Title: Solidification crack susceptibility of Nb-bearing austenitic stainless steel weld metals

Authors: Z. Sun

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lappeenranta University of Technology, SF-5385 1 Lappeenranta, Finland

Abstract: The effect of niobium on the solidification crack susceptibility of austenitic stainless steel weld metals has been investigated using both the solidification cycle hot-tension test, with a Gleeble-1500 simulator, and the Trans-varestraint test. The results indicated that solidification crack susceptibility increased with an increase in niobium content. However, an improvement was observed when the Nb content became higher than 1.1 %. A low melting eutectic (FeCrNi)₂Nb-γ was identified along γ dendrites by systematic study using SEM, TEM, EPMA and phase analysis, which was found to be the reason for the detrimental effect of Nb on solidification crack susceptibility.

Keywords: austenitic stainless steel; cracks; hot cracking; low melting eutectic; niobium; solidification cracking; crack susceptibility; steel; welding; weld metals.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.1992.036501

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 1992 Vol.7 No.1, pp.89 - 96

Published online: 04 Nov 2010 *

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