Effect of Aging on the Toughness of Austenitic and Duplex Stainless Steel Weldments

In the present study, the effect of aging heat treatment at 650, 750, and 850°C on the impact toughness of 316L austenitic stainless steel, 2205 duplex stainless steel and their weldments has been investigated. Welding process was conducted using the TIG (tungsten inert gas) welding technique. Instrumented impact testing, at room temperature, was employed to determine the effect of aging treatment on the impact properties of investigated materials. Aging treatment resulted in degradation in the impact toughness as demonstrated by the reduction in the impact fracture energy and deformation parameters (strain hardening capacity, fracture deflection, and crack initiation and propagation energy). The degree of embrittlement was more noticeable in duplex stainless steel parent and weld-metal than in 316L stainless steel and became greater with the increase of aging temperature. The degradation in impact toughness was discussed in relation to the observed precipitation of the intermetallic sigma phase in the microstructure of the stainless steel weldments and the corresponding fracture surface morphology.