Effect of microfissures on corrosion performance and mechanical properties of austenitic stainless steel weld metals

It is generally recognized that hot cracking or microfissuring is one of the main concerns in austenitic stainless steel welding.; In this study, eight kinds of commercial and modified electrodes provided by Lincoln Electric Company, ESAB and Hobart were used to produce fissure-containing and fissure-free welded coupons for extracting the samples for this investigation. The modified electrodes, E308L, E316L, E308H and E316H, are those electrodes which Ferrite Numbers are around zero to produce microfissures for the investigation.; The corrosion performance of these weld deposits with different microfissure densities was evaluated by pitting and crevice corrosion testing in ferrite chloride solutions. Critical Pitting Temperature (CPT) and Critical Crevice Corrosion Temperature (CCT) were used to detect corrosion behavior of these weld deposits. In addition, cyclic polarization testing in 3.5% sodium chloride solution was also conducted to evaluate the corrosion behavior in terms of Epit and Eprot. The corrosion testing results showed that microfissures provided the pitting corrosion sites and degraded pitting and crevice corrosion resistance of austenitic stainless steel weld metals. CCT and CPT are a function of the microfissure level. With an increase in microfissure level a decrease in CPT and CCT is noted and microfissures have a more significant effect on CPT than CCT. Pits preferentially initiated at the tips of microfissures for fissure-containing samples and in overlapped region for fissure-free samples. When 308L is compared to 316L, the 316L deposits are superior with regard to CPT and CCT at the same microfissure level. The ferrite content does not appear to influence CPT and CCT at the same microfissure level. E316H deposits have the highest Epit, Eprot, followed by E308H, E316L, and E308L. The corrosion behavior obtained from cyclic polarization testing follows in the same order and is consistent with the immersion CPT and CCT results. Based on the immersion CPT and CCT methodologies and the cyclic polarization techniques it is clear that the use of the cyclic polarization testing is to be recommended for optimum definition of the effect of fissures on corrosion. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...