Weldability of Chromium Stainless Steel Plates (Report 1)

Weldability of 13-Cr stainless steel plates

Abstract

Weldability tests have been made of 7 different kinds of stainles steel electrodes (mostly, 3.2mm dia.) on 5 kinds of 13-Cr steel plates (mostly, 2.3mm thick) having C content ranging 0.07-0.23.
The following results were obtained :
1) In longitudinal bead bending test there occurred no case of 180° bending angle without crack development in the heat-affected zone, independently of C content of steel plate and electrode type. The bending angles for ones of 0.07%C content are relatively high and stable.
2) As to the hardness of weld metal zone, a wide variance is observed, depending on electrode types. In austenite types which produced excellent elongation values of all deposit metals, conside-rable martensite transformation was seen in weld meta zone, making it unadvisable to use such electrodes as appreciably increase hardness.
3) In the case of 0.23%C content, cracks appeared in the heat-affected zone even under non-con-straint conditions. With 0.16%C content some developed longitudinal cracks in the heat-affected zone under constraint test, while below 0.11%C content no cracks occurred.
Exceptions are fusion zone cracks being observed sometimes when steel plates with 0.09% C content are welded with Mn-Cr electrode.
4) These facts can be roughly explained by the relations between C content of steel plates and martensite transformation in the heat-affected zone of base metal and by dilution of weld metal with steel plate.