• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.111-120
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• 1998

To predict and evaluate metallurgical and mechanical behavior of th welds, it is essential to understand solidification behavior and microstructural evolution experienced in the welds, neither of which follows the equilibrium phase diagram because of rapid heating and cooling conditions. Metallurgical phenomena in austenitic stainless steel fusion welds, types 304, 309S, 316L, 321 and 304N, were investigated in this study. Autogenous GTA welding was performed on weld coupons, and primary solidification mode and phase distribution were investigated from the welds. Varestraint test was employed to evaluate solidification cracking susceptibilities of the alloys. GTA weld fusion zones in type 304, 321 and 304N stainless steels experienced primary ferrite solidification while those in type 309S primary austenite solidification. Type 316L exhibited a mixed type of primary ferrite and primary austenite solidification. The primary solidification mode strongly depended on $Cr_{eq}/Ni_{eq}$ ratio. In terms of solidification cracking susceptibility, type 309S that solidified as primary austenite exhibited high cracking susceptibility while the alloys experienced primary ferrite solidification showed low cracking susceptibility. The relative ranking in solidification cracking susceptibility was type 304=type 304N < type 321 < type 316L < type 309S.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.372-379
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• 1990

The effect of primary solidification phase on the solidification cracking sensitivity, corrosion resistance and toughness at cryogenic temperature was investigated for the austenitic stainless steel welds. The conclusions were summarized as follows; 1. Soldification crack sensitivity of austenitic stainless steel welds depends on the primary solidification mode. 2. Austenitic stainless steels were very susceptible to solidification cracking in case of solidification as primary ${\gamma}$ and immune when solidified as primary $\delta$. 3. When the ratio of Creq/Nieq is in the range of 1.46 to 1.55, the most resistance against solidification cracking was obtained. These results agreed well with the relationship between primary solidification mode, corrosion resistance and toughness at cryogenic temperature. 4. Optimum toughness, corrosion and solidification cracking resistance can be obtained when alloys having chemical compositions described above and solidifies as primary $\delta$ containing no ferrite at room temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.372-379
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• 2003

The problems encountered by ultrasonic testing of austenitic stainless steel weld joints are discussed in the paper. Due to low thermal conductivity and the occurrence of single phase between the melting point and the room temperature, coarse and oriented grains are formed in such weld metals more in thick sections. This leads to higher scattering at the grain boundaries and low signal to noise ratio, and extensive beam skewing. Experimental results to understand these problem are explained.

• International Journal of Korean Welding Society
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.29-33
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• 2003

The ferritic stainless steels are generally considered to have poor weldability compared with that of the austenitic stainless steels. However the primary advantages of ferritic stainless steels include lower material cost than the more commonly used austenitic stainless steels and a greater resistance to stress corrosion cracking. Thus, the weldability of ferritic stainless steels was investigated in this study. In concerning the weldability, Grain size measurement test, Erichsen test and Varestraint test were involved. full penetration welds were produced by autogeneous direct current straight polarity (DCSP) and pulsed currents gas tungsten arc welding (GIAW) and the effect of pulsed currents welding on the welds was compared to that of DCSP welding. The results showed that pulsed current was effective to refine grain size in the weld metal and the finest grain size was obtained at the frequency of 150Hz. In addition, the ductility of welds was lower than that of base metal. Finally, autogeneous type 444 welds were less susceptible to macro solidification cracks, but more sensitive to micro cracks; SEM/EDS analysis indicated that all the inclusions in the crack showed enrichment of Mn, Si, O and S.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.92-100
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• 2017

Due to the presence of ferrite phase in the finished welds, austenitic stainless steel welds (ASSWs) are considered susceptible to the thermal aging embrittlement during long-term service in light water reactor environment. In this study, the thermal aging embrittlement of typical ASSWs, E308 and ER316L welds, were evaluated after the long-term exposure up to 20,000 h at $400^{\circ}C$, which is considered as an accelerated thermal aging condition. After thermal aging, the decrease of tensile ductility and fracture toughness was observed. The microstructure observation with high resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed that spinodal decomposition in ferrite phase of both E308 and ER316L welds would be the main cause of the degradation of mechanical properties. Also, it was shown that the difference of thermal ageing embrittlement between ER316L and E308 welds was significant, such that the reduction of fracture resistance for ER316L weld was much larger than that of E308 weld.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.54-60
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• 2016

In order to quantitatively evaluate the solidification cracking susceptibility in laser welds of three types of austenitic stainless steels (type 310: A mode, type 316-A: AF mode, type 316-B: FA mode solidifications), the laser beam welding (LBW) transverse-Varestraint tests consisted of multi-mode fiber laser, welding robot and hydraulic pressure system were performed. As the welding speed increased from 1.67 to 40.0 mm/s, the solidification brittle temperature range (BTR) of laser welds for type 316 stainless steels enlarged (316-A: from 37 to 46 K, 316-B: from 14 to 40 K), while the BTR for type 310 stainless steel reduced from 146 to 120 K. In other words, it founds that solidification cracking susceptibility could not be simply mitigated through application of LBW process, and the BTR variation behavior is quite different upon solidification mode of austenitic stainless steels.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.147-154
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• 2017

Duplex stainless steel finds increasing use as an alternative to austenitic stainless steel, particularly where chloride or sulphide stress corrosion cracking is of primary concern, due to the excellent combination of strength and corrosion resistance. During welding, duplex stainless steel does not create the same magnitude or distribution of weld-induced residual stresses as those in welded austenitic stainless steel due to the different physical and mechanical properties between them. In this work, an experimental study on the residual stresses in butt-welded duplex stainless steel is performed utilizing the layering technique to investigate the characteristics of residual stresses in the weldment.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.317-327
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• 2024

This study investigated the chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking (CISCC) behavior expected to occur in welds of austenitic stainless steel, which are considered candidate materials for dry storage containers for spent nuclear fuel. The behavior was studied by varying temperature, relative humidity (RH), and chloride concentration. 304L-ER308L welded plates were processed into U-bend specimens and exposed to a cyclic corrosion chamber for 12 weeks. The CISCC behavior was then analyzed using electron microscopy. A previous study by the authors confirmed that CISCC occurred in ER308L at 60 ℃, 30% RH, and 0.6 M NaCl via selective corrosion of δ-ferrite. When the temperature was lowered from 60 ℃ to 50 ℃, CISCC still occurred. However, when the humidity was reduced to 20% RH, CISCC did not happen. This can be attributed to the retardation of the deliquescence of NaCl at lower humidity, which was insufficient to promote CISCC. Furthermore, increased chloride concentration to 1.0 M resulted in the absence of CISCC and widespread surface corrosion with severe pitting corrosion because of the increase in thin film thickness.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2010

Ultrasonic inspection of heavy walled cast austenitic stainless steel(CASS)welds is very difficult due to complex and coarse grained structure of CASS material. The large size of anisotropic grain strongly affects the propagation of ultrasound by severe attenuation, change in velocity, and scattering of ultrasonic energy. therefore, the signal patterns originated from flaws can be difficult to distinguish from scattered signals. To improve detection and sizing capability of ID connected defect for heavy walled CASS piping welds, the low frequency segmented TRL Pulse Echo and Phased Array probe has been developed. The experimental studies have been performed using CASS pipe mock-up block containing artificial reflectors(ID connected EDM notch). The automatic pulse echo and phase array technique is applied the detection and the length sizing of the ID connected artificial reflectors and the results for detection and sizing has been compared respectively. The goal of this study is to assess a newly developed ultrasonic probe to improve the detection ability and the sizing of the crack in coarse-grained CASS components.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.59-69
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• 2000

The purpose of the present study was to investigate weld metallurgical phenomena such as primary solidification mode, microstructural evolution and hot cracking susceptibility in nitrogen-bearing austenitic stainless steel GTA welds. Eight experimental heats varying nitrogen content from 0.007 to 0.23 wt.% were used in this study. Autogenous GTA welding was performed on weld coupons and the primary solidification mode and their microstructural characteristics were investigated from the fusion welds. Varestraint test was employed to evaluate the solidification cracking susceptibility of the heats and TCL(Total Crack Length) was used as cracking susceptibility index. The solidification mode shifted from primary ferrite to primary austenite with an increase in nitrogen content. Retained delta ferrite exhibited a variety of morphology as nitrogen content varied. The weld fusion zone exhibited duplex structure(austenite+ferrite) at nitrogen contents less than 0.10 wt.% but fully austenitic structure at nitrogen contents more than 0.20 wt.%. The weld fusion zone in alloys with about 0.15 wt.% nitrogen experienced primary austenite + primary ferrite solidification (mode AF) and contained delta ferrite less than 1% at room temperature. Regarding to solidification cracking susceptibility, the welds with fully austenitic structure exhibited high cracking susceptibility while those with duplex structure low susceptibility. The cracking susceptibility increased slowly with an increase in nitrogen content up to 0.20 wt.% but sharply as nitrogen content exceeded 0.20 wt.%, which was attributed to solidification mode shift fro primary ferrite to primary austenite single phase solidification.