Corrosion Science 53 (2011) 37563763

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Corrosion Science
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/corsci

The effect of large heat input on the microstructure and corrosion behaviour of simulated heat affected zone in 2205 duplex stainless steel
Yinhui Yang , Biao Yan , Jie Li, Jia Wang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China Shanghai Key Lab of D&A for Metal-Functional Materials, Shanghai 200092, PR China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
In the simulated heat affected zone of 2205 duplex stainless steels, effects of large welding heat inputs on the microstructure and corrosion behaviour were investigated. Reformed austenite content increased with the coarsening of grain boundary austenite (GBA) and the growth of intragranular austenite (IGA) and Widmanstatten austenite (WA), thus improving the low temperature toughness and affecting corrosion state. Reduction of chromium nitrides contributed to better resistance to pitting corrosion. Moreover, the pitting corrosion and intergranular corrosion were improved resulting from the formation of more GBA and WA. The specimen with a Dt8/5 of 100 s presents better comprehensive performance. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 28 December 2010 Accepted 16 July 2011 Available online 22 July 2011 Keywords: A. Stainless steel B. Thermal cycling C. Pitting corrosion C. Intergranular corrosion

1. Introduction The application of a steel as structure material is highly inuenced by its weldability. Thus, it is of great signicance to improve welding efciency without sacricing the performance of welded joint. The implementation of large welding heat input to large-size workpieces has always been an effective way to promote productivity, e.g. the connection of oil pipelines. However, among the three parts of a welded joint the base metal, the weld metal and the heat affected zone (HAZ), the strength and the corrosion resistance of the HAZ are the most easily degraded properties because of the intermetallic precipitation and grain coarsening. At present, the low carbon steels are commonly used as pipeline materials, whose coarse grain HAZ (CGHAZ) can lead to degraded mechanical properties [1]. By comparison, duplex stainless steels (DSSs) which contain both ferrite and austenite phases exhibit better mechanical properties and corrosion resistance, as well as better weldability and lower sensitivity to the weld cracking. This enables various types of DSSs to be used in certain elds such as oil and gas, chemical, paper, petrochemical, desalination, and power generation [26]. 2205 DSS (UNS S 31803) is one of the most common kinds of DSSs with the volume fraction of each phase above 30%. The good mechanical property and corrosion resistance depend largely upon the proper austeniteferrite balance [7,8]. Nevertheless, during

welding, the phase ratio (c/d) in either the fusion zone or the HAZ tends to deviate from 1:1, which considerably inuences mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. After the homogenized microstructure was obtained at the welding peak temperature, the rapid microstructural changes can be induced by the phase transformation during the cooling. Particularly, it is reported that the microstructure of the HAZ in DSSs presents degraded chemicals and impact properties compared with that of the nely solubilized steels [9,10]. Meanwhile, the slow cooling rate (with large heat input) can lead to favourable high reformed austenite content in DSSs, thus affecting the corrosion behaviour and some mechanical properties of the simulated HAZ [11]. Therefore, it is crucial to improve the performance of HAZ with appropriate heat input. Although certain amount of research work has been carried out on the microstructure and pitting corrosion in the HAZ of DSSs [12,13], no systematic build-up on the effects of large heat input on a microstructure and corrosion behaviour in the HAZ of DSSs has been proposed. It is not clear whether DSSs are suitable for high current and large heat input welding as well. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of large heat input on the microstructure and corrosion behaviour of the simulated HAZ in 2205 DSSs, and obtain an appropriate heat input range for improving the welding efciency. 2. Experimental method 2.1. Materials and heat treatment The material investigated was a commercial standard duplex stainless steel 2205 plate (UNS31803) with the composition shown

Corresponding authors at: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji

University, Shanghai 200092, PR China. Tel.: +86 21 659 811 78; fax: +86 21 659 853 85. E-mail address: yanbiao_tj@163.com (B. Yan). 0010-938X/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.corsci.2011.07.022

Y. Yang et al. / Corrosion Science 53 (2011) 37563763 Table 1 Chemical composition (wt.%) of the alloy used. C 0.023 Mn 1.35 Si 0.38 S 0.001 P 0.026 Ni 4.83 Cr 22.07 Mo 2.37 N 0.19 Fe Bal.

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in Table 1. Prior to weld simulation, the steel plate was subjected to a solution treatment at 1060 C for 30 min, and then quenched in water to get the homogenized structures. The specimens, with dimensions of 11 11 80 mm, were cut from a 12 mm-thickplate with the grains elongated in the rolling direction. The Gleeble 3800 thermo-mechanical simulator was used for the welding HAZ simulation, and its thermal cycles are schematically shown in Fig. 1. It can be observed that the cooling rate will be reduced with longer cooling time. The specimens were heated to a peak temperature of 1345 C at the rate of 400 C/s, held for 1 s and then cooled at various rates to simulate different heat inputs. It is considered a typical temperature range of 1200800 C for the formation of austenite and precipitation in DSSs. However, the cooling time from 800 to 500 C (Dt8/5) is relatively easier to be measured accurately than that from 1200 to 800 C (Dt12/8). Thus, we can calculate the Dt12/8 by measuring the Dt8/5 merely and following the Eq. (1) [13],

Dt 8 = 5 Dt 12=8

1 1 800 500T 0 2 T 0 2 1 1 800T 0 2 1200T 0 2

where T0 = starting temperature (C). Therefore, the Dt8/5 was preferably tested to represent the cooling time of welding thermal cycle. The relationship between the Dt8/5 and heat input follows the Eq. (2) [6].

Q kDt 8=5 1=2 d

where Q is heat input (J mm1), d is the thickness (11 mm), k is the thermal coefcient (25.52 J mm2 s1/2) for DSSs. As the Dt8/5 includes 20, 50, 80, 100 and 120 s, the corresponding heat inputs are 1.26, 1.98, 2.51, 2.81 and 3.08 kJ mm1, respectively. 2.2. Microstructural characterization and corrosion resistance tests The thermal cycle samples, used for microstructural observation and corrosion resistance tests, were cut along the section of the thermocouple position. To observe the microstructure, the mechanically polished samples longitudinal to the rolling direction

were electrolytically etched in 40 wt.% KOH solutions at 6 V for 15 s, and then examined by optical microscope (OM). To identify the precipitates, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM Phillips XL30 FEG) with an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) detector and a transmission electron microscope was used. The TEM thin foils were prepared by jet polishing in a mixture of 10% perchloric acid and 90% methyl alcohol at 253 K and 15 V. Specimens of 10 10 55 mm were manufactured for Charpy impact test (Vnotch) at 40 C. Phase volume fractions were obtained using the method of manual point count according to ASTM E 562 as follows [14]: the magnication of the micrograph was 500 and the grid size (number of points) was 25. Any point that fell on the phase studied was counted as one, otherwise zero. In addition, the point fell on the boundary was counted as a half. The ferrite grain size was measured by the linear intercept method. Then, the corrosion resistance evaluation was carried out by means of anodic potentiodynamic polarization measurement in a deaerated 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution at 30 C, which was comprised of three electrodes. A platinum foil and a saturated calomel electrode (SCE) were used as the counter and reference electrodes, respectively. The specimens, embedded in epoxy resin with an exposure area of 100 mm2, acted as a working electrode. Prior to each experiment, the specimens were ground mechanically up to 2000 grit, rinsed with distilled water and dried in hot air. Anodic potentiodynamic polarization was tested through linear sweep technique at a sweep rate of 0.1 mV/s, from the free corrosion potential to 1200 mV(SCE). All potentials are given against the SCE. After that, SEM was used to observe corrosion morphology. The susceptibility to intergranular corrosion (IGC) was evaluated by Double-loop electrochemical potentiokinetic reactivation (DL-EPR) test, which was conducted in a solution containing 1 M H2SO4, 0.5 M NaCl and 0.01 M KSCN at 30 1 C at a scan rate of 1 mV/s. The KSCN and NaCl were used to break the passive lm during the reactivation cycle of the tests [15], and the three-electrode cell was also used in the DL-EPR test. The potential is scanned in the anodic direction from corrosion potential (Ecorr) to a point of 0.250 V(SCE) in the middle of the passive region. Next, the scanning direction is reversed and the potential is reduced back to the cathodic region, so an anodic loop and a reactivation loop are generated. The maximum current density (Ia) in the anodic scan loop and the maximum current density (Ir) in the reversed scan loop were measured simultaneously. The degree of sensitization (Ra) was measured by the given formula of (Ir/Ia) 100%.

3. Results and discussion 3.1. Microstructural characterization Fig. 2 shows the optical microstructure of the specimen after the solution treatment at 1060 C for 30 min. The austenite phase (c) is shown as white while the gray region is the d-ferrite phase (d). As shown in this gure, the island-like c phase was surrounded by the continuous matrix of the d-ferrite phase. The volume fraction counting results showed that the specimens contained 53.2% c and 46.8% d-ferrite after the solution treatment, indicating a good balance of both phases. Fig. 3 shows the effect of the cooling time (Dt8/5) on the microstructural changes in the simulated HAZ of 2205 DSSs. At 1345 C, most of c phases were dissolved while d-ferrite phases kept stable after being held for 1 s. Besides, a little amount of the c phase remained, referred to as partially transformed austenite (PTA), had some effects on hindering the growth of d-ferrite grains [16]. With a Dt8/5 of 20 s, the grain boundary austenite (GBA) was initially formed in the interfaces between d-ferrite grains, and a little

Fig. 1. Thermal cycles of Gleeble simulation.

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Fig. 2. Optical microstructure of 2205 DSS solution treated at 1060 C for 30 min.

intragranular austenite (IGA) appeared within the d-ferrite grains (Fig. 3a). In addition to GBA and IGA, the Widmanstatten austenite

(WA) along the d-ferrite grain boundaries began to grow into the interior, and the IGA became coarser when the Dt8/5 was increased to 50 s (Fig. 3b). Both the amount of WA and IGA increased and the GBA coarsened much more at a much slower cooling rate (Dt8/5 = 80 s, 100 s), as shown in Fig. 3c and d respectively. As the Dt8/5 was increased to 120 s, it can be observed explicitly that a large amount of WA and IGA formed within d-ferrite grains, and the volume fraction of reformed austenite reached 44.5% by manual point count measurement. Thus, the amount of reformed austenite (GBA, WA and IGA) increased by increasing welding heat input. This can be understood by that prolonging the cooling time would increase the transformation time, so the diffusion of c-stabilizing elements such as nitrogen and nickel was enhanced and more austenite was transformed from d-ferrite. Fig. 4 shows the TEM micrographs and diffraction patterns as the Dt8/5 ranged from 20 to 120 s. It was reported that Cr2N is the main precipitate that was formed in the simulated HAZ of DSSs [17,18]. However, in this study, two types of precipitates were observed in simulated HAZ with a Dt8/5 of 20 s, which were identied as tetragonal-like Cr2N (Fig. 4a and b) and platelet-like CrN (Fig. 4c and d), respectively by diffraction pattern analysis. It was also

Fig. 3. Optical microstructure of the HAZ of 2205 DSS after different cooling time treatments: (a) Dt8/5 = 20 s; (b) Dt8/5 = 50 s; (c) Dt8/5 = 80 s; (d) Dt8/5 = 100 s; (e) Dt8/5 = 120 s.

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Fig. 4. The transmission electron microscopy graphs of the HAZ: (a) The tetragonal-like Cr2N precipitate and (b) its diffraction pattern; (c) The tiny platelet-like CrN precipitate and (d) its diffraction pattern; (e) CrN and Cr2N precipitates with a Dt8/5 of 20 s; (f) The morphology of ferrite matrix with a Dt8/5 of 120 s.

observed that the amount of CrN precipitates was higher than that of Cr2N, and these nitrides was formed primarily on the ferrite phase, with little amount on the austenite phase. Fig. 4e showed a large amount of CrN and Cr2N precipitates appeared on the ferrite phase with a Dt8/5 of 20 s. As the Dt8/5 was increased to 120 s, it is apparently shown in Fig. 4f that such nitrides are relatively scarce, which may be related to the reformation of more austenite at a much slower cooling rate. 3.2. Effect of cooling time on the ferrite grain size and austenite content in simulated HAZ The d-ferrite grain size as a function of the Dt8/5 is schematically presented in Fig. 5a. It can be seen that the d-ferrite grain size increased by prolonging the Dt8/5, and the larger heat input was applied to the specimens, the coarser d-ferrite grains became. It is noted that longer dwelling time of peak temperature and slower cooling rate both contribute to larger d-ferrite grain size in the

simulated HAZ. However, in this experiment, where the dwelling time was short as 1s, thus the cooling rate became the dominant factor to the grain coarsening. With a Dt8/5 of 80 s, the ferrite grain size was 40 lm larger than that with a Dt8/5 of 20 s, and as the Dt8/5 was increased to 120 s, the ferrite grain size was large as 298 lm. According to the HallPetch relationship, the grain size is inherently relevant to the strength of steel [19]. Therefore, the strength of HAZ is degraded to some extent due to coarsening of d-ferrite grains. The effect of different cooling time on the austenite content in simulated HAZ is shown in Fig. 5b. With a Dt8/5 of 20 s, the austenite volume fraction was 30.9% and was consisted mainly of GBA. When the Dt8/5 was increased to 80 s, the WA and IGA grew quickly, which led to a rapid increase in the amount of reformed austenite. As the Dt8/5 prolonged to 100 s, the growth of austenite content got slower due to slower growth of WA and IGA. When the Dt8/5 was increased to 120 s, the austenite content became higher because of the coarsening of WA and the formation of more IGA

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Fig. 5. The effect of cooling time on the (a) ferrite grain size and (b) austenite content in simulated HAZ.

within d-ferrite grains, which was attributed to longer cooling time corresponding to larger heat input [15].

3.4. X-ray diffractions and electron dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analyses Fig. 7 presents the spectra for as-received and other samples with different cooling time. As shown in Fig. 7a, the major peak intensities of d-ferrite and c did not differ signicantly, indicating a good balance of the two phases in the as-received specimens. The c ? d transformation nished quite well at the welding peak temperature of 1345 C, leaving nearly complete ferritic microstructure by the rapid heating [22]. Then, with a Dt8/5 of 20 s (Fig. 7b), the d ? c transformation proceeded but the major peak intensity of the c phase decreased rapidly compared to the d-ferrite phase at a high cooling rate. Moreover, the major peak intensity of the c phase was enhanced due to a prolonged cooling time of 50 s (Fig. 7c). At the lowest cooling rate, where the Dt8/5 was 120 s (Fig. 7d), the major peak intensities of d/c phases varied slightly with larger heat inputs, indicating a relatively large volume fraction of reformed austenite was obtained. Table 2 lists the chemical compositions of GBA, WA, IGA and dferrite determined by EDS in the simulated HAZ. A common method to rank the pitting susceptibility in stainless steels is using the pitting resistance equivalent number (PREN). The PREN is linked to the content of three of the most essential elements Cr, Mo and N, each of them weighted according to its inuence on pitting: PREN = % Cr + 3.3% Mo + 30% N. This new formula was employed in this investigation instead of the traditional one (% Cr + 3.3% Mo + 16% N) for the following reasons. Nitrogen is almost completely solutionized in the austenite phase whereas it is rarely

3.3. Effect of cooling time on the impact toughness and hardness variation The microhardness value of the ferrite and austenite phases in simulated HAZ as a function of the Dt8/5 is plotted in Fig. 6a. The microhardness value ranged from 230 to 260 HV. With a Dt8/5 of 20 s, the microhardness value of the ferrite was high in large part due to a high d-ferrite content. Moreover, a relative large amount of nitrides precipitates within ferrite grains also accounted for the high microhardness value of the ferrite [3,20]. By prolonging the Dt8/5, GBA coarsened and the amount of WA and IGA increased rapidly. This lead to a decrease in the microhardness value. In comparison, the microhardness value of the austenite phase remained stable around 225 HV, slightly lower than that of the ferrite phase [21]. The impact energy (Akv) as a function of Dt8/5 is shown in Fig. 6b. As can be seen, the impact toughness was improved with longer Dt8/5 on the whole, which is indicated by ever-increasing Akv. In detail, when the Dt8/5 was between 20 and 100 s, the Akv kept a good linear relationship with the Dt8/5. Moreover, the Akv went up markedly after a Dt8/5 of 100 s, which highly matches the curvilinear trend in the Fig. 5b. This could be interpreted by the fact that increasing the amount of reformed austenite leads to the high value of Akv with a prolonging Dt8/5.

Fig. 6. The effect of different Dt8/5 on the (a) microhardness and (b) impact energy (Akv) in simulated HAZ.

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Fig. 7. X-ray diffraction patterns in the HAZ of 2205 DSS (a) as-received specimen; and the specimens treated for different cooling time: (b) Dt8/5 = 20 s; (c) Dt8/5 = 50 s; (d) Dt8/5 = 120 s.

Table 2 The chemical compositions (wt.%) and PREN values of different phases with Dt8/5 in the HAZ.

Dt8/5
20

Phase GBA WA IGA Ferrite GBA WA IGA Ferrite GBA WA IGA Ferrite GBA WA IGA Ferrite

Cr 21.86 21.78 20.01 21.85 21.79 21.68 20.02 21.92 21.81 21.7 19.99 21.88 21.79 21.66 19.98 21.85

Ni 5.71 5.76 5.82 4.57 5.72 5.68 5.85 4.56 5.74 5.63 5.88 4.48 5.69 5.61 6.01 4.41

Mo 2.26 2.12 1.95 2.71 2.25 2.09 2.02 2.79 2.23 2.11 2.03 2.7 2.28 2.32 2.03 2.68

Na 0.19

PREN 35.02 34.48 32.15 32.29 34.92 34.28 32.39 32.63 34.87 34.36 32.39 32.29 35.01 35.01 32.38 32.19

50

0.05 0.19

80

0.05 0.19

120

0.05 0.19

0.05

Nitrogen in ferrite is taken as the saturation value of 0.05%.

solutionized in the d-ferrite phase in DSSs. The solubility of nitrogen in the ferrite phase of DSSs has a maximum value of 0.05 wt.%. The addition of nitrogen can change the partitioning coefcients for chromium and molybdenum between d-ferrite and c phases. As a result, nitrogen increases the PREN of c-phase in DSSs considerably and thus increases the resistance to pitting corrosion of the c phase, compared with that of the d-ferrite phase. For these reasons, Bernhardsson [23] proposed that the PREN coefcient for the nitrogen content in the DSS was almost doubled, from 16 to 30. Because rapid cooling rate enabled nitride oversaturated in ferrite, it is reasonable to reckon the content of

nitrogen in ferrite uniformly as the maximum value of 0.05 wt.% since it is hard to be measured [24]. It is noted that nearly all the c phase can transform to d-ferrite at the welding peak temperature. Under this condition, the content of nitrogen was roughly equal to the average nitrogen content in the as-received specimen. Because nitrogen is easily solutionized in austenite, the actual content of nitrogen in the reformed austenite should be a little higher than the average level. Hence, the content of nitrogen in austenite can be reckoned as 0.19 wt.%, as the same content in the asreceived specimen. As illustrated in Table 2, the content of chromium in different phases varied a little, with the highest in GBA, close to that in ferrite, and the lowest in IGA, which may largely rely upon the extent of the element diffusion with different heat input. The formation of GBA was fast so that chromium did not have time to partition completely between d-ferrite and c phases, leaving chromium rich in GBA. On the contrary, it took rather longer time for IGA to be formed, thus sparing more time for chromium atoms to partition well to ferrite. By prolonging the Dt8/5, the PREN of IGA was drawing closer to that of ferrite, while the gap between the PREN of GBA and WA and that of ferrite remained signicant. Hence, the microstructural evolution with larger heat inputs indicated an improvement in pitting corrosion resistance due to the variation of Cr content and the PREN value [25]. 3.5. Potentiodynamic polarization analyses As shown in Fig. 8, the inuence of the Dt8/5 on the pitting corrosion resistance was evaluated by potentiodynamic polarization measurements in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution at 30 C. The anodic polarization curves provide useful information concerning the potential range over which a material is susceptible to pitting corrosion. The

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Fig. 8. Potentiodynamic polarization curves obtained for simulated HAZ in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution at 30 C with different cooling time treatment.

variation in the corrosion potential (Ecorr) of different polarization curves was trivial, with their values around 250 mV (SCE). It can be observed that some small oscillation current peaks occurred between 80 to 280 mV (SCE), which is associated with metastable events [26,27]. The current sharply increased with the scanning potential, indicating the onset of pitting and the transition point was used to dene the pitting potential (Epit). As the Dt8/5 was increased from 20 to 120 s, the corresponding pitting potentials (Epit) were 0.302, 0.378, 0.441, 0.446 and 0.637 V (SCE), respectively. This suggests that the Epit was shifted to nobler value with larger heat inputs and the pitting corrosion resistance was thus improved to a certain extent. This can be explained by that larger heat input favored the formation of reformed austenite, thus reducing the amount of chromium nitrides precipitates like CrN and Cr2N. In the simulated HAZ, these nitrides were prone to precipitate with high ferrite content at low heat input [14], causing chromiumdepleted region around them and inducing preferential sites for pitting corrosion [20,21]. On the other hand, larger heat inputs led to the growth of GBA and WA with higher PREN value, which increased the pitting corrosion resistance as well. After potentiodynamic polarization tests under different Dt8/5, the SEM micrographs of pitting corrosion in the simulated HAZ of DSSs are depicted in Fig. 9. As can be observed, pitting corrosion occurred primarily within the ferrite grains with a Dt8/5 of 20 s (Fig. 9a). It is well established that ferrite is the dominating phase through faster cooling, which results in more nitride precipitation owing to lower nitrogen solubility than austenite [18]. Moreover, the above TEM results also showed that a large amount of CrN and Cr2N precipitation was formed within ferrite with lower heat input. Thus, pitting corrosion could occur easily on the chromium-depleted region induced by the nitrides precipitation. By prolonging the Dt8/5 to 80 s (Fig. 9b), the pits were observed on the ferrite and IGA, also with a very little amount of compound inclusion formed. Identied by the EDS result, the compound inclusion was composed of OMnAlSiCa (Fig. 9e), which can be observed both in the as-received and other HAZ specimens with different heat inputs. The incoherence between the inclusions and the adjacent region could trigger the localized corrosion on their interface. With a Dt8/5 of 100 s (Fig. 9c), as more reformed austenite was formed and grew, many of pits were observed on the IGA. When the Dt8/5 was increased to 120 s (Fig. 9), some pits were formed on the IGA, the others were on ferrite. As indicated in Table 2, the lower PREN of IGA than GBA and WA accounted for its degraded pitting corrosion resistance, which was consistent with

Fig. 9. The SEM morphology of pits formed on 2205 DSS after potentiodynamic test: (a) Dt8/5 = 20 s; (b) Dt8/5 = 80 s; (c) Dt8/5 = 100 s; (d) Dt8/5 = 120 s; (e) the EDS spectrum of inclusion shown in (b).

the results from SEM micrographs analyses. In addition, a very little amount of compound inclusion was observed in the as-received and other HAZ specimens with different heat inputs. 3.6. Evaluation of intergranular corrosion by DL-ERP tests DL-EPR tests were employed to evaluate the degree of sensitization of the simulated HAZ for the specimens. The lower value of the degree of sensitization is, the better resistance to intergranular corrosion (IGC) is obtained. The DL-EPR curves for the specimens with various Dt8/5 are compared in Fig. 10. In addition, Table 3 lists the summary of Ia, Ir, and Ra determined by the DL-EPR test results. Among these, Ia as anodic activation peak current density, was almost the same for all the specimens, indicating that the presence of reformed austenite did not show obvious effects on the anodic active dissolution. And the Ir values which were small at about 50 mV (SCE), decreased with longer cooling time. Therefore, the DL-EPR test results indicated that the degree of sensitization (Ir/Ia) of the simulated HAZ decreased by increasing heat inputs, suggesting an improved resistance to IGC. This is probably because much more GBA was formed at the d/d boundary interfaces by increasing Dt8/5, whereas the presence of these boundary interfaces, if not covered by GBA, would easily lead to the occurrence of IGC corrosion. In addition, the previous EDS results indicated that the amount of GBA with high chromium content increased with longer Dt8/5, presenting better recovery ability of passive layer at grain

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corrosion decreased due to the formation of more GBA and WA and the reduction of nitrides precipitates, which contributed to a better pitting corrosion resistance. DL-ERP tests indicated that the resistance to IGC in simulated HAZ of DSSs was improved by larger heat input.

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Fig. 10. DL-EPR curves of the simulated HAZ with different Dt8/5.

Table 3 The summary of Ia, Ir and Ir/Ia determined by the DL-EPR test in the simulated HAZ with different Dt8/5.

Dt8/5 (s)
20 50 80 100 120

Ia, 103 A cm2 8.342 7.823 8.091 7.685 8.291

Ir, 105 A cm2 12.62 9.495 8.048 5.146 4.523

Ra = Ir/Ia (%) 1.51 1.21 0.99 0.67 0.55

boundaries. Therefore, the resistance to IGC in the simulated HAZ of DSSs was improved when a larger heat input was applied to the specimens. 4. Conclusion (1) The GBA was initially formed with a Dt8/5 of 20 s, and coarsened with a longer cooling time. By increasing the Dt8/5 from 50 to 80 s, the amount of reformed austenite increased progressively due to the growth of WA and IGA. Finally, as the Dt8/5 was increased from 100 to 120 s, the amount of reformed austenite continued to increase due to the coarsening of the GBA and WA and the formation of more IGA. Slower cooling rate favored the reformation of more austenite by prolonging the dwelling time for d ? c transformation and promoting the diffusion of c-stabilizing elements such as nitrogen and nickel. (2) By prolonging the Dt8/5 from 20 to 120 s, the increase in dferrite grain size impaired the strength to some extent, meanwhile, the low temperature toughness was improved due to more reformed austenite formation. (3) EDS analysis showed that both GBA and WA had higher chromium contents and PREN values than IGA, indicating a better pitting resistance. (4) Potentiodynamic polarization tests showed that the value of Epit became nobler due to larger heat input, indicating that pitting corrosion resistance in the HAZ was improved. With a Dt8/5 of 20 s, pits were formed primarily within d-ferrite. Then as large amounts of IGA were formed with longer Dt8/5, more pits appeared on IGA. The formation of Cr2N and CrN precipitates could induce chromium-depleted regions around them, thus increasing the susceptibility to pitting corrosion. The amount of preferential sites for pitting