It is important to have general understanding about duplex welding metallurgy before having

good welding procedures.

I tried my best to make it as condensed as possible and steer away from too deep in theory.

Common stainless steel welding practice also still need to be followed, such as cleaning joint
bevel area, avoid contact with carbon steel, etc.

Main Concerns
There is always negative perception about duplex welding quality despite many successful
duplex piping & equipment in operation for years in very corrosive application.

Duplex welding is different and likely to be slower, but not harder than other stainless steel
types, common welding methods such as GTAW, GMAW, SMAW, SAW, etc can be applied.

The most important thing is not only to create proper specifications and procedures, but making
sure that they are implemented correctly.

Different stainless steels have different welding issues, for duplex, they are decrease of corrosion
resistance & toughness that came from evolution of microstructure in fusion zone & heat
affected zone (HAZ) during cooling resulting in:

 Unbalanced austenite – ferrite ratio

 Precipitation of secondary phases

Austenite – Ferrite Ratio Balance

Ideally, best duplex properties achieved when austenite – ferrite ratio is equal, but in practice is
impossible, so the aim is to get 40-60% ferrite content for parent material and 35-65% for weld
metal & HAZ.

In fusion zone, solidification starts from liquid to delta ferrite which then partially transforms to
austenite from about 1200-800 °C. Longer cooling time between those temperature will result in
more austenite formation, below 800 °C, transformation kinetic slows down, changes in austenite
– ferrite ratio is considered negligible. The other way around, rapid cooling will have high ferrite
content since there is not enough time for austenite to form.

Other than cooling rate, the use of filler metal with higher Nickel (overmatching) and addition of
Nitrogen in welding gases (purge & shield) also affect austenite formation kinetics as they are
both strong austenite former. Main concern associated with duplex phase balance is more to
HAZ region because it will experience fast cooling transformation from ferrite to austenite
without any help from overmatching filler metals and Nitrogen addition. (see Fig. 1)
Fig. 1, Example of complex relationship between cooling rate, alloy composition, and ferrite
content in SMAW. Taken from Welding Metallurgy of Stainless Steel by Erich Folkhard

Ferrite content above 60% have tendency to reduce toughness and reduced corrosion resistance,
this is important especially when low temperature or high corrosive environment will be
expected. (see Fig. 2)
Fig. 2, Effect of ferrite content to duplex corrosion rate & impact energy. Taken from Duplex
Stainless Steel Welding Best Practices by Barry Messer, Vasile Oprea, Andrew Wright. Fluor
Canada

Before welding, preliminary prediction of phase balance can use WRC-1992 diagram, the use of
Schaeffler diagram is not recommended because it doesn’t predict duplex microstructures very
well. (see Fig. 3)

Fig. 3, WRC-1992 diagram. Taken from WRC-1992 Constitution Diagram for Stainless Steel
Weld Metals: A Modification of the WRC-1988 Diagram by Kotecki DJ and Siewert TA
 Secondary Phases Precipitation
Duplex during temperature range of 1000-300 °C for prolonged time may precipitate unwanted
secondary phases, this is significant for HAZ when having heating-cooling cycle in multiple
weld pass because the effect is cumulative. (see Fig. 4)

Fig. 4, Time Temperature Transformation diagram of duplex 2205, overlaid dashed lines shows
super duplex 2507 and lean duplex 2304 as comparison. Taken from Phase Transformation in
Duplex Stainless Steels and the Relation Between Continuous Cooling and Isothermal Heat
Treatment by Josefsson B, Nilsson JO, and Wilson A. Duplex Stainless Steels’91. Bourgogne,
France

These high temperature precipitates normally in the form of intermetallic compounds, people
often generalized to call it as sigma phase (although there are other types such as chi, laves, etc).

Intermetallic will reduce corrosion resistance significantly because they are mostly containing
Chromium and Molybdenum, so there are not enough elements to make proper oxide layer on
surrounding area. They also have embrittling tendency, impact toughness is affected
considerably. 

Susceptibility of duplex is worst at temperature of 1000 - 700 °C as the formation of secondary

phases are very short, especially on higher alloyed such as super duplex.

To minimize the duration in secondary phases temperature range, some procedures normally
followed.

 Avoid preheating unless extremely necessary, such as removing

moisture and very thick joints, but maximum limit shall be 100 °C,
welding engineer shall be consulted. Preheating shall not use flame, but
 electrical or infrared heater to avoid water vapor formation from
combustion reaction.
  Interpass temperature shall be maximum 150 °C for duplex and 100 °C
for super duplex, accurate temperature measuring device shall be used
before subsequent pass is applied. In general, thinner welds
  Maximum arc energy limit to every welding passes especially on 2nd
pass
Rapid cooling of duplex can also create Chromium Nitride (Cr2N) precipitates as austenitic
phase doesn’t have enough time to fully formed causing oversaturation of Nitrogen in ferrite
phase. Ferrite phase has very low Nitrogen solubility. Rapid cooling occurs when welding at
high travel speed, small weld beads, welding on good heat sink or thick parts, and root pass.

In reality, it is very hard to avoid secondary phases formation in the whole weld metal and HAZ,
many specifications have maximum allowable limit of 0.5% at 400x and location shall not be
near exposed surface.

Spinodal decomposition of ferrite or commonly called 475°C embrittlement may also happen in
the range of 550 - 300°C, but rarely a concern during welding as it takes much more time to
occur.

Important Welding Practices

Joint design is a little different from austenitic, for duplex, wider root gaps, wide groove, and
thin root face are recommended best practices to avoid too much arc energy, high parent metal
dilution and excessive root melting. (see Fig. 5)
Fig. 5, Joint design differences between austenitic and duplex stainless steel. Taken from
Challenges Welding Duplex and Super Duplex Stainless Steel by Patrick CW and Cox MA

2nd pass (cold pass) to be applied as single run with consideration using lower arc energy than of
root pass, about 75-80%, to prevent overheating of the root. (see Fig. 6)

Fig. 6, Best practice for root and 2nd pass in duplex welding. Taken from Guidelines for
Welding Zeron 100 Super Duplex Stainless Steel by Lincoln Electric

Root pass shall be GTAW for best quality.

Reduced time at temperature in the red hot range is beneficial, moderate sized stringer pass Is
preferred rather than larger weld pass or weave.

Low interpass temperatures sometimes reduced productivity because increasing joint completion
times, forced cooling can be employed by blowing dry air.
The use of copper backing is not recommended since duplex is sensitive to copper
contamination, better use ceramic backing.

When tack welding on root is unavoidable, they shall not be part of the joint, root pass shall be
stopped and tack shall be grounded away before continue.

Similar with any stainless steel, surface treatment by pickling will give the best corrosion
properties and shall be the default treatment for very corrosive environment.

Arc Energy / Heat Input

As explained previously, compromise for cooling rate shall be found, high cooling rate produced
excessive ferrite and if it is too slow, risk of secondary phases formation.

Cooling time between 1200 and 800°C is very important in duplex welding and affected by
several parameters, such as joint configuration, thickness, arc energy, preheat and interpass
temperature.

Correlation between those parameters can use guidance like nomogram for easier welding
specification development, super duplex normally has target Δt (1200-800) in between 3-5
seconds as it require very short time in this region to precipitate secondary phases. (See Fig. 7)
Fig. 7, Nomogram showing link between arc energy, cooling rate, and material thickness. Taken
from TWI Industrial Member Report Summary 321/1986 by Noble DN and Gooch TG

Recommended arc energy value also depends on material type, specifically chemical
composition, in principal, more alloying element in duplex, limit on maximum energy is lower to
avoid secondary phases formation.

There is also minimum arc energy level to follow, ensuring that rapid cooling doesn’t happen.
For duplex grades, range of 0.5-2.5 kJ/mm is recommended, for super duplex, 0.5-1.5 kJ/mm is
recommended, some proprietary duplex grade may require to follow manufacturers
recommendation.

Welding Gases
For single sided welding, purging gas shall be applied and maintained until certain weld metal
thickness & passes so that subsequent pass will not cause oxidation on the root under bead.
(some literature says up to 4 passes or 5 mm minimum)

Gas shall be dry and pure from contaminants. Gas shall flow several seconds before arc initiation
and after arc is extinguished.

Argon plus 2-3% of Nitrogen is recommended for GTAW shielding gas, while 100% Ar for
purging gas can be used, but 100% N2 give best result for corrosion resistance. Formier gas for
purging is not recommended because contains 10% H2 which can increase cracking risk. (See
Fig. 8)

Fig. 8, Effect of shielding and purging gas, including surface treatment to super duplex corrosion
resistance. Taken from Proceedings Duplex Stainless Steels '94, TWI, Vol. 3, paper KIII by
Nicholls JM. Glasgow
The function of Nitrogen addition, especially on GTAW process is to compensate for Nitrogen
loss due to low solubility in the molten pool.

After 2nd pass, it is highly recommended to change shielding gas to pure Ar to avoid porosity
risk. Duplex has low Nitrogen solubility, when saturated, Nitrogen will try to get out of molten
pool and become gas pores during solidification.

When root bead is thin, 2nd pass may cause partial melting, best practice is to reduce purging gas
flow slightly to avoid concave bead and porosity.

Nitrogen in welding gas increase the speed of Tungsten electrode deterioration and may cause
spitting and inclusion. There will be more electrode dressing activities to maintain stable arc &
easy arc initiation.

Nitrogen loss is considered negligible when using slag-shielded processes, such as SMAW &
SAW because the slag layer is avoid the molten pool from emitting nitrogen.

Active gas addition such as CO2 and O2 is not recommended as corrosion and impact toughness
can severely affected. H2 also shall not be added even though will increase welding productivity
because of increased Hydrogen cracking risk.

Oxygen analyzer shall always be used before and during welding duplex, welding shall not start
if value at least below 50 ppm, even better if below 25 ppm for extremely corrosive application.
Oxygen contamination mostly can be seen on surface heat tint. (See Fig. 9)

Fig. 9, Effect of oxygen contamination to duplex corrosion resistance, 904L stainless steel for
comparison. Taken from Proceedings Duplex Stainless Steels '91, Vol. 1, 451 by Odegard L and
Fager SA. Beaune

Mechanical Properties
It is common to have weld resulted with yield and tensile strengths exceeding parent metal, but it
is difficult to match notch toughness values of the wrought and solution heat treated zmetal.
Hardness of duplex weld metal & HAZ also normally higher than parent material due to the
strain induced by the heating and cooling cycle.

Attention to be paid on thicker material with many weld passes as it may result hardness value
higher than specification, especially for sour service requirements.

Impact toughness is main concern in duplex welding as it is affected by many factors, like
austenite – ferrite ratio, secondary phase formation, oxygen content, welding process, and flux
selection. (see Fig. 10)

Fig. 10, Impact toughness of duplex stainless steel with different oxygen content and welding
method. Taken from Duplex Stainless Steel Welding by Amelie Fanica, Dubai, 2008

Filler Metals & Fluxes

Unless solution heat treatment will be applied, most duplex applications are not to be welded
with matching filler metal composition or without filler metal because it will result in excessive
ferrite. Most available duplex filler metals are overmatched 3-4% with more Nickel to generate
more austenite. Minimum Nickel content of filler shall be 8% for duplex and 9% for super
duplex.

SMAW electrodes and SAW fluxes shall be baked before usage per manufacturers datasheet and
supplied quantity to welders shall be limited for several hours work only.

It is highly advisable to use basic type fluxes for SMAW to give better notch toughness values
regardless lower welder appeal, due to the more of inter-run deslagging by grinding. Like
SMAW, basic SAW fluxes shall be used, other than better toughness, also to stabilize Chromium
content in the weld metal

Do not use recycled SAW fluxes because of high possibility of contamination.

Chemistry Control
Tight chemistry control for parent metal and filler metal shall be specified as minor variations
may cause significant effect, especially in HAZ. Parent metal shall be in solution annealed
condition.

Nitrogen content of parent metal shall be on upper range of chemical composition to achieve
balance austenite – ferrite ratio in HAZ as there is no outside assistance from overmatch filler
metal and welding gas. (see Fig. 11)

Fig. 11, Impact of Nitrogen content in parent metal and welding gas to phase balance. Taken
from Les Editions de Physique, Vol. 1, by Jonsson O, Liljas M, and Stenvall P

Duplex shall use S32205 parent material rather than S31803 as the latter chemical composition is
too broad and likely causing instability of weld quality, for example, low Nitrogen in S31803 can
cause almost fully ferritic HAZ. (see Fig. 12)
Fig. 12, Microstructure comparison of two duplex with different Nitrogen composition. Taken
from Effects of Composition Profiles on Metallurgy and Corrosion Behavior of Duplex Stainless
Steel Weld Metals, IIW Conference Document IX-1600-90 by Ogawa T and Koseki T. Montreal.
Super duplex welding is recommended to use parent material without Tungsten / W to reduce
secondary phase precipitation susceptibility, for example S32760 & S39274 contains ±1-2% W.
(see Fig. 13)

Fig. 13, Simplified Time Temperature Transformation diagram of several duplex family. Taken
from The History of Duplex Developments, Nowadays DSS Properties and Duplex Market
Future Trends, 8th Duplex Stainless Steels Conference. Beaune by Charles J and Chemelle P

Procedure Qualification
When welders and inspectors are new or rarely work with duplex, they shall be made aware that
welding duplex is different than normal austenitic, there are detailed procedures to follow and
not allowed to do the usual way.

Before welding any duplex job, welders, no matter their experiences, shall be qualified by test
welds that can replicate both the weld joint, position, and the thickness based on actual weld.
Mechanical & corrosion properties shall be tested.

The use of higher arc energy more than 10% and change in welding consumables such as gases,
electrodes, fluxes including their manufacturer shall require requalification of duplex welding
procedures

PQR result shall consist both extreme of WPS parameters from fastest and slowest cooling, with
mandatory impact, corrosion, and ferrite content metallographic tests. 

Corrosion test shall be per ASTM G48 Method A at 22 °C for duplex and 40 °C for super duplex
for 24 hours in as welded condition. Acceptance criteria shall be pit depth less than 0.025 mm
and mass loss corrosion rates less than 0.1 mg ⁄cm2

Normally, as-welded toughness value is lower and ductile – brittle transition temperature is
higher than parent metal, acceptance criteria for full size specimen is to get 54 J minimum value
at -40 °C for duplex, and 65 J at -46 °C for super duplex.
Ferrite content shall be determined with ASTM E562 or ASTM E1245 at several locations from
root to cap in parent, HAZ, and weld metal. Acceptance criteria shall be 40-60% in weld metal
and HAZ. Ferrite content measurement shall be the main QC tools to determine soundness of the
weld.

Two method shall be used to measure ferrite content, metallographic for procedure qualification
as this normally produce more accurate result and can separate calculation in weld metal and
HAZ. Second method is by ferrite analyzer instrument for field inspection. The instrument shall
be calibrated and able to convert Ferrite Number (FN) to percent ferrite to avoid mix up.

Similar with ferrite content test, hardness shall be measured at several locations from root to cap
in parent, HAZ, and weld metal. Acceptance criteria shall be 28 HRC for duplex and 32 HRC for
super duplex. Since ASTM E140 doesn’t have hardness conversion for duplex, TWI has
compiled many data and generate approximation formula of HRC = 0.091 HV - 2.4

Post Weld Heat Treatment

As most stainless steel, even more so for duplex, post weld heat treatment shall be avoided,
alternatively, full solution annealing with cooling rate control may be performed after proper
qualification.

When solution annealing is required to completely dissolve secondary phases in weldment, upper
range temperature in ASTM shall be used, preferably near the maximum value because higher
Nickel content from overmatch filler increase the secondary phases stability.

Welding Defects
Re-weld of duplex materials is generally not recommended as cumulative arc energy easily harm
corrosion and mechanical properties especially on HAZ

Hot cracking is unlikely due to the high ferrite content but caution shall always be exerted,
particularly in submerged arc welds.

Duplex has lower coefficient of expansion in comparison with austenitic type, therefore, less
distortion problem.

Arc strikes will result in rapid cooling and contains very high ferrite content including
Chromium Nitride precipitation, they shall be removed completely either by grinding or gouging
together with its HAZ and repaired with proper procedure.

Repair by TIG dressing is prohibited except solution heat treatment will be applied.
 Dissimilar Welding
There is no problem with dissimilar welding from duplex to 300 series austenitic and carbon
steel, 309MoL and 309L filler metals normally used as they have high Nickel content.

Main drawback is reduced corrosion resistance and joint strength design since austenitic 300
series have lower alloying elements and yield strength.

Alternatively, Nickel alloys filler, such as Alloy C22 or Alloy 59 can be used to at least maintain
corrosion resistance.

Niobium containing Nickel alloy such as Alloy 625 may cause problems with reduced toughness
due to the formation of Niobium Nitride precipitates along the fusion boundary.

Further recommended reading:

1.      API RP 582, Welding Guidelines for the Chemical, Oil, and Gas Industries

2.      API TR 938-C, Use of Duplex Stainless Steels in the Oil Refining Industry

3.      Welding Stainless Steel - Questions and Answers by Damian Kotecki, American Welding
Society

4.      Welding Metallurgy of Stainless Steels by Erich Folkhard, Springer-Verlag / Wien

5.      High Performance Stainless Steels by Curtis Kovach, Nickel Development Institute

6.      Duplex Stainless Steels by Robert Gunn, Abington Publishing

7.      Duplex Stainless Steels by Iris Alvarez-Almaz and Suzanne Degallaix-Moreuil , Wiley

8.      Outokumpu Welding Handbook, Sandvikens Tryckeri