Materials Characterization 106 (2015) 208–217

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Materials Characterization

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matchar

Characterization of microstructure and texture across dissimilar super

duplex/austenitic stainless steel weldment joint by austenitic filler metal
Abbas Eghlimi a,⁎, Morteza Shamanian a, Masoomeh Eskandarian b, Azam Zabolian c, Jerzy A. Szpunar d
a
Department of Materials Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran
b
Department of Materials Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71348-51154, Iran
c
Department of Natural Resources, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran
d
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The evolution of microstructure and texture across an as-welded dissimilar UNS S32750 super duplex/UNS
Received 11 April 2015 S30403 austenitic stainless steel joint welded by UNS S30986 (AWS A5.9 ER309LMo) austenitic stainless steel fill-
Received in revised form 16 May 2015 er metal using gas tungsten arc welding process was evaluated by optical micrography and EBSD techniques. Due
Accepted 26 May 2015
to their fabrication through rolling process, both parent metals had texture components resulted from deforma-
Available online 28 May 2015
tion and recrystallization. The weld metal showed the highest amount of residual strain and had large austenite
Keywords:
grain colonies of similar orientations with little amounts of skeletal ferrite, both oriented preferentially in the
Dissimilar welding b 001 N direction with cub-on-cube orientation relationship. While the super duplex stainless steel's heat affected
Austenitic stainless steel zone contained higher ferrite than its parent metal, an excessive grain growth was observed at the austenitic
Super duplex stainless steel stainless steel's counterpart. At both heat affected zones, austenite underwent some recrystallization and formed
Microstructure twin boundaries which led to an increase in the fraction of high angle boundaries as compared with the respec-
Texture tive base metals. These regions showed the least amount of residual strain and highest amount of recrystallized
CSL boundaries austenite grains. Due to the static recrystallization, the fraction of low degree of fit (Σ) coincident site lattice
Kernel average neighbor misorientation
boundaries, especially Σ3 boundaries, was increased in the austenitic stainless steel heat affected zone, while
the formation of subgrains in the ferrite phase increased the content of b5° low angle boundaries at that of the
super duplex stainless steel.
© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
With the introduction of new materials and necessity of their joining
due to economic reasons, dissimilar metal welding has turned into
an inevitable practice in most demanding industries. On this basis,
considering the prior widespread use of austenite stainless steels
(ASSs) on one hand and growing acceptance of super duplex stain-
less steels (SDSSs) as economical high strength corrosion resistant ma-
terials on other hand, comprehensive understanding of the
microstructures formed upon fusion welding of such dissimilar couple
is a prerequisite in predicting the properties of weldments in modern
engineering applications especially in marine, transportation, chemical,
petrochemical, desalination, oil, and natural gas industries [1].
Regarding crystal structures, morphology, texture, and diffusional
mixing of alloying elements, the solidification microstructures observed
in dissimilarly welded interfaces are generally different from those ob-
tained during similar welding. Although the investigation of these inter-
facial morphologies in dissimilar diffusion welds have been extensively
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: a.eghlimi@ma.iut.ac.ir (A. Eghlimi).
URL: https://aeghlimi.materials.iut.ac.ir (A. Eghlimi).
addressed in the literature [1], less attention has been paid to the evolu-
tion of texture. This is despite the fact that grain orientations in fusion
welds are not distributed randomly and the preference of certain orien-
tations may indeed affect most of the important properties of weldments
such as grain morphology, grain boundary character distribution, me-
chanical properties, and corrosion resistance. Therefore, the determina-
tion and interpretation of texture are of fundamental significance in
welding. Furthermore, the analysis of the textural changes during fusion
welding can yield in valuable information about the underlying mecha-
nisms, including deformation and recrystallization, or phase transforma-
tions. Thus, the investigation of texture using electron backscatter
diffraction (EBSD) technique across dissimilar weldments in an attempt
to understand the influence of grain orientation on joint microstructure
and properties has been the concern of several recent studies [2–4].
The current authors have previously investigated the mechanical
properties and microstructure features of a SDSS/ASS dissimilar joint
welded by an ASS filler metal [5]. Moreover, the evolution of texture
in an identical joint welded by a SDSS filler metal was the subject of an-
other work [4] in which the conclusion was reached that the welding
process induced a strong texture with b 100 N orientation across the
weld metal and encouraged the recrystallization of the heat affected
zones (HAZs). Thus, considering the different microstructures obtained

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2015.05.036
1044-5803/© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 A. Eghlimi et al. / Materials Characterization 106 (2015) 208–217 209

utilizing ASS filler metal [5], the present paper discusses the variations Table 2
of texture using EBSD analysis in an analogous dissimilar weldment Welding process parameters.

joint by an ASS filler metal. Parameter Value

Shielding/purging gas 99.99% pure argon

2. Experimental
2.1. Materials and welding process
The as-received UNS S30403 ASS and UNS S32750 SDSS plates were
cold and hot rolled, respectively. UNS S30986 (AWS A5.9 ER309LMo),
which is a versatile low carbon high molybdenum austenitic filler
metal, was utilized to join the dissimilar base metals through conven-
tional gas tungsten arc welding process with direct current electrode
negative polarity. The chemical composition of base metals and applied
welding parameters is summarized in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.
Owing to their high price and good performance, SDSSs are usually
used in thin sections. Thus, to simulate the actual field welding scenarios,
4 mm thick plates were prepared for this study. The welding was carried
out in the direction perpendicular to the rolling direction (RD) of the base
plates (see Fig. 1).
2.2. EBSD analysis
After the welding process, numerous transverse cross-sectional
samples were prepared to be studied by EBSD analysis using Hitachi
SU6600 field-emission gun SEM. To avoid shadowing caused by topogra-
phy, the sample blocks were ground and then polished with diamond-
bearing pastes and then were polished chemically with basic 50 nm col-
loidal silica slurry. After 6 h of lapping, the samples were rinsed in water,
dried, and loaded in the SEM chamber. Samples were laid at an angle of
70° from the incident beam toward a phosphor detector to maximize the
proportion of backscatter electrons and thus, to increase the number of
possible diffraction events. The EBSD step sizes used for recording micro-
structure were 1 and 1.5 μm. For EBSD analyses, the external reference
frame, that was, the weldment coordination system chosen was aligned
according to Fig. 1 where WD, FD, and ND were welding direction, filling
direction, and normal direction, respectively. As previously mentioned,
ND was parallel to the rolling direction of the base metals.
Since the intragrain local misorientations can result from the dislo-
cation density and subsequent residual strain in the deformed grains,
the analysis of kernel average neighbor misorientation (KANM) was
performed to study the distribution of residual strain across the clad-
ding. In calculating the KANM, the average misorientation of a given
pixel with respect to its 3rd nearest-neighbors was considered and
values above 5° threshold were excluded from the calculation,
because these points were presumed to belong to adjacent grains [6].
3. Results and discussion
According to the obtained EBSD maps (Fig. 2) and related statis-
tics (Fig. 3), there were notable distinctions in the proportion, morpholo-
gy, texture, and grain boundary character distribution of the
microconstituents across the weldment which are summarized in Table 3
Shielding gas flow rate 10 L·min−1
Purging gas flow rate 8 L·min−1
Filler rod diameter 2.4 mm
Welding electrode AWS A5.12 EWTH-2 (98% W + 2% ThO2)
Electrode diameter 2.4 mm
Polarity Direct current electrode negative
Average heat input 0.75 kJ·mm−1
3.1. Microstructure and texture
3.1.1. Austenitic stainless steel base metal
Based on Fig. 3a, it is evident that the face-centered cubic (FCC) ASS
base metal was mainly consisted of relatively coarse equiaxed austenite
grains with the average equivalent circle diameter (ECD) of 12 μm.
Regarding the texture (see Fig. 4a), it showed strong α-FCC, partial γ,
and weak β-FCC skeleton fibers which are typical in cold rolled austen-
itic structures [7]. The β-FCC skeleton fiber with main components at
Brass, Copper, and S3 as well as α-FCC fiber are the typical plane strain
rolling textures of FCC polycrystals [8]. A strong Goss orientation was
also observed. The presence of this component along with the equiaxed
austenite grains and the low texture intensity observed suggests that
the as-received base plate had undergone some recrystallization prior
to welding.
3.1.2. Super duplex stainless steel base metal
Due to its dual phase nature and the resultant pinning effect of each
phase on another, the initial grain size of the as-received SDSS base
metal (ECD ~ 3.5 μm) was considerably lower than that of the ASS par-
ent metal (ECD ~ 12 μm). Moreover, based on Fig. 2, due to the deforma-
tion obtained during hot rolling, the γ/δ grain boundaries were serrated
[9]. Considering the ferrite texture, as demonstrated in Fig. 4b, Rotated
Cube component and {114}b 110N and {113}b110N orientations were
observed which confirm the existence of α-BCC fiber which is typical
in hot rolled body-centered cubic (BCC) metals [10,11]. The Rotated
Cube component of α-BCC fiber is known as a very stable component
which undergoes recovery instead of recrystallization due to its small
in-grain orientation gradients [8]. Marked α-BCC fiber with a major
Rotated Cube component is reported previously in the literature for
ferrite phase in hot rolled DSSs [12,13].
The austenite, on the other hand, had a weak but sharp initial texture
consisting of stronger Cube and CubeRD orientations as well as weaker
Goss, Brass, Cube-twin 1st Generation, Copper, and S3 components.
Since the Cube components are reported in the literature as a recrystal-
lization texture of the austenite phase, the existence of a weak β fiber in
the presence of stronger Cube and CubeRD components confirms that a
high volume fraction of the austenite has merely undergone recrystalli-
zation during hot rolling [8,9,12–15]. It is noteworthy to point out that
the combination of β fiber and Cube components resembles the hot
rolled structure of single phase ASSs [16] which confirms the similar
behavior of the austenite even when it is combined with ferrite phase
in SDSSs.

Table 1
Nominal chemical composition of base metals and the applied filler metal (wt.%).

C Cr Ni Mo Mn Si N P S Creqa Nieqb Creq/Nieq

UNS S30403 0.03 19.1 10.8 – 2 0.75 – 0.08 0.26 19.1 11.85 1.61
UNS S32750 0.025 25.9 6.54 3.78 1.2 1 0.25 0.035 0.015 29.68 12.42 2.39
UNS S30986 0.03 22 15 2.7 1.6 0.45 – 0.03 0.02 24.7 16.05 1.54
a
Creq = Cr + Mo + 0.7Nb (wt.%).
b
Nieq = Ni + 35C + 20 N + 0.25Cu (wt.%).
210 A. Eghlimi et al. / Materials Characterization 106 (2015) 208–217
Fig. 1. Schematic representation of the welding process and the examined surface area.
3.1.3. Austenitic stainless steel heat affected zone
The prominent phenomenon which occurred in the ASS HAZ was
grain growth; the ECD of the grains was almost doubled after welding.
This mainly had two reasons: (1) the lower thermal conductivity of
the ASS base metal compared to the SDSS parent metal which caused
the ASS HAZ grains to be exposed to higher temperatures for longer
times and (2) lack of a substantial second pinning phase which in addi-
tion to grain coarsening assisted the recrystallization of grains through
twinning.
As illustrated in Fig. 5, at the ASS HAZ, the intensity of all austenite
fibers diminished at the expense of intensification of Goss and Cube
components. The consumption of the Copper orientation in favor of
Goss component is reported to be caused by twinning [17]. In addition,
Goss component usually prevails in cubic materials that undergo steep
thermal gradients, especially in competitive unidirectional solidifica-
tions comprising columnar growth. This is because the appropriate
orientation of this component with respect to the b 100 N maximum
temperature gradient direction. Therefore, it can be inferred that the
cold rolled texture of the substrate adjusted slightly to allow better
heat transfer in the presence of high temperatures of the weld metal
during the welding process. Twinning phenomenon is further con-
firmed by the presence of Cube component which is a recrystallization
Fig. 2. EBSD maps across the weldment: (a) phase color map, (b) ND inverse pole figure of ferrite, (c) ND inverse pole figure of austenite; in each pair of inverse pole figures, the upper
triangle belongs to the ferrite and the lower to the austenite. (d) The optical micrograph across the welded joint. White arrows indicate how the dendrites reoriented toward the direction
of maximum thermal gradient.
orientation in ASSs [16]. Thus, it can be concluded that partial static re-
crystallization in the form of annealing twins occurred in the ASS HAZ
during the interpass time. The driving force for the occurrence of such
a limited static recrystallization in this zone is the presence of residual
stresses. Based on Fig. 3c, the annealing twins formed are mainly high
angle 60° twin boundaries with a special character, especially Σ3 with
60° rotation around b 111N axis.
3.1.4. Super duplex stainless steel heat affected zone
The SDSS HAZ was clearly consisted of two regions: a narrower over-
heated zone or high temperature HAZ adjacent to the fusion line
(Fig. 2d4), and a much wider partial annealed zone or a low tempera-
ture HAZ closer to the unaffected base metal (not shown). In the high
temperature HAZ, partial ferritization during heating caused some
prior austenite grains to remain. These remainders are usually called
partially transformed austenite (PTA), because heating causes their
alloying elements to diffuse and thus, partially changes their initial
shape. Due to the presence of these secondary phases in the ferritic
matrix of the SDSS HAZ, the grain growth was restrained during heating
and thus, its grain size was considerably smaller than ASS HAZ
(see Fig. 3a). In this region, although some austenite in the form of
grain boundary austenite (GBA), Widmanstätten austenite (WA), and
intragranular austenite (IGA) were partially reformed, due to the dom-
inant high cooling rate, the amount of austenite did not reach the initial
value. In the low temperature HAZ, which is located further away
from the fusion boundary, the maximum temperatures reached upon
heating, although enough for precipitation of secondary intermetallic
phases, are insufficient to substantially alter the ferrite–austenite bal-
ance. Thus, since the absence of intermetallics was confirmed by the
examination of numerous metallographic pictures, it can be concluded
that the δ/γ balance remained unchanged in the SDSS low temperature
HAZ.
Similar to the ASS HAZ, the ferrite grains of the SDSS HAZ preferen-
tially obtained b 001 N║ND orientation in a small area, about 50 μm in
width, adjacent to the fusion line. Regarding their texture, however, it
can be observed from Fig. 5b that, in the ferrite phase {114}b 110N and
{113}b110N orientations and Rotated Cube component were consumed
 A. Eghlimi et al. / Materials Characterization 106 (2015) 208–217
Fig. 3. Distribution of (a) grain size and aspect ratio, (b) misorientation angles, (c) misorientation angle histograms between neighbor grains, and (d) CSL boundaries across the weldment.
by a very strong {112}b110N and weaker Rotated Goss and {111}b110N
components of α-BCC fiber and by strengthening these b110N║ND ori-
entations, the overall texture intensified greatly. It is believed that
{112}b 110 N component results from the {001}b211 N orientation,
which represents the strongest ideal plane strain rolling component in
low stacking fault energy FCC materials. Anyway, such a mixture of tex-
ture components resembles the cold rolled structure of ferritic stainless
steels [10] and thus, compared to the hot rolled structure of the base
metal's ferrite phase, indicates the formation of high amount of residual
stresses as a result of welding process.
The orientation distribution function of the austenite phase in Fig. 5c
confirms the presence of τ fiber with a stronger Goss and a weaker Cop-
per component as well as CubeRD orientation which, except the replace-
ment of Brass with Copper orientation, is very close to the texture of the
austenite phase in the ASS HAZ and thus, substantiate the similar behav-
ior of austenite phase in both SDSS and ASS HAZs. It should be noted
that formerly Badji et al. [13] reported the presence of Goss and Copper
components in the HAZ of 2205 DSS weldment. As previously men-
tioned, the formation of this texture is due to the reorientation of the
easy growth direction of the grains toward the maximum temperature
gradient and partial static recrystallization of the austenite grains in
the presence of residual strain.
211
3.1.5. Austenitic stainless steel weld metal
The first thing to consider about the weld metal is its epitaxial
growth on the grains of the ASS HAZ; similar b001N║ND oriented grains
were observed at both sides of the interface. Thus, due the similar mi-
crostructure of the ASS HAZ and weld metal and their cub-on-cube
growth, the interface between these zones was indiscernible, regardless
the etchant used. On the contrary, a sharp SDSS HAZ/weld metal inter-
face was observed on the other side of the weldment because the
SDSS HAZ adjoining the austenitic weld metal was completely ferritic.
Since the applied weld metal solidifies in ferritic–austenitic mode, it
enters the two-phase δ + γ region after cooling below the solidification
range. However, since the weld metal cools rapidly through this dual
phase region, the reallocation of the solute by a solid-state diffusion-
controlled reaction is impossible and δ-ferrite transforms to austenite
of the same composition via a massive transformation [18]. However,
due to the high Creq/Nieq ratio of the filler metal (see Table 1), the solids
formed at the cores of the subgrains remain stable as δ-ferrite at room
temperature. Thus, the microstructure of the weld metal was consisted
of skeletal ferrite between the austenite dendrites.
Regarding the texture, it should be noted that during solidification,
the growth of the columnar grains proceeds closely to the direction of
the maximum thermal gradient in the molten pool, i.e. normal to the
212 A. Eghlimi et al. / Materials Characterization 106 (2015) 208–217

Table 3
Variation of microstructure, texture, and ferrite content across the weldment.
Zone Microstructure/texture
ASS base Ferrite: N/A
metal Austenite: equiaxed grains with strong α-FCC fiber
and weak γ and β-FCC skeleton fibers.
ASS HAZ Ferrite: N/A
Austenite: coarsened and relatively equiaxed grains
with α-FCC fiber comprising stronger G and weaker
Bs and C components, as well as weak S orientation.
ASS weld Ferrite: skeletal grains with b130N, b311N, and
metal b313N║ND orientations.
Austenite: grain colonies of similar alignment with
b130N, b311N, and b313N║ND orientations.
SDSS HAZ Ferrite: coarse grain ferrite matrix with γ and α-BCC
fibers comprising a strong (112)[011] orientation and
weak RG component.
Austenite: PTA morphology with strong G, and weak
τ fiber along with C and Cu components.
SDSS base Ferrite: elongated grains with α-BCC fiber texture.
metal Austenite: elongated grains with β-FCC skeleton fiber
comprising a strong C and weak Bs and S components,
as well as strong CRD, weak G and CT1 components.
that the strip and conventional continuous cast samples reveal a weak
and not homogenous texture fiber aligned close to {001}buvwN direc-
Ferrite tion, especially adjacent to the surface. This is usually interpreted in
percent terms of growth selection during solidification. This similitude substan-
0 tiate that, in spite of the disparities of welding and casting processes,
whenever solidification follows competitive growth, the grains tend to
orient themselves in the easy growth direction.
1.1 ± 0.5
Furthermore, comparing the orientation distribution function of
skeletal ferrite to that of the austenite in Fig. 6, it becomes clear that
the orientation of ferrite phase was very close to that of the austenite.
8.4 ± 1.5 This can be better seen in Fig. 7 which compares the pole figures of
the austenite and ferrite grains in the weld metal. Based on these
figures, it can be perceived that although the intensity of texture com-
61.4 ± 6.9 ponents was a little stronger in the austenite, both austenite and skele-
tal ferrite had the same poles. This happened because the skeletal ferrite
develops from the dissolution of ferrite to austenite during cooling. This
finding is in agreement with the results obtained in the literature
52.5 ± 4.2 [24–27] and confirms the cube-on-cube orientation relationship
between skeletal ferrite and austenite (b001 Nγ║b001 Nδ) when weld
solidifies preferentially in the b001N direction.

G: Goss = {011}b100 N, Bs: Brass = {011}b112 N, S: S3 = {123}b634 N, C: Cube =
{001}b100N, RG: Rotated Goss = {011}b110N, Cu: Copper = {112}b111N, RC: Rotated
Cube = {001}b100 N, CRD: CubeRD = {013}b100 N, CT1: Cube-twin 1st Generation =
{122}b221N.
solidification front. Misaligned grains require an increase in the
undercooling ahead of the solid/liquid interface and thus, they will be
outgrown by grains that have an orientation closer to that of the maxi-
mum thermal gradient. Therefore, the columnar grain morphology of
the weld metal depends on the molten pool geometry. Referring to
Fig. 1, it can be seen that in the V-groove design used in our study, the
direction of the maximum temperature gradient was not perpendicular
to the ND. The resultant angle between these directions caused most of
the grains to deviate from the b 001 N║ND orientation. Accordingly,
based on their location with respect to solidification front, most of the
grains showed some misorientations from the closest b001N║ND vari-
ation. As mentioned, this is due to the slight misalignment of external
reference frame with respect to the maximum thermal gradient direc-
tion. One solution to this problem is to choose the actual inclined inter-
face between the parent metals and the solidification area as the
external reference frames. Although this technique may reveal more
accurate physical characteristics, due to the geometry of the V-groove
design, it requires the definition of two different frames for each side
of the weld, which can complicate the illustration and interpretation
of the results. Thus, the preferred external reference frame was
chosen in alignment with the weldment coordination system. Anyway,
disregarding the resultant misorientation caused by this selection, it is
obvious that most of the ASS grains had their easy growth direction
aligned as close as possible to the b 001N║ND orientation. This preferen-
tial orientation is in agreement with the competitive growth phenome-
non. During the solidification of the weld metal, misaligned grains will
be outgrown by grains that have their easy growth direction, i.e.
b001N, closer to that of the maximum thermal gradient, i.e. perpendic-
ular to the solidification front. This preferential orientation results in
alignment of the cells and dendrites in the heat flow direction. However,
to preferentially retain their orientation, the columnar grains and den-
drites usually change their orientation through bowing or re-
nucleation in order to maintain growth continuity [19,20]. Hence, by
changing the orientation of the solidification front, the growth direc-
tion of the grains changed continuously from the fusion line toward
the weld centerline. These reorientations are shown with arrows in
Fig. 2d.
It is noteworthy here to point at the similarity of the formed solidifi-
cation textures between conventional casting methods and the welding
process. There are various studies in the literature [21–23] confirming
3.2. Grain boundary character distribution
Grain boundaries play a critical role in microstructure evolution
because they can serve as defect sources and sinks, they can pin disloca-
tion motion and also can act as segregation sites for impurities and pre-
cipitates. Thus, understanding and predicting grain boundary behavior
is of great importance. Grain boundary character distribution is defined
as the distribution of the relative length or area of boundaries with a
specific lattice direction [28]. It is well-known that most grain boundary
properties are determined by the orientation of adjoining grains. Thus,
the distribution of grain boundaries of a particular crystallographic
character can provide helpful information on the properties of weld-
ments. For instance, in coincident site lattice (CSL) theory, the grain
boundary energy depends on the geometrical matching at the bound-
aries, usually denoted by Σ values. Thus, the special boundaries which
have excellent atomic fit, i.e. low Σ values, are known to possess low
grain boundary energy compared to random grain boundaries [29].
To categorize the grain boundary character distribution in this study,
the boundaries were divided into three categories: (1) low angle or
subgrain boundaries (LABs) with misorientation angles of smaller
than 5°, (2) medium angle boundaries (MABs) with misorientation
angles between 5 and 15°, and high angle boundaries (HABs) with mis-
orientation angles larger than 15°. The obtained result is shown in
Fig. 3b.
HABs in turn were subdivided into: (1) special high-angle Σ3–Σ29
CSL boundaries and (2) high-angle random boundaries with no special
character. This subcategorization was done because grain boundaries
having misorientations described by low Σ values in the CSL framework
are recognized to exhibit enhanced properties. Accordingly, the propor-
tion of special grain boundaries employing the Σ value was studied
across the weldment and the result is illustrated in Fig. 3d.
3.2.1. Austenitic stainless steel base metal
It is well known that deformed ASSs have high tendency to recrystal-
lize, either statically during or dynamically after rolling, when the tem-
perature exceeds a threshold, i.e. the recrystallization temperature.
Recrystallization of deformed metallic materials is accomplished by
the nucleation and growth of new undeformed grains into the neigh-
boring deformed matrix which is characterized by the formation and
migration of high angle grain boundaries [30]. As a result, recrystalliza-
tion generally causes new fine and equiaxed grains with HABs to form in
the microstructure.
Two third of the grain boundaries in the ASS base metal were LABs
and the remaining one third showed 60° twinning misorientation
among which, ten percent had Σ3 special character. Considering the
 A. Eghlimi et al. / Materials Characterization 106 (2015) 208–217
Fig. 4. Constant φ2 sections of the orientation distribution function in Euler space in multiples of random density (MRD) for (a) ASS base metal, austenite, (b) SDSS base metal, ferrite, and
(c) SDSS base metal, austenite.
inverse pole figure of this zone, illustrated in Fig. 2c1, it becomes clear
that most of the grains showed b111N║ND orientation. Thus, it can be
concluded that the ASS base metal microstructure was consisted of re-
crystallized equiaxed grains with LABs along with some 60° twin
boundaries with special character, especially Σ3, characterized by 60°
rotation around b111N axis.
3.2.2. Super duplex stainless steel base metal
As demonstrated in Fig. 3b, LABs and HABs were almost equally
scattered in both austenite and ferrite phases of the SDSS base metal.
The high fraction of HABs in the ferrite phase confirms that during the
hot rolling stage, the ferrite softened by dynamic recovery and substruc-
ture formation through continuous dynamic recrystallization mecha-
nism which can be observed in metals with high stacking fault energy
[8,9]. This mechanism is characterized by the transformation of LABs
into HABs due to the accumulation of dislocations on LABs that gradual-
ly increases the misorientation between adjacent subgrains and finally
213
leads to the formation of HABs when their misorientation angles reach
the critical value of 15°. Nevertheless, the austenite phase showed con-
siderable amount of HABs with Σ3 character which further confirms the
occurrence of recrystallization in the as-received parent metal.
3.2.3. Austenitic stainless steel heat affected zone
Since recrystallization components such as Goss and Cube were ob-
served in the ASS HAZ and because welding promoted the HABs and in-
creased the fraction of annealing twins with Σ3 boundaries in the ASS
HAZ, it can be concluded the ASS HAZ experienced a severe recrystalli-
zation. However, uncontrolled heating of this region and lack of second
pinning phase imposed grain coarsening. Thus, it can be concluded that
the welding process resulted in recrystallization and early stages of
grain growth on the ASS HAZ. Therefore, due to the higher fraction of
CSL boundaries in the ASS HAZ, if a crack is initiated in the ASS base
metal it cannot then readily propagate into the HAZ through grain
boundaries [31]. Interestingly, this behavior of grain boundaries is in
214 A. Eghlimi et al. / Materials Characterization 106 (2015) 208–217

Fig. 5. Constant φ2 sections of the orientation distribution function in Euler space in MRD for the (a) ASS HAZ, austenite, (b) ASS HAZ, ferrite, (c) SDSS HAZ, ferrite, and (d) SDSS HAZ,
austenite.

contradiction to the brittleness of coarse grains observed in the ASS HAZ
and thus, a transgranular fracture in the ASS HAZ is predictable.
3.2.4. Super duplex stainless steel heat affected zone
Similar to the ASS HAZ, the amount of HABs increased in the aus-
tenite phase of the SDSS HAZ after welding. Nevertheless, unlike ASS
HAZ which showed a great increase in the fraction of Σ3 boundaries,
the ratio of these boundaries in the SDSS HAZ slightly decreased.
However, as can be seen in Fig. 2, the PTA morphological shape in
the SDSS was dominated by high angle 60° annealing twins with
Σ3 special character. As previously discussed, these confirm the oc-
currence of partial ferritization followed by the recrystallization of
the residual austenite phase. A similar conclusion was drawn by
Badji et al. in gas tungsten arc welding of 2205 DSS [13]. According
to Tehovnik et al. [32], reheating of residual stress containing duplex
structures above 1000 °C can trigger the recrystallization, and since
such a temperature was readily available in the SDSS HAZ, recrystal-
lization of austenite was highly likely.
While the austenite was dominated by HABs, ferrite showed a sub-
stantial amount of subgrain boundaries, i.e. LABs. Such a contrasting be-
havior of austenite and ferrite phases is due to the different stacking
fault energies of these phases which imposes different deformation
mechanisms [29,30,33]. While the ferrite phase restores its energy
via recovery, i.e. rearrangement of accumulating lattice dislocations
through slip systems via formation of subgrains and substructures, the
lower stacking fault energy phase, i.e. austenite, normally recrystallizes
and forms recrystallized and/or twinned grains with high angle 60°
twin boundaries [34]. As previously mentioned, the driving force for
deformation of ferrite as well as recrystallization of austenite in the
HAZ is the presence of residual stresses.
 A. Eghlimi et al. / Materials Characterization 106 (2015) 208–217
Fig. 6. Constant φ2 sections of the orientation distribution function in Euler space in MRD for the ASS weld meal: (a) austenite and (b) skeletal ferrite.
3.2.5. Austenitic stainless steel weld metal
Although different in content, both microconstituents of the weld
metal were similarly predominated by LABs. Since this zone faced the
highest residual stress [35] and the least cooling rate, almost no recrys-
tallization occurred and as a consequence, it contained the highest
amount of subgrain boundaries. As a result, dislocation slip should be
the dominant deformation mechanism and thus, the weld metal should
have the least grain boundary stress and be the least susceptible area for
crack initiation. This also confirms the low cracking susceptibility of
weld metals that solidify in the ferritic–austenitic mode as is reported
in the literature [36].
3.3. Distribution of kernel average neighbor misorientation
The KANM results presented in Fig. 8 clearly confirm that compared
to the unaffected base metals, the KANM histogram of the weld metal
was quite flat with lower intensity at higher misorientation angles.
This indicates that the weld metal grains had the highest variations of
the strain and associated dislocation density. However, welding caused
some relaxation on both HAZs as it considerably lowered the max inten-
sities of KANM values and also reduced the total amount of residual
strain which is roughly equal to the surface area under the KANM
Fig. 7. Pole figures of (a) austenite and (b) ferrite phases in the weld metal.
215
curve. This happened mainly due to the presence of high amounts of re-
sidual strains in the as-received rolled base metals which encouraged
static recrystallization of HAZ grains upon exceeding the recrystalliza-
tion temperature [32] and also the compressive residual stresses im-
posed by welding [35] which negated the tensile stresses remained
after rolling.
Moreover, comparing the KANM values between the HAZs elucidates
that the SDSS HAZ showed peaks at higher KANM values and thus, it can
be deduced that it accommodated more strain than the ASS HAZ. This is
due to the dual phase nature of this zone which impeded extensive static
recrystallization and grain growth and thus, led to higher residual strain.
3.4. Texture intensity
Comparing the intensity of inverse pole figures and orientation
distribution functions, it can be clearly observed that in the SDSS base
metal and HAZ, the texture of the austenite phase was always weaker
than that of the ferrite. In the literature [13,37,38], this is attributed to
the lower degree of lattice freedom during the solid state transforma-
tion of daughter austenite phase from the parent ferrite phase. More-
over, it can be seen that the welding process had different influences
on the texture of microconstituents in the SDSS HAZ; it intensified the
texture of the ferrite while weakened that of the austenite. As previ-
ously mentioned, the strengthening of the ferrite texture is due to
ferritization and reorientation of grains in the thermal gradient direc-
tion, while the reduction of austenite texture intensity is due to its
dissolution during ferritization and also occurrence of partial static re-
crystallization, as is evident from the presence of strong Cube compo-
nents in both HAZ [9]. It should be noted that the austenite phase in
the ASS and SDSS HAZ showed a similar behavior regarding the changes
in texture intensity.
Furthermore, on both sides, the weld metal adjoining the fusion line
(delineated by WM → ASS HAZ and WM → SDSS HAZ in Fig. 9) had
stronger texture intensity than the weld metal centerline. As previously
confirmed in the literature [2,3] and as is evident from the inverse pole
figure maps presented in Fig. 2, the high intensity of texture at the inter-
faces is due to the preferential orientation of solidified grains toward
their easy growth direction, i.e. b001 N, which is aligned in the maxi-
mum thermal gradient direction, i.e. perpendicular to the fusion lines.
216 A. Eghlimi et al. / Materials Characterization 106 (2015) 208–217
Fig. 8. Distribution of KANM across the austenitic stainless steel (ASS) and super duplex stainless steel (SDSS) base metals (BMs), heat affected zones (HAZs), and ASS weld metal (WM) for
body-centered cubic (BCC) ferrite and face-centered cubic (FCC) austenite phases.
It can also be noticed that the weakest texture belonged to the weld
metal where the microstructure evolved upon solidification. Because a
single-V joint design was used, the maximum temperature gradient di-
rections, i.e. lines perpendicular to the bevels of the V-shaped groove,
had opposing directions at the weld centerline and led to a complicated
thermal gradient in this region. Moreover, as the distance from the fusion
lines increased, the steep thermal gradient diminished and planar and
cellular morphologies were replaced by equiaxed grains [2,35]. During
welding, the higher the cooling rate and thermal gradient, the stronger
the unidirectional solidification texture [17,39]; thus, as opposed to the
interfaces between HAZs and weld metal, the central regions experienced
higher cooling times and therefore, had less tendency for competitive
growth and formation of a unidirectional texture.
4. Conclusion
This study addressed the evolution of microstructure and texture
across an as-welded dissimilar austenitic/duplex stainless steel joint
welded by an austenitic stainless steel filler metal. The major conclu-
sions drawn from this research are as follow:
• The as-received ASS base metal had a weak alloy type texture with
equiaxed grains indicating a recrystallized microstructure. The SDSS
base metal, however, showed α-BCC fiber and partially recrystallized
austenite grains typical of hot rolled SDSSs.
Fig. 9. Distribution of texture intensities of austenite and ferrite microconstituents across the different regions of the weldment: base metals (BMs), heat affected zones (HAZs), and weld
metal (WM).
• After welding, annealing twins were formed and components of γ and
β fibers were consumed at the expense of strengthening of Goss and
Cube orientations in the ASS HAZ through recrystallization. Moreover,
due to the thermal conductivity difference of base metals and lack of a
second pinning phase, extensive grain growth in the ASS HAZ was ob-
served. These phenomena however led to lower residual strain in the
ASS HAZ compared to the SDSS HAZ.
• On a small area adjacent to the fusion line, the grains of both HAZs
were aligned preferentially in b001N║ND orientation. This zone was
consisted of skeletal ferrite morphology in an austenitic matrix at
ASS HAZ and was dominated by recrystallized partially transformed
grains in a deformed ferrite matrix at SDSS HAZ. As a consequence
of these transformations and due to the presence of residual strain,
the ferrite showed a substantial amount of subgrain boundaries,
while the austenite was dominated by high angle annealing twins
characterized by Σ3 CSL boundaries.
• Although the weld metal grains showed a strong b001N║ND orienta-
tion, the weakest texture was found at the weld metal centerline
which experienced the least amount of thermal undercooling. This re-
gion also showed large colonies with similar orientation as well as the
highest fraction of low angle boundaries together with the lowest
ratio of special character CSL boundaries. It contained skeletal ferrite
in an austenitic matrix with cub-on-cube orientation relationship
and accommodated the highest amount of residual strain.
 A. Eghlimi et al. / Materials Characterization 106 (2015) 208–217
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