Materials Science and Engineering A 452–453 (2007) 235–243

Effect of preheating temperature and filler metal type on the

microstructure, fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth
of stainless steel welded joints
V.M. Sánchez-Cabrera a , C. Rubio-González b,∗ , J.I. Ruı́z-Vela b , C. Ramı́rez-Baltazar b
aUniversidad Tecnológica de Querétaro, Pie de la Cuesta s/n, San Pedrito Peñuelas, Querétaro, Qro. 76148, México
b Centro de Ingenierı́a y Desarrollo Industrial, Pie de la Cuesta 702, Desarrollo San Pablo, Querétaro, Qro. 76130, México
Received 1 December 2005; received in revised form 17 October 2006; accepted 18 October 2006

Abstract
It is known that the main problem related with the welding of low carbon 12% Cr stainless steels is its hydrogen induced cracking susceptibility.
Thus, it is common practice to perform welding with two alternative ways, preheating the welded parts and using similar filler material or using
an austenitic stainless steel filler metal without preheating. This research work consists in identifying and comparing, for these two alternatives,
the effect on microstructure, fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth rate of the welded joint. On the first alternative, using a GMAW welding
process and similar filler metal, the variable is preheating temperature, with the purpose of minimizing internal residual stresses and the level of
diffusible hydrogen. On the second alternative, also using a GMAW welding process and austenitic stainless steel filler metal (greater hydrogen
solubility), the variable is hydrogen concentration in the argon shielding gas with the purpose of diffusing hydrogen to the heat affected zone. The
results indicate how the thermal cycle, different hydrogen levels and hydrogen trapping sites affect the mechanical properties.
© 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Hydrogen induced cracking; Welded joints; Crack growth

1. Introduction The critical service of this equipment is during its opera-

Low carbon 12% Cr stainless steel T410S (UNS S 410008)
is extensively used in the construction of equipment for the
petrochemical industry. Although it is one of the “weldable”
stainless steels, the welding of this type of material requires the
knowledge of the metallurgical and thermo-mechanical mecha-
nisms that generate hydrogen induced cracking (HIC) in the heat
affected zone (HAZ). For this reason, a preheating process and
a post welding heat treatment are required. The development
of this type of stainless steel and low carbon filler metals has
minimized the risk of HIC. This type of material has excellent
corrosion resistance in environments found in the oil and gas
production and also suitable creep resistance. An example of
its application in the petrochemical industry is the coke drums.
The delayed coking drums are operated under severe conditions
of warm-up and forced cooling off, inducing repetitive thermal
stresses on the vessel walls.
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +52 442 2119800x264; fax: +52 442 2119839.
E-mail address: crubio@cidesi.mx (C. Rubio-González).
tion, since by service, they develop corrugations or bulges in
the vessel body. These defects are distortions of the diameter
that generate stress concentrations, enlarging the possibility of
vessel failure, specifically in the welded joints [1–4].
Regarding the HIC susceptibility of T410S stainless steel
welded joints on this type of equipment, there are two approaches
for a research on dynamic behavior. The first is at high tem-
peratures or in service temperatures and the second is at room
temperature. In the first case, the interest is focused on creep
properties [5]. On the second case, the purpose is to assess HIC
at room temperature.
This work limits its analysis to the second approach. Since
equipment is normally made in factory workshops and then
transported to be assembled at the petrochemical plants, it is
indeed during transfer and assembly that additional risks appear
so that during these maneuvers and stressing, the mechanism of
retarded HIC at room temperature is accelerated.
The objective of this work consisted in evaluating the effect of
preheating temperature and filler metal type on microstructure,
fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth of welded joints of
a low carbon 12% Cr T410S stainless steel at room temperature.

0921-5093/$ – see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.msea.2006.10.161
236 V.M. Sánchez-Cabrera et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 452–453 (2007) 235–243

Table 1
Chemical composition of SA-240 T410S steel plates
C Si Mn P S Cr Mo Ni Al Cu

0.057 0.43 0.45 0.030 0.008 11.85 0.04 0.21 0.003 0.10

Table 2
Mechanical properties of SA-240 T410S steel plates
Yield strength Ultimate strength Elastic modulus Elongation
σ yp (MPa) σ u (MPa) E (GPa) (2 in.) (%)

250 483 173 30

Two stainless steels filler metals were assessed, the austenitic

ER309L and the ferritic ER410S.
In theory, when the filler material is similar to that of the base
metal, a preheating process should be applied to the welded parts
before the welding process. However, it is possible to avoid the
preheating process using an austenitic filler metal, like ER309L.
The austenitic phase in the welded metal works like a hydrogen
trap, avoiding hydrogen migration to the high risk zones. This
capacity of austenite is due to its hydrogen solubility compared
with that of ferrite or martensite [6].
The effectiveness of the austenitic phase as hydrogen trap
has been verified by means of GMAW test specimen welds
made of T410S stainless steel (base metal), and using austenitic
(ER309L) filler metal, where the shielding gas was contaminated
with four different levels of hydrogen. In addition, test specimen
welds with different preheating temperature were made welding
with ER410S as a filler metal (similar to base metal), without
hydrogen in the inert shielding gas. In both types of specimens,
the microstructure of the HAZ, fracture mode, hardness, fracture
toughness and fatigue crack growth were evaluated.
2. Experimental procedure
T410S stainless steel plates, 5/8 in. thick, were used. Chemi-
cal composition is given in Table 1 and mechanical properties are
shown in Table 2. The T410S stainless steel plate was analyzed
by spark optical emission spectroscopy, according to ASTM
1086-94 [7] (see Table 1). The mechanical properties reported
in Table 2 were evaluated by tension tests performed according
to ASTM A370 [8].
V grooves were machined in blocks of base metal to pre-
pare them for welding. Successive layers of weld metal were
deposited in the grooves to produce the weld samples. Semiau-
Fig. 1. Test specimens obtained from the welded joint. The specimen was cut
using EDM. The locations of the base metal (BM), heat affected zone (HAZ)
and weld metal (WM) are shown.
tomatic GMAW was used in specimen preparation according to
the parameters defined in Table 3. Specimens 3–5 were welded
with austenitic filler metal, ER309L, and different torch hydro-
gen level (1, 2.5 and 5%). Specimens 6–8 were welded with
ferritic filler metal, ER410S, different preheating temperatures
and post weld heat treatments were applied. Fig. 1 shows the
location and orientation of the compact type (CT) specimens
used for the fatigue and fracture experiments. The test speci-
mens were obtained in such a way that the heat affected zone,
HAZ, had constant length through the plate thickness, and the
notch was oriented in a manner to induce the fatigue crack along
the heat affected zone.
The heat input (Q), during specimen preparation with
austenitic filler metal (ER309L), was approximately 1.2 kJ/mm
(175 A, 25 V and 23 cm/min of traveling speed). The heat input
(Q), in specimens welded with ferritic filler metal (ER410S)
was around 2.1 kJ/mm (190 A, 24 V and 13 cm/min of traveling
speed). The post weld heat treatment, PWHT, applied to speci-
mens 7 and 8, was made with the following parameters—soaking
time: 45 min, furnace cooling until a temperature of 350 ◦ C was
reached (approximately 179 ◦ C/h) then air cooled. Table 4 shows
the weld metal chemical composition, the analysis was also
made using spark optical emission spectroscopy according to
ASTM 1086-94 [7].
Compact specimens (shown in Fig. 2) were cut using an
EDM machine according to the geometry specified in ASTM
647-00 [9] and ASTM 399-90 [10]. The notch was aligned
with the heat affected zone as is shown in Fig. 1. The tough-

Table 3
Test specimen welding conditions
Specimen Filler metal Shielding gas Q (arc heat input) (kJ/mm) Preheat (◦ C) PWHT (post weld heat treatment) (◦ C)

2 ER309L 100% Ar 1.2 NO NO

3 ER309L Ar + 1% H2 1.2 NO NO
4 ER309L Ar + 2.5% H2 1.2 NO NO
5 ER309L Ar + 5% H2 1.2 NO NO
6 ER410S 100% Ar 2.1 320 NO
7 ER410S 100% Ar 2.1 250 650
8 ER410S 100% Ar 2.1 210 650
 V.M. Sánchez-Cabrera et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 452–453 (2007) 235–243 237

Table 4
Weld metal chemical analysis
Specimen C Si Mn P S Cr Ni Mo Cu

2 0.019 0.70 2.41 0.020 0.004 22.99 13.42 0.18 0.34

3 0.018 0.69 2.37 0.020 0.004 23.08 13.45 0.18 0.33
4 0.018 0.71 2.31 0.020 0.004 23.09 13.55 0.19 0.34
5 0.017 0.70 2.32 0.021 0.004 23.00 13.48 0.19 0.34
6 0.09 0.49 0.29 0.022 0.001 11.93 0.16 0.02 0.07
7 0.06 0.31 0.49 0.035 0.010 12.97 0.42 0.30 0.11
8 0.07 0.31 0.49 0.036 0.011 12.99 0.42 0.30 0.11

ness and crack growth rate was determined following the above The stress intensity factor range K for the compact speci-
mentioned standards. mens was calculated using the following expression [10]
The measurement of the diffusible hydrogen was made by 
the mercury method, according to ANSI/AWS A4.3-93 [11]. P 2 + (a/b) a  a 2
KI = √ 0.886 + 4.64 − 13.32
The results indicate that for the case of austenitic filler metal t b (1 − (a/b)) 3/2 b b
(ER309L), all the hydrogen added to the shielding gas was  a 3  a 4 
trapped in the weld metal and consequently there is no hydrogen +14.72 − 5.6 (2)
to be diffused towards the HAZ. In the case of ferritic filler metal b b
(ER410S), and pure argon shielding gas, the measured diffusible
hydrogen amount was 2 ml/100 g of weld metal. Fracture toughness was determined using the following pro-
The fatigue crack growth and fracture toughness experiments cedure:
were carried out on a servo-hydraulic MTS 810 machine, using
the following parameters: cyclic loading was between 1.2 and
12 kN, that is, the stress ratio was R = 0.1. Frequency of 20 Hz (a) Load the fatigue pre-cracked specimen until total fracture.
with a sine wave form was used. The crack length was deter- (b) Plot load versus line load extension.
mined by the compliance method [9] and verified by visual (c) Determine the load PQ , from the intersection of the
inspection using a CCD camera. load–displacement curve with a straight line of 95% of the
In order to describe the fatigue crack growth rate, parameters slope in the linear region. Values of PQ are used in Eq. (2)
of the Paris law equation to calculate fracture toughness [10].

Microstructural characterization was performed using optical

da
= C(K)m (1) metallography, SEM analysis, microhardness and energy dis-
dN persive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). In all cases, the chemical
etchant was Villela’s (95 ml of ethanol, 5 ml of hydrochloric
were determined. acid, and 1 g of picric acid).

Fig. 2. Compact specimen (CT) geometry. Dimensions in mm.

238 V.M. Sánchez-Cabrera et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 452–453 (2007) 235–243

Fig. 3. Plots of crack length vs. number of cycles. (a) Specimens welded with ER410S filler metal and preheated at 250 and 210 ◦ C, (b) specimens welded with
ER309L filler metal and different levels of hydrogen added to the argon shielding gas.

3. Results Table 5
Fatigue crack growth rate parameters and fracture toughness test results
√
3.1. Fracture mechanics analysis Specimen m C PQ (kN) Pmax (kN) KQ (MPa m)

BM 3.23 −8.50 20.50 24.36 63.8

Fig. 3(a and b) show the plots of crack length versus num- 4 3.87 −9.64 20.00 25.30 62.2
ber of cycles. See in Fig. 3(a) that the crack grows faster in the 7 3.54 −9.05 16.12 25.60 50.2
base metal than in the welded joint. Preheating the welded joint 8 3.58 −9.15 16.07 27.47 50.0
at 210 ◦ C before the welding process, reduces the fatigue crack
growth rate. Fig. 3(b) shows the crack length growth curves for
the specimens welded with ER309L filler metal and different does not have a linear behavior as it is usual for homogeneous
hydrogen levels in the argon shielding gas. It is observed that materials. This is more evident for the specimens welded with
lower the hydrogen level the slower the fatigue crack growth ER309L filler metal and different levels of hydrogen and the
rate. A hydrogen content of 5% results in the fastest crack growth irregular behavior corresponds to the case of 5% H2 .
rate. The crack growth rate of the base metal lies on the inter- To determine the fracture toughness, the load-line
mediate levels, close to the behavior of specimens with 2.5% load–displacement curve was registered for each test. These
hydrogen. It is interesting to note in Fig. 3(b), for the curve curves are shown in Fig. 5. According to the ASTM standard
corresponding to 1% hydrogen content, that the curve presents E399 [10], a PQ load value is determined from the intersection of
a kink. In other words, crack growth is fast until some point the load–displacement curve with a straight line having a slope
and then crack growth rate decreases. This may be due to the of 95% in the linear region. Values of PQ are used in Eq. (2) to
presence of hydrogen traps along the crack growth path. Fatigue calculate fracture toughness KQ . Table 5 shows a summary of
crack growth rate versus stress intensity factor range (da/dN, these calculations, where m and C are the Paris rule parameters
K) was also calculated and plotted on a log–log scale. Fig. 4 according to Eq. (1). Note that the lowest facture toughness KQ
shows those plots. Note that the crack growth rate versus K values correspond to the specimens with ferritic filler metal even

Fig. 4. Fatigue crack growth rate vs. stress intensity factor rage plots (da/dN, K). (a) ER410S filler metal specimens and two preheating temperatures 210 and
250 ◦ C. (b) ER309L filler metal specimens and different levels of hydrogen added to the argon shielding gas.
 V.M. Sánchez-Cabrera et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 452–453 (2007) 235–243 239

Fig. 5. Load–extension curves to determine fracture toughness. (a) ER410S filler metal with different preheating temperatures. (b) ER309L filler metal with different
levels of hydrogen on the shielding gas.

Fig. 6. (a and b) Microstructure of the base metal T410S. Ferrite grains are observed with precipitated chromium carbides in the whole matrix (magnification: 100×
and 500×, respectively). (c) SEM image of the metal base microstructure. The precipitated carbides in the ferrite matrix are observed (magnification: 2500×).

though preheating and PWHT have been applied. It is observed Specimens 7 and 8 welded with ER410S filler metal material
in Fig. 5(a) that fracture toughness is higher for the base metal and different preheating temperature (PWHT), show very simi-
than for the other cases; and preheating at 210 and 250 ◦ C has no lar microstructural characteristics in the WM, FL and HAZ. The
difference in the linear region of the load–displacement curve. details are showed in Fig. 8(a–c).

3.2. Analysis of microstructure 3.3. Inspection of the microstructure with EDX

Fig. 6(a–c) show the metallographs of the base metal where
ferrite and chromium carbide phases are observed. Specimens
welded with ER309L filler metal (austenitic) show the same
microstructural characteristics in the weld metal (WM), fusion
line (FL) and heat affected zone (HAZ). Fig. 7(a–c) show,
depending on the location, the different microstructures.
EDX analysis was performed in order to determine the com-
position in different points such as the weld metal, the fusion
line, heat affected zone and base metal. This was performed on
the welded joints using austenitic filler metal. Fig. 9(a) shows
the composition profile with respect to the positions indicated
in Fig. 9(b).

Fig. 7. (a) Weld metal (WM), austenite dendrites, with delta ferrite in the interdendritic spaces (500×). (b) Detail of the fusion line (FL), where the delta ferrite grains
can be appreciated in the heat affected zone (HAZ) next to the FL (500×). (c) Microstructure of the HAZ in the welds made with ER309L filler metal. Martensite
phase with delta ferritic sections are observed (500×).
240 V.M. Sánchez-Cabrera et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 452–453 (2007) 235–243

Fig. 8. (a) Weld metal (WM), tempered martensite dendrites with delta ferrite in the interdendritic spaces (500×). (b) Heat affected zone (HAZ), fusion line (FL)
and WM are shown, it is appreciated that in the HAZ there are delta ferrite sections, nevertheless does not appear the same delta ferrite grain characteristic aligned
and united to the FL, as they appear in the welds with ER309L filler metal (500×). (c) HAZ microstructure of the welds of similar filler metal. Note the tempered
martensite with delta ferrite sections. These characteristics are very similar to the heat affected zones found in the welds with ER309L. The only difference is the
tempering because the applied post weld heat treatment (PWHT).

Fig. 9. (a) Alloy distribution in welds made with austenitic filler metal at points shown in (b).

3.4. Microhardness profiles measurement
The results of the microhardness measurements, through the
heat affected zone (HAZ) to the weld metal (WM), are shown
in Fig. 10(a), for the case of welds with ferritic filler metal and
in Fig. 10(b) for welds with austenitic filler metal. The zero
position corresponds to the fusion line (FL). See in Fig. 10(a)
that without stress relief heat treatment, hardness of the WM
increases. It is worth noting in Fig. 10(b) that hardness on the
base metal (BM) is higher in a region close to the FL.
3.5. Fractures analysis
The fracture analysis of the specimen 5 (ER309L + 5% H2 )
is shown in Fig. 11(a–d) where the fatigue fracture initiation is
observed, whereas in Fig. 11(e), it is observed the fatigue pre-

Fig. 10. Hardness profiles: (a) specimens welded with similar filler metal (ER410S), preheating and stress relief heat treatment; (b) specimens welded with austenitic
filler metal (ER309L) and hydrogen added to the shielding gas.
 V.M. Sánchez-Cabrera et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 452–453 (2007) 235–243 241

Fig. 11. Fatigue pre-crack on the CT specimen 5. (a) It is observed that the pre-crack initiates in the weld metal and does not follow a straight line as it is appreciated
in figure (b) where a change of direction is observed. (c) Crack growth has gone into in the HAZ, next to the fusion line. (d) The crack follows a straight path along
the HAZ. (e) Fatigue pre-crack surface. Typical fatigue marks (striations) are observed.

crack surface. Note that the crack path does not follow a straight
line; it changes direction and crosses the HAZ.
Fig. 12(a–d) illustrates the how the crack propagation
occurred along the HAZ during the fracture toughness test. And
Fig. 12(e) shows the type of defects found in the weld specimen
5. See that ductile and brittle fracture mechanisms are found on
the fracture surfaces.
Fig. 13(a–d) show the crack path on specimen 7
(ERT410 + 250 ◦ C of preheating temperature). Also the crack
propagation is illustrated during the fracture toughness test.
4. Discussion
4.1. Fatigue crack growth and fracture toughness
Table 5 summarizes the results shown in Figs. 4 and 5, where
it is observed that the best result is obtained with austenitic filler
metal, ER309L. This is in spite of the ample rank of microstruc-
tures found in the HAZ and the small width of this zone, and the
difficulty to obtain reproducible values of fracture toughness.
It is noted that the high values are obtained with the austenitic

Fig. 12. (a and b) Crack path in specimen 5 during the fracture toughness test. As it is seen the end of the fracture occurred in the HAZ next to the fusion line.
Nevertheless in some points the crack path crossed the weld metal. (c and d) Fracture surfaces after the fracture toughness test, note a surface with brittle (cleavage)
and ductile (micro-cavity coalescence) fracture mechanisms. This is generated on the HAZ and WM which are crossed by the crack path. (e) One of the defects
found in the weld specimen 5; these types of defects are the ones that govern the behavior of the crack growth path.
242 V.M. Sánchez-Cabrera et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 452–453 (2007) 235–243
Fig. 13. (a) Specimen 7 fatigue fractography. (b) Longitudinal section of the fracture. The circled region shows that the crack initiated in the HAZ, nevertheless the
final fracture occurred in the base metal, as observed in (b). (c) Typical crack propagation during the fracture toughness test. Sections showing ductile morphology
(micro-cavity coalescence) and (d) full brittle mechanism (cleavage).
filler metal. On the other hand, Fig. 3 shows that with the excep-
tion of specimen welded with austenitic filler metal and 5% of
H2 (hydrogen did not diffuse to the HAZ, the trapping phenom-
ena saturated the weld metal, consequently a large amount of
discontinuities is generated), the remaining specimens show a
very similar crack growth rate, although in the hydrogen dosed
specimens it is noted irregularity in the crack propagation due
to slow hydrogen diffusion caused by plastic deformation [12].
4.2. Microstructure
It is assumed that the crack growth pattern is due to the
different phases in the microstructure in this small zone (HAZ),
which is influenced by parameters such as the filler metal
type, preheating temperature, heat input, cooling rate, etc., the
fractures tend to turn aside from high strength coarse grains to
regions with lower strength within the weld metal or the HAZ
fine grain zone [13,14]. Analyzing the fatigue crack growth rate
plot, Fig. 4(b), for the specimen welded with austenitic filler
metal is noted a detrimental effect of hydrogen. Increasing the
% of hydrogen the fatigue strength decreases. Nevertheless, it
is necessary to observe those zones in the welds in which the
small cracks are grown. The specimen welded with austenitic
filler metal and 1% of hydrogen in the shielding gas developed a
fatigue crack in the weld metal, that is, the fissure grew in austen-
ite and the delta ferrite phases. However in the specimen test
with 2.5% of hydrogen the crack grew in the HAZ. Finally the
specimen with 5% of hydrogen had a crack initiated in the weld
metal and crossed the heat affected zone (Fig. 11). This behavior
is strange because the austenitic alloys have excellent fatigue
strength properties. What would be expected is that at some
point the crack growth path crosses the HAZ. The reason of this
preference by the weld metal is caused by the diverse porosities
developed in the weld. Nevertheless, the fracture propagation
reveals the porosities did not define the trajectory of the crack,
but is necessary to recognize that they could contribute. This
indicates that the austenite phase in the steel stops the migration
of hydrogen, in spite of the higher stress areas. This agrees with
the results of Park et al. [15], who experimented with several
levels of retained austenite with hydrogen, finding that the only
form in which the austenite can be a hydrogen source is through
its transformation induced by deformation to martensite. Rowe
et al. [16], made welds with dissimilar filler metal and hydrogen
in the shielding gas and found the cracks induced by hydrogen
occurred in the martensitic zones of the weld metal and along
the fusion line. In the experiments reported in this study the
austenitic weld metal did not reveal martensitic structures nor
transformations induced by deformation.
Crack propagation rate of specimen 5 (5% H2 ) was the great-
est of all. The crack at the beginning was guided by weld
discontinuities that are shown in Fig. 12(b and e). Later the
crack grew into the HAZ parallel to the fusion line. Takei and
Yokorobi [17] modeled the hydrogen diffusion in a weld taking
into account the concentration gradients and the HAZ stress,
finding that the fusion line is the zone of greatest hydrogen con-
centration, independent of microstructure. The behavior of the
specimen agrees with these results. An important characteris-
tic in the fusion line of welds with austenitic filler metal is a
ferrite grain band located next to the fusion line, exactly in the
zone where a crack was developed in specimen 5. The effect
of this phase on mechanical properties is not known. Neverthe-
less, Carrouge and Bhadeshia [18] notice the failure possibility
is because this microstructure is present in the HAZ.
Fig. 13(a and b) show that the fatigue fracture occurred in the
HAZ on the specimens 7 and 8. In these points the mechanical
properties are very heterogeneous and depend on distance to the
fusion line. This is verified with the hardness profile in Fig. 10(a
and b). In test specimens 7 and 8 the preheating and PWHT
 V.M. Sánchez-Cabrera et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 452–453 (2007) 235–243
avoided embrittlement of the weld metal and the HAZ. Takei
and Yokorobi [17] demonstrated by means of simulation that
the best option to avoid zones of hydrogen accumulation in the
weld is a combination of these two heat treatments.
5. Conclusions
The heterogeneity in mechanical properties of the HAZ and
the presence of defects produce dispersion in the crack growth
results, causing insufficient correlation. The HAZ of the 12%
Cr steel welds with dissimilar filler metal (austenitic), experi-
ences a thermal cycle where the cooling rate is faster, because
preheating is not required. The cooling rate in this case makes
the transformation process from delta ferrite to austenite and
finally to martensite, to be interrupted producing delta ferrite in
the HAZ. The delta ferrite formed in the HAZ, is a phase with
low resistance to fatigue crack growth. It is presumed, by the
results of this work, that this phase is susceptible to embrittle-
ment by hydrogen because the crack propagated quickly through
it in spite of its high hardness. The 12% Cr steel welding with
dissimilar filler metal had good mechanical properties. Never-
theless, it is required to control the amount of delta ferrite in the
HAZ, the level of hydrogen in consumable and the surrounding
atmosphere. The 12% Cr steel welding with similar filler metal
requires a combination of preheating and PWHT processes, to
avoid the hydrogen induced cracking and embrittlement pro-
duced by the martensitic microstructures.
Thus one concludes; for welded joints of low carbon 12%
Cr stainless steel, specifically in joints of dissimilar base metal
materials as in the case of clad plate weldments, if the applica-
tion of austenitic stainless steel filler metal in the first layer is
selected, the following issues must be taken into consideration:
(a) if the weldment is not preheated, the heat input does not
have to exceed 1.7 kJ/mm,
243
(b) for critical service equipment, as the case of coke drums or
similar, in no case it is recommended to omit the post weld
heat treatment (stress relief).
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