your personnel are qualified, the procedures and technique sheets that define how an examination is actually performed, and the evidence an auditor or client asks for when they want to know why an inspection was accepted. Getting the terminology right is the easy part; being able to produce the qualification record, the calibration traceability and the procedure revision that applied on the day of the inspection is the part that decides audits.
Atlantis NDT provides NDT training and certification against ASNT SNT-TC-1A and ISO 9712, ASNT Level III consulting for written practices and procedure approval, inspection management software that holds qualification, calibration and procedure-revision evidence in recoverable form, and an asset integrity platform that binds inspection results to the asset they describe. Browse the full NDT glossary or ask a Level III directly.