ASTM A335 P91 steel pipes have been widely used in the main steam pipes of large

power stations in China in recent years because of its good high temperature comprehensive
properties.
A335 P91 steel is widely used in the construction of many large-scale thermal power plants in
recent years. A335 P91 steel is a new martensitic heat-resistant steel developed in the late 1970s
and early 1980s in the United States, which is equivalent to 9cr-1mov steel made in China.
Compared with domestic steel, A335 P91 steel has the characteristics of high temperature strength,
good oxidation resistance, creep resistance, relatively high thermal conductivity and low thermal
expansion rate, which fills the gap between ferritic steel (such as ASTM P22) and austenitic steel,
and makes welding With a smaller section size, the thickness of weldment wall is effectively
reduced, the amount of material is reduced, the thermal stress of pipeline is reduced, and the risk of
thermal fatigue crack is reduced.
Assembly sequence of A335 P91 pipeline also plays a key role in welding quality. In order to ensure
that the welding process and welding quality of A335 P91 steel pipeline meet the requirements, the
welding process qualification must be made according to the welding characteristics of P91 steel,
and the qualification report shall be taken as the basis for field installation and welding construction,
and the process requirements shall be strictly implemented in the field construction process.

Weldability analysis of ASTM A335 P91 pipe

Chemical Composition of ASTM A335 P91

Grade C Mn P S Si Cr

0.08-0.12 0.3-0.6 ≤0.02 ≤0.01 0.2-0.5 8.0-9.5

A335 P91 Mo V N Ni Al Nb

0.85-1.05 0.18-0.25 0.03-0.07 ≤0.4 ≤0.04 0.06-0.10

 According to the data in the table, this steel belongs to medium alloy heat-resistant steel.]
In alloy steel, in addition to carbon elements, other elements also play an important role in the
strength and weldability of steel pipes. The carbon equivalent of A335 P91 refers to the welding
carbon equivalent, which is calculated according to the following formula:

Ceq=C+Mn/6+(Cr+V+Mo)/5+(Cu+Ni)/15
Where CEQ is carbon equivalent

Therefore, the carbon equivalent of A335 P91 pipe CEQ = C + Mn / 6 + (Cr + V + Mo) / 5 + (Cu +
Ni) / 15 = 0.08 + 0.30 / 6 + (8.0 + 0.18 + 0.85) / 5 + 0.4 / 15 = 1.9627
The middle value of carbon equivalent is 0.45. The smaller the corresponding carbon equivalent
value is, the better the welding performance is. On the contrary, when the carbon equivalent value
is larger, the worse the welding performance is. From the above calculation results of carbon
equivalent of A335 P91 pipeline, it can be seen that 1.9627 is much larger than 0.45, so the welding
performance of A335 P91 pipeline is poor.

Welding characteristics of A335 P91 steel

① A335 P91 is medium alloy steel, it has a rather high tendency of cold cracking. Under the
condition of no preheating, the welding crack reaches 100%. When preheating for 200-250 ℃, the
cold crack can be avoided.

In the process of welding, it is the first task to strictly control the interpass temperature of weldment
and keep it at preheating temperature or higher. Secondly, pay attention to the time interval from
the interlayer temperature cooling to the beginning of PWHT.

③ the requirement of controlling the input heat of welding is relatively high. The practical
experience proves that the impact toughness can be greatly improved by using smaller electrode
diameter, lower interlayer temperature and smaller welding line energy.

④ the welded joints are unstable structures with high hardness after welding, and corresponding
heat treatment must be carried out after welding.

Selection of welding method

A335 P91 steel has a high hardening tendency and is very sensitive to welding cold cracks. It can be
welded by TIG backing, low hydrogen electrode filling and covered electrode arc welding.
Welding procedure specification and parameters
Groove type:

Butt clearance: 3-5mm

Welding parameters

Table 1 welding process specifications and parameters of each layer

Welding material Welding parameters

Layer Welding
Electric
number method Voltage
Model Specifications Polarity current（A ）
）
Direct current
1~2 GTAW ER90S-B9 Φ2.5 90~110 10~1
connection
DC reverse
3~6 SMAW E9015-B9 Φ3.2 100~120 20~2
connection
7 levels or DC reverse
SMAW E9015-B9 Φ4.0 135~150 20~2
more connection
Cover DC reverse
SMAW E9015-B9 Φ3.2 100~120 20~2
layer connection
Preheating mode / temperature: tracking electric heating / 150-200 ℃ (GTAW), 200-250 ℃ (SMAW).
Shielding gas: argon, purity ≥ 99.99%, argon flow: 8-12l / min for welding gun, 10-25l / min for the
first pass on the back, 3-8l / min for the second pass.
Interlayer temperature: ＜ 250 ℃ (temperature controlled by far infrared detector).
Post heat treatment: temperature rise to 300-350 ℃ after welding, and heat preservation for 2h.
Heat treatment: temperature 750 ℃ - 770 ℃, holding time 5min / mm, and not less than 4H; rise
and fall temperature of post weld heat treatment is less than 150 ℃ / h.

According to the above process, the Φ 273 × 30 test pieces, which are fixed horizontally and
vertically, are welded. After inspection and inspection, they all meet the specification requirements.

Welding construction process

On the basis of qualified process assessment, relevant welding operation instructions are prepared
in time according to the process assessment report. The content of P91 steel welding operation
instruction is as follows:

Preparation before welding

1. Selection of welding materials er90s-b9 welding rod e9015-b9

2. The groove processing groove shall be machined, the groove shall be smooth and uniform, and
the size shall meet the requirements. Before butt joint, it shall be carefully inspected. If it is found
that it is unqualified, it must be polished to qualified with a polishing machine and other tools. Clean
the rust, oil stain and other dirt within the range of 15-20mm on both sides of the inner and outer
walls of the groove until the metal luster is exposed.

3. The special butt fixture shall be used for butt joint, which shall not be assembled by force. The
inner wall shall be flush during butt joint. If there is a wrong joint, the amount of the wrong joint
shall not exceed 10% of the wall thickness, and shall not exceed 1mm. Before butt joint, the base
metal at the groove shall be carefully inspected for defects, and if there is any, it shall be treated
separately. The welding materials, welding process and technical conditions of the selected welder
for spot welding shall be the same as those for formal welding When the diameter thin-walled pipe
is spot welded, the clearance is 2-3mm, which can be directly fixed in the groove by 2-3 points.
When the large-diameter pipe is spot welded, the clearance is 3-5mm, which can be fixed by
"positioning block".

Preheating before welding

The computer temperature control equipment shall be used to track and preheat the welded
junction. The thermocouple shall be arranged symmetrically. The thermocouple and pipe fittings
shall be in good contact. The preheating temperature of argon arc welding shall be 150-200 ℃, the
preheating temperature of electrode arc welding shall be 200-250 ℃, and the preheating width shall
be calculated from the pipe wall thickness at least 3 times of each side of the groove center.

Backing welding
Adopt WS-400 welding machine, DC positive connection. When the preheating temperature reaches
the specified temperature and is even, the large diameter pipe is welded symmetrically by two
people, and the first and second welding seams are all welded by argon arc welding. When welding
the backing layer, the internal wire feeding method shall be adopted, and the root fusion shall be
good, and the thickness shall be controlled within 2.8-3.2mm. In order to prevent root weld metal
from oxidation, the pipe shall be filled with argon for protection.

Argon filling protection can be carried out according to the following requirements:
A. the scope of argon filled protection shall be subject to the groove center, 200-300 mm on each
side, and the soluble paper or other soluble materials shall be used to make the sealed gas chamber
with high temperature resistant tape.
B. insert "gas filling needle" from groove gap or "flaw detection hole" for argon filling. At the
beginning, the back of argon flow is 10-25l / min, the back of the second pass is 4-8l / min, and the
welding gun is 8-12l / min.
C. place the ignited lighter or match near the weld gap. When the flame goes out, it means that the
internal air has been emptied. Argon arc welding can be used for backing welding.

Filling and covering welding of electrode arc welding

After the completion of argon arc welding, the preheating temperature shall be raised to 200-250 ℃,
and the arc welding shall be started; the direct current reverse welding method and symmetrical
welding of two persons shall be adopted. Because of the high viscosity, poor fluidity and small
welding specification of molten iron in P91 steel, slag inclusion and lack of fusion between layers are
easy to occur. Therefore, in order to avoid the occurrence of large defects and ensure the
comprehensive mechanical properties of welded joints, multi-layer and multi-layer welding with
small specifications must be adopted. The thickness of welding layer shall be as thin as possible, and
the thickness of each layer shall not exceed 4mm. When swinging welding, welding rod shall be
used The swing shall not exceed 4 times of the diameter of the electrode. Each layer of weld bead
must be cleaned, especially the joint and both sides of the weld bead. After the welding of the weld
surface is completed, the welder is required to carry out cleaning and self inspection immediately. If
the appearance is not well formed, repair welding shall be carried out immediately. It is strictly
prohibited to repair welding directly after the weld is cooled.

Post weld heat treatment

When the welding joint cannot be heat treated in time, the post heat treatment with the heating
temperature of 300-350 ℃ and the constant temperature time of 2 hours shall be carried out
immediately after welding.
The post weld heat treatment adopts multi output and multi-point temperature measurement, and
the heater and thermocouple correspond one by one. The upper and lower temperature of the
welding junction are consistent all the time, so that the heating and cooling speed of the welding
junction of the heat treatment should be ≤ 150 ℃ / h. When the temperature is reduced to 300 ℃,
it can be cooled to room temperature without control. The heating temperature is 750-770 ℃, and
the constant temperature time is 5min / mm, but at least 4 hours.

Weld quality inspection

The weld quality shall be inspected according to the acceptance standard of class I weld. The
inspection contents and requirements are as follows:
1. Appearance shall be inspected and accepted according to DL / t869-2004 technical code for
welding of thermal power plant, quality standard of class I weld appearance;
2. NDT: 100% UT and MT inspection shall be carried out for welds according to JB4730, and grade I
is qualified;
3. Hardness: after heat treatment, 100% hardness test shall be conducted, and the hardness value
shall be less than 350hb;
4. Spectrum, 100% spectral analysis and recheck of weld metal alloy composition.

Weld repair
1. The appearance inspection of welded joint does not meet the standard. Polish and repair the light
ones, and cut and re weld the serious ones.
2. For the unqualified welding joint through NDT, its defects can be repaired by welding, but on the
basis of confirming that the defects have been completely eliminated, it must be carried out
according to the normal welding process or welding repair process.
3. Generally, the same weld joint shall not be repaired more than twice, otherwise, it shall be cut
and re butt welded.
4. The repaired welded joints must be subject to post weld heat treatment and NDT again.

Quality control
Strengthen the control of welding process of A335 P91 steel. Due to the poor welding performance
of A335 P91 steel, the poor control of any link in the welding process will lead to poor mechanical
properties of the welded joint and the generation of fatal defects such as cracks. First of all, all
welders shall be trained and obtain the qualification certificate of A335 P91 steel before going on
duty. Secondly, strict control shall be carried out from measures, materials, equipment, butt joints,
welding, heat treatment parameters, surface quality of welded joints, NDT, repair of defective welds,
etc.

Customer case
The 2 × 300MW Coal-fired Units for the expansion of No.3 and No.4 boilers in the second phase of
Huaneng Power Plant are designed by Central South Electric Power Design Institute, and the boilers
are produced by Dongfang Boiler (Group) Co., Ltd. with the model of DG1025 / 17.4 - Ⅱ 12. The
steam turbine is produced by Harbin steam turbine Co., Ltd. with the model of subcritical primary
intermediate reheat, single shaft double cylinder double exhaust condensing steam turbine. The
design temperature of the main steam pipe, branch pipe and the pipe in front of the high bypass
valve is 545 ℃, the pipe specifications are Φ 364 × 41, Φ 273 × 29 and Φ 216 × 23 respectively,
and the material is A335P91.

Through the selection of the above construction technology, as well as strict technical and quality
management measures, the appearance quality and joint surface hardness of main steam pipeline
welds of boiler 3 and boiler 4 of Huaneng Power Plant Phase II project in this area all meet the
standard requirements, and the one-time qualification rate of NDT reaches 100%. In addition, the
weld quality is normal according to the water pressure test of the main steam pipeline of the power
plant and the situation since it was put into operation.

Conclusion
The above welding process is effective for ASTM A335 P91 steel pipe. In addition, A335 P91 pipe is
more cost-effective than A335 P22 pipe, which is widely used in the past. At present, it has become
an inevitable trend to use P91 steel in large thermal power units.