WELDING SUPER DUPLEX ‘STAINLESS STEEL L. van Nassau, K. Bekkers, J. Hilkes and H. Meelker Lincoln Norweld / Smitweld NITO Conference Amsterdam, 7/8 February NCRWELDce Welding Super Duplex Stainless Stee! Introduction Commercial super duplex stainless steel grades have been introduced in industry for a variety of high technological applications, In comparison with the grades with 22%Cr, super duplex stainless steel grades are characterized by an increased Cr (~25%) and Mo (2-4%) content, a high N-level and frequently additions of Cu and/or W. Furthermore, selection criteria include the high strength properties and very good corrosion performance in Cl-containing fluids. ‘The service temperature ranges from -20 to +280 °C. ‘The well known grades in the European Market include: Table1 Manufacturers with their Super Duplex Stainless Steel Grades Chemical Composition w% Manufacturer Grade Cr__Ni_Mo_N_ Cu_ other PRE, product forms Bohler AOS BS 37 23 037 Mn:58 39.0 plate, forgings Carpenter 7-Mo Plus 275 45 15 0.25 365 Creusot Ind. UR47N 25 7 3.0 0.16 02 316 URS2N 25. 73.00.16 15 37.6 plate Langley Ferralium 255 255 55 3.0 0.17 20 38.1 castings Sandvik 25.07 2 7 40 025 42.2 tubes, castings, ws ane forgings Sumitomo DP3 25 65 3.0 02 05 W:03 38.1 plate, bars, wire, pipe WMS *) Zeron 100 255 65 35 0.25 07 W:0.7 41.1 plate, forgings, usssn0 tubes, fittings, ') togeths ith: castings, fasteners *) together with: - Fabr. de Fer - SSE - Brit Steel Corp. + Sterling + Mather & Platt - Benthum Int. - Stockbridge Eng. Steels - INCO Int. + Buting + Schulz + Valinox + Barworth Flockton - Barr Thomson Note %C: all grades 0.03% except A905: 0.05% and Ferralium 255: 0.04% ‘The PRE, (PRE, = Cr +3.3x %Mo + 16x %N) values range from 38 to 42, Only Weir Material Services (WMS) Zeron 100 and Sandvik 25.07 material is produced with values above 40. ‘The original product form of super duplex stainless steel grades has been castings, in particular pump housing and valves. The break through came with the availability of other product forms, allowing to take full advantage of the high corrosion resistance combined with high strength properties in welded structures in = oil & gas process installations, - seawater fire fighting systems - drain piping in all kind of industries. = chemical process equipment - chemical tankers Particularly in offshore installations it is convincingly demonstrated that weight savings up to 25- 40 % can be achieved by the usage of super duplex stainless steel in full thickness (up to 50 mm). This in comparison with fully austenitic 6% Mo alloyed stainless steel or clad steel with a high corrosion resistant material as alloy 825 or W.Nr. 1.4539 clad on a StE 355 as substrate.[worweto } -- “The marketing of a wide range of product forms, combined with a fully organized service to provide welding consumables and welding technology has been developed as a policy of a group of companies, supplying ZERON 100 *. Regarding the mechanical properties, extensive information has been made available for the grade Zeron 100 ‘The material can be characterized by the following properties: Table 2 Mechanical properties plate material Zeron 100 (up to 30 mm) /1/ Condition: solution annealed Test temperature °C castings plate (up to 30 mm) test temperature (CC) 20150250 20150250 0.2%-proof stress (N/mm’) >450 >360 >330 >S50 >450 >400 ultimate tensile strength (N/mm*) >700 >630 >570 >750 >680 >650 elongation (%) >25 >25 @ hardness (HB) 200-270 200-270 C test temperature (co) 20-40 20-40 impact CVN ® >100 >75 >250 >200 cToD (am) >1.0 a Weldability of Duplex stainless Steel Originally, some super duplex grades offered attractive strength and corrosion properties but failed in structures due to severe detorioration of the heat affected zone in weldments. The HAZ in such cases showed embrittlement due to ferrite grain growth. Corrosion properties were not optimal due to solid state transformations. As in regular duplex stainless steel grades, modern super duplex stainless steel making uses the effect of an increased N-content. The HAZ remains fine grained and is tolerant for a wider range of welding conditions with the corresponding temperature profiles. Weld Metal Design Welding of super duplex stainless steel has much in common with the technique as applied ‘or @ regular duplex stainless steel. Regular duplex weld metal shows a basicly ferrite matrix with a limited quantity of more ductile austenite, The austenite forming potential of the weld metal has to be correctly tuned to reach the preferred level of Ferrite Number /2/ 40-60. The weld metal, when applied in the as welded condition, must therefore contain sufficient levels of Ni and N, with C to be kept low (C <0.04%). Compared to the parent material, the weld metal is therefore overalloyed with Ni. However, the weld metal could be matching when the structure is supposed to be solution annealed. Figure 1 shows the location of the parent material and related weld metal types in the new WRC 1989 Constitution Diagram which proved to be very useful in estamating the as solidified weld metal FN level /3/. Zeron 100 is one of the highest alloyed grades amongst the super duplex stainless steel grades. ‘Adopting the welding consumables to this base material will automatically make the weld metal suitable for the total range of super duplex stainless steels. ‘A sound weld metal design, i.e. alloying with high Cr, Mo, N and additional elements as Cu and W, requires fully alloyed core wire for covered electrodes. In particular alloying of tungsten via the electrode coating of covered electrodes might lead to a high portion of undiluted tungsten inclusions G__ivthe weld metal (gure 2). I is obvious that the slid wires forthe processes GMAW and SAW processes are equally fully alloyed.