Sulphide Stress Corrosion Cracking of ASTM A516 Grade 70 Steel Covered with Austenitic and Martensitic Stainless-Steel Deposits

Abdel Aziz, Sabry. M.; Hafez, K. M.; Morsy, M. A.

doi:10.21608/ejchem.2024.305797.10046

Sulphide Stress Corrosion Cracking of ASTM A516 Grade 70 Steel Covered with Austenitic and Martensitic Stainless-Steel Deposits

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Faculty of Industry and Energy, East Port Said University of Technology, North Sinai 45632, Egypt.

² Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute, CMRDI, Cairo, Egypt.

³ Professor of Welding and NDT Department, CMRDI, Cairo, Egypt.

10.21608/ejchem.2024.305797.10046

Abstract

Low-carbon steels are usually surfaced with surface-modified electrodes to improve their wear and corrosion resistance. In carbon steel, the maximum hardness levels of 235 BHN (250 HV) are beneficial to avoid SCC (NACE). This research work aims at the improvement of the wear resistance of the low carbon steel by deposition of different layers using SMAW electrodes. These electrodes have different microstructures including austenitic stainless steel (AWS A5.4 E312 – 16 electrode), martensitic stainless steel (AWS A5.4 E410 – 16 electrode) with and without post-weld heat treatment (PWHT), and martensitic steel (JIS DF 2B – 500 – B electrode) without PWHT. Moreover, the susceptibility of the hard-faced layer to sulphide stress corrosion cracking (SSC) was studied. It was found that the weld metal hardness values greatly affect the sulphide stress corrosion cracking susceptibility. The weld metal deposited using JIS DF 2B – 500 – B electrode without PWHT gave hardness values higher than 300 HV (about 334 HV) that showed an SSC cracking tendency. However, the other specimens give a hardness value lower than 250 HV (about 210 HV) without any SSC cracking. The hard-faced layer deposited using JIS DF 2B – 500 – B electrodes showed the least wear index (maximum wear resistance). The austenitic stainless steel (AWS A5.4 E312 – 16) gave a higher wear index value but was still lower than that of the base metal.

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