Correlation of precipitate stability to increased creep resistance of Cr–Mo steel welds

An order of magnitude decrease (from 16.0 × 10−4 to 4.1 × 10−4% h−1) in steady-state creep rate was observed in the fine-grained heat-affected zone (HAZ) of a Cr–Mo steel weld by the reduction of the pre-weld tempering temperature from 760 °C (HTT) to 650 °C (LTT). The microstructure during each stage of the manufacturing path, including pre-weld temper, thermal cycling and post-weld heat treatment, was characterized using a suite of characterization techniques. The techniques included simulated thermal cycling, dilatometry and electron microscopy, as well as time-resolved X-ray diffraction using Synchrotron radiation. Both LTT and HTT steels before welding contain M23C6 (M = Cr, Fe) and MX (M = Nb, V; X = C, N) precipitates in a tempered martensite matrix. During simulated HAZ thermal cycling with different peak temperatures, changes in M23C6 carbide characteristics were observed between the HTT and LLT conditions, while MX precipitates remained stable in both conditions. Simulated post-weld heat treatment samples show larger M23C6 in the HTT condition than in the LTT condition. The results provide a solution to extending the life of Cr–Mo steel welded structures used in power plants.