Influence of multiple welding cycles on microstructure and corrosion resistance of a super duplex stainless steel

Sammanfattning: Super duplex stainless steel (SDSS) has found a wide use in demanding applications such as offshore, chemical and petrochemical industries thanks to its excellent combination of mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. Welding of SDSS, however, is associated with the risk of precipitation of secondary phases and formation of excessive amounts of ferrite in the weld metal and heat affected zone. The present study was therefore aimed at gaining knowledge about the effect of multiple welding thermal cycles on the microstructure and possible sensitization to corrosion of welds in SDSS.Controlled and repeatable thermal cycles were produced by robotic welding. Oneto four autogenous TIG-remelting passes were applied on 2507 type SDSS plates using low or high heat inputs with pure argon as shielding gas. Thermal cycles were recorded using several thermocouples attached to the plates. Thermodynamic calculations and temperature field modelling were performed in order to understand the microstructural development and to predict the pitting corrosion resistance. Etching revealed the formation of different zones with characteristic microstructures: the fused weld zone (WZ) and the heat affected zone composed of the fusion boundary zone (FBZ), next to the fusion boundary, and further out Zone 1 (Z1) and Zone 2 (Z2). The WZ had a high content of ferrite and often nitrides which increased with increasing number of passes and decreasing heati nput. Nitrogen content of the WZ decreased from 0.28 wt.% to 0.17 wt.% after four passes of low heat input and to 0.10 wt.% after four passes of high heatinput. The FBZ was reheated to high peak temperatures (near melting point) and contained equiaxed ferrite grains with austenite and nitrides. Zone 1 was free from precipitates and the ferrite content was similar to that of the unaffected base material. Sigma phase precipitated only in zone 2, which was heated to peak temperatures in the range of approximately 828°C to 1028°C. The content of sigma phase increased with the number of passes and increasing heat input. All locations, except Z1, were susceptible to local corrosion after multiplere heating. Thermodynamic calculations predicted that a post weld heat treatment could restore the corrosion resistance of the FBZ and Z2. However, the pitting resistance of the WZ cannot be improved significantly due to the nitrogen loss. Steady state and linear fitting approaches were therefore employed to predict nitrogen loss in autogenous TIG welding with argon as shielding gas. Two practical formulas were derived giving nitrogen loss as functions of initial nitrogen content and arc energy both predicting a larger loss for higher heat input and higher base material nitrogen content. A practical recommendation based on the present study is that it is beneficial to perform welding with a minimum number of passes even if this results in a higherheat input as multiple reheating strongly promotes formation of deleterious phases.