International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)

Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org, editorijaiem@gmail.com Volume 2, Issue 6, June 2013 ISSN 2319 - 4847

Impact behaviour and Micro structural analysis of AISI 316L stainless steel weldments
N.V. Amudarasan1, K. Palanikumar2 and K. Shanmugam3
1

Research Scholar, Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Sathyabama University, Chennai, India. 2 Department of Mechanical engineering, Sri Sairam Institute of Technology, Chennai, India 3 Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India.

ABSTRACT
The effect of filler metals such as austenitic stainless steel (308L) and duplex stainless steel (2209) on impact behaviour of the gas tungsten arc welded austenitic stainless steel (316L) was investigated. Rolled plates of 3mm thickness were used as the base material for preparing single V butt welded joints. Pendulum type impact machine was used to evaluate the impact behaviour of the welded joints. From this investigation, it was found that the joints fabricated by austenitic stainless steel filler metal showed superior toughness compared to the joints fabricated by duplex stainless steel filler metal. The welded fracture morphology was studied using scanning electron microscope.

Keywords: Austenitic stainless steel, Duplex stainless steel, SEM

1. INTRODUCTION
Austenitic stainless steel (ASS) such as type 316L is usually preferred over other austenitic varieties as a structural material due to its higher corrosion resistance and superior mechanical properties both at low and high temperatures. Micro structural changes due to welding have been reported by several researchers [1-4]. Rafal et al. [5] investigated measurement of mechanical properties in a 316L stainless steel welded joint and found that the highest mechanical properties are revealed in the material taken from the heat affected zone than the weld material. . Mataya et al. [6] and Harvey II et al. [7] have studied the impact behaviour of 304L stainless steel by high-energy-rate forging and Charpys test, respectively. Ibrahim et al.[8] made a comparative evaluation of impact behaviour of different stainless steel weldments at low temperatures and found that remarkable decrease was observed for the duplex stainless steel compared with 304L and 316L. Duplex stainless steels are found increased application in the chemical, oil and gas industries, petrochemical process plants, pulp and paper industry, pollution control equipment, transportation and for general engineering to their outstanding corrosion resistance and mechanical properties [9]. The high corrosion resistance and the excellent mechanical properties combination of duplex stainless steels can be explained by their chemical composition and balanced duplex microstructure of approximately equivalent volume fractions of ferrite and austenitic [10].

Most of the reported literature focused on different types of welding methods, crack properties, weld geometry, etc, Hence, the present investigation is carried out to study the effect of austenitic stainless steel and duplex stainless steel filler metal on impact properties and the fracture impact surfaces were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM).

2. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel in the form of plate of size 55l x 10b x 3t mm were annealed. The composition of the materials used was evaluated by spectrographic analysis and is given in Table 1. Weld joint preparation was done by machining on both edges to make single V butt joint. GTA welding was made in flat position using ESAB India Limited making machine. All the welding processes were completed in single pass. Filler metal used for GTA welding such as austenitic stainless steel (ASS) and duplex stainless steel (DSS) was in the form of wire having diameter 2.0mm. The welding conditions are detailed in Table 2.

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International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)

Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org, editorijaiem@gmail.com Volume 2, Issue 6, June 2013 ISSN 2319 - 4847
The welded joints were sliced using power hacksaw after which it was machined to the required dimensions for preparing impact test specimens and photographs as authenticated in Figure 1 and 2. Necessary guidelines were followed for preparing and testing the impact specimens. Impact test was conducted at room temperature using pendulum type impact testing machine with a maximum capacity of 300J, ASTM E23-04, Specifications were followed for preparing and testing the specimens. Since the plate thickness is small, sub sized tensile and impact specimens were prepared. Table 1 : Chemical composition of Base metal and Filler metals Material Base metal (316L) Filler metal (308L) Filler metal (2209) C 0.022 Mn 1.410 P 0.029 S 0.003 Si 0.374 Cr 16.69 Ni 9.80 Ti 0.004 Mo 2.04 Cu 0.49 Fe Bal.

0.030

0.50

0.018

0.015

0.90

18.95

10.55

---

0.30

0.1

Bal.

0.030

1.50

0.018

0.016

0.90

23.0

9.50

---

3.00

---

Bal.

Figure 1 : Dimensions of impact specimens Table 2 : Welding parameters for experiments Polarity Arc voltage (volts) Welding current (amps) Welding speed (mm/sec) Heat input (J/mm) Electrode diameter (mm) Shielding gas Shielding gas flow rate (lt/min) AC (alternating current) 14 90 1.4 900 2.0 Argon (99.99%) 10

(a) Base metal (316L)+Filler metal(2209)

(b) Base metal (316L)+Filler metal(308L)

Figure 2 : Photographs of impact specimens

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International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)

Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org, editorijaiem@gmail.com Volume 2, Issue 6, June 2013 ISSN 2319 - 4847 3. RESULTS
3.1. IMPACT TOUGHNESS Charpy impact toughness values of all the joints were evaluated and they are presented in Table 3. The impact toughness of un welded base metal is 50J. The impact toughness of GTAASS (austenitic stainless steel filler metal) joints is 40J. Similarly the impact toughness of GTADSS (duplex stainless steel filler metal) joints is 32J. This indicates that there is 20% increase in toughness value compared to the duplex stainless steel filler metal. Of the two joints, the GTAASS joints exhibit higher impact toughness values compared to GTADSS joints. The photographs of pendulum type impact testing machine as shown in figure 3.

Figure 3: Photographs of impact testing machine Table: 3 Impact properties of base metal and welded joints. Material Base metal (316L) GTAASS (316L+308L) GTADSS (316L+2209) Impact toughness(J) 50 40 32

3.2 FRACTURE SURFACE The fractured surface of impact specimens of welded joints was analyzed by SEM to reveal the surface morphology. The tested weldments after fractured surface impact specimen photographs as shown in figure 4(a) and 4(b).

Figure 4(a) Photograph of impact after fracture (316L+308L)

Figure 4(b) Photograph of impact after fracture (316L+2209)

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International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management (IJAIEM)

Web Site: www.ijaiem.org Email: editor@ijaiem.org, editorijaiem@gmail.com Volume 2, Issue 6, June 2013 ISSN 2319 - 4847
Figure 5 displays the fractographs of impact specimens. The impact fracture surfaces of GTAASS joints (Fig.5(a)) and GTADSS joints (Fig.5(b)) shows ductile fracture. An appreciable difference exists in the size of the dimples between GTAASS and GTADSS joints. Elongated and fine dimples are seen in GTADSS joints, whereas fine dimples are seen in GTAASS joints. Large number of fine dimples is seen in GTAASS joints compared to GTADSS joints. Since fine dimples are a characteristic feature of ductile fracture, the GTAASS joints have shown higher ductility compared to GTADSS joints (Table 3). 5(a) 5(b)

Figure 5: SEM fractographs of impact specimens (a) GTAASS (b) GTADSS

4. CONCLUSION
The present investigation provided a effect of filler metal such as austenitic stainless steel (ASS) and duplex stainless steel (DSS) with austenitic stainless steel (316L) using gas tungsten arc (GTA) welding. The main conclusions are: 1. Of the two filler metals used, the joint fabricated by ASS filler metal showing 20% higher impact toughness compared to the joints fabricated by DSS filler metals. 2. The fracture surface morphology, fine dimples characteristic of ductile fracture, the amount of fine dimples are more in GTAASS joints when compared to GTADSS joints, hence, GTAASS joints have shown higher ductility compared to GTADSS joints.

REFERENCES
[1.] [2.] [3.] [4.] [5.] [6.] [7.] [8.] J.A. Brookes, A.W.Thomson, Int.Met.Rev.36 (1991) 16-44. S.Polgary, Proceedings of the conference on Stainless steel, Goteberg, 1984. Y.Arata, F.Matsuda, S.katayama, Trans. JWRI 6 (1977) 105-116. N.Suutala, T.Takalo, T.Moisio, Metall. Trans. A 11A (1980) 717-725. Rafal M.Molak, Krystian Paradowski, er.al.Int.Jou.of Pressure vessels and piping 86 (2009) 43-47. M.C. Mataya, E.L. Brown, M.P. Riendeau, Metall. Trans. A 21A (1990) 1969. D.P. Harvey, II, J.B. Terrell, T.S. Sudarshan, M.R. Louthan, Jr, Eng. Fract. Mech. 46 (1993) 455 Ibrahim O.H et al., 2010; Impact behaviour of different stainless steel weldments at low temperatures. Engg. Fail. Anal 17(1):1069-1076. [9.] S.Azuma, K.Ogawa, Duplex stainless steel excellent in corrosion resistance, Applied Thermal Engineering 18 (6) (19980 XXIV. [10.] I.Alvarez-Armas, S. Degallaix-Moreuil, Duplex Stainless Steel. Wiley-ISTE,2009.

AUTHOR
N.V.Amudarasan was born in Attur, Tamil Nadu, India in 1974. He received his bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering from Madras University, Tamil Nadu and Master degree in Production Engineering from Annamalai University, Chidambaram,Tamil Nadu, India. He is presently a research scholar in the Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Sathyabama University. He has fifteen years of teaching experience. He is a member in ISTE, IWS and IIPE.

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