A solidification model for the columnar to equiaxed transition in welding of a Cr-Mo ferritic stainless steel with Ti as inoculant

A two step modeling for predicting the grain morphology − columnar or equiaxed − of the melting zone in welding is proposed. The first step consists in numerically compute, using the Finite Element Method, the thermal fields around the weld pool boundary, according to the welding parameters. The second step consists in a post-treatment of the thermal field in order to compute the undercooling in the liquid all along the solidification front of the columnar grains, and finally to compute the fraction of equiaxed grains formed in the undercooling zone. The modeling takes into account the effect of the convection phenomena on the undercooling, and is based on an heterogeneous nucleation model specially adapted to steels inoculated with titanium. The nucleation model involves the size distribution of Ti-rich refractory compounds formed in the weld pool, that act as heterogeneous nucleation sites. A method to identify this distribution is also presented. The comparison of the modeling with experimental results of welding with a Gas Tungsten Arc Welding process has proved its ability to predict the columnar to equiaxed transition of a ferritic stainless steel inoculated with Ti.