Impact behavior of different stainless steel weldments at low temperatures

A comparative study was made of the fracture behavior of austenitic and duplex stainless steel weldments at cryogenic temperatures by impact testing. The investigated materials were two austenitic (304L and 316L) and one duplex (2505) stainless steel weldments. Shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) and tungsten inert gas welding (TIG) were employed as joining techniques. Instrumented impact testing was performed between room and liquid nitrogen (−196 °C) test temperatures. The results showed a slight decrease in the impact energy of the 304L and 316L base metals with decreasing test temperature. However, their corresponding SMAW and TIG weld metals displayed much greater drop in their impact energy values. A remarkable decrease (higher than 95%) was observed for the duplex stainless steel base and weld metals impact energy with apparent ductile to brittle transition behavior. Examination of fracture surface of tested specimens revealed complete ductile fracture morphology for the austenitic base and weld metals characterized by wide and narrow deep and shallow dimples. On the contrary, the duplex stainless steel base and weld metals fracture surface displayed complete brittle fracture morphology with extended large and small stepped cleavage facets. The ductile and brittle fracture behavior of both austenitic and duplex stainless steels was supplemented by the instrumented load–time traces. The distinct variation in the behavior of the two stainless steel categories was discussed in light of the main parameters that control the deformation mechanisms of stainless steels at low temperatures; stacking fault energy, strain induced martensite transformation and delta ferrite phase deformation.