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Effect of Welding Heat Input and Post-weld Thermal Aging on the Sensitization and Pitting Corrosion Behavior of AISI 304L Stainless Steel Butt Welds

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Abstract

Heat input for gas tungsten arc welding process was varied at three different levels to fabricate three AISI 304L stainless steel welds to examine the influence of variable arc energy input on their sensitization and pitting performance. Welds were subjected to post-weld thermal aging treatments comprising of low-temperature sensitization of 500 °C for 1, 5, and 11 days and classical sensitization of 650 °C for 1, 12, and 24 h. Different morphologies of ferrite present in the fusion zone and the degree of the coarsening of grains in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of the weldments under different aging conditions influenced their tendencies for carbide formation, which consequentially affected their sensitization and pitting corrosion behavior significantly. Lower heat input welds having lathy morphology of δ-ferrite in the fusion zone along with less coarsened HAZ exhibited a lesser degree of carbide precipitation. They hence showed a lower degree of sensitization (DOS), which accounted for higher pitting potential (Epitt). However higher heat input welds having vermicular morphology of δ-ferrite in the fusion zone and relatively higher grain coarsened HAZ promoted a higher degree of carbide precipitation, and thus accounted for the higher value of DOS and lower pitting potential (Epitt).

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Acknowledgments

The infrastructural support, especially metallography and corrosion testing facilities, extended by the Welding Metallurgy Laboratory, Mechanical Engineering Department, S.L.I.E.T., Longowal, Sangrur (Deemed to be University), Punjab, India, is gratefully acknowledged. A special thanks to Amrindra Pal for providing the support to finalize the art work in the figures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, DIT University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

    Subodh Kumar

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology (Deemed to be University), Longowal, Sangrur, Punjab, India

    A. S. Shahi & Dikshant Malhotra

  3. Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab, India

    Varun Sharma

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Kumar, S., Shahi, A.S., Sharma, V. et al. Effect of Welding Heat Input and Post-weld Thermal Aging on the Sensitization and Pitting Corrosion Behavior of AISI 304L Stainless Steel Butt Welds. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 30, 1619–1640 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-021-05454-4

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