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Microstructure and properties of welds in the lean duplex stainless steel LDX
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 ROYAL INSTITUTE
OF TECHNOLOGY

Microstructure and properties of welds in

the lean duplex stainless steel LDX 2101®

Elin M. Westin

Doctoral Thesis

Royal Institute of Technology

School of Industrial Engineering and Management
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Division of Physical Metallurgy
SE-100 44 Stockholm
Sweden

ISBN 978-91-7415-801-4
ISRN KTH/MSE--10/59--SE+METO/AVH

Stockholm, Sweden, 2010

Academic dissertation which with permission of Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan
(KTH) in Stockholm is presented for public review and doctoral examination on
December 17th 2010 at 10.00 in Q2, KTH, Osquldasväg 10 NB, Stockholm.

ISBN 978-91-7415-801-4
ISRN KTH/MSE--10/59--SE+METO/AVH

Scientific thesis for the degree of Doctorate of Engineering

Copyright © 2010 Elin M. Westin. All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be
reproduced by any means without permission from the author.

The following items are printed with permission:

Paper A: © 2008 Steel Research International

Paper B: © 2008 Corrosion Science
Paper C: © 2010 Welding in the World

Printed at E-print

II
Abstract
Duplex stainless steels can be very attractive alternatives to austenitic grades due to
their almost double strength at equal pitting corrosion resistance. When welding, the
duplex alloys normally require addition of filler metal, while the commodity
austenitic grades can often be welded autogenously. Over-alloyed consumables are
used to counteract segregation of important alloying elements and to balance the two
phases, ferrite and austenite, in the duplex weld metal. This work focuses on the
weldability of the recently-developed lean duplex stainless steel LDX 2101® (EN 1.4162,
UNS S32101). The pitting corrosion resistance of this grade is better than that of
austenitic AISI 304 (EN 1.4307) and can reach the level of AISI 316L (EN 1.4404). The
austenite formation is rapid in LDX 2101 compared to older duplex grades. Pitting
resistance tests performed show that 1-2.5 mm thick laser and gas tungsten arc (GTA)
welded LDX 2101 can have good corrosion properties even when welding
autogenously. Additions of filler metal, nitrogen in the shielding gas, nitrogen-based
backing gas and use of laser hybrid welding methods, however, increase the austenite
formation. The pitting resistance may also be increased by suppressing formation of
chromium nitrides in the weld metal and heat affected zone (HAZ). After thorough
post-weld cleaning (pickling), pitting primarily occurred 1-3 mm from the fusion line,
in the parent metal rather than in the HAZ. Neither the chromium nitride precipitates
found in the HAZ, nor the element depletion along the fusion line that was revealed by
electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) were found to locally decrease the pitting
resistance. The preferential pitting location is suggested to be controlled by the
residual weld oxide composition that varies over the surface. The composition and
thickness of weld oxide formed on LDX 2101 and 2304 (EN 1.4362, UNS S32304) were
determined using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The heat tint on these lean
duplex grades proved to contain significantly more manganese than what has been
reported for standard austenitic stainless steels in the AISI 300 series. A new approach
to heat tint formation is presented; whereby evaporation of material from the weld
metal and subsequent deposition on the already-formed weld oxide are suggested to
contribute to weld oxide formation. This is consistent with manganese loss from the
weld metal, and nitrogen additions to the GTA shielding gas enhance the evaporation.
The segregation of all elements apart from nitrogen is low in autogenously welded
LDX 2101. This means that filler wire additions may not be required as for other duplex
grades assuming that there is no large nitrogen loss that could cause excessive ferrite
contents. As the nitrogen appears to be controlling the austenite formation, it becomes
essential to avoid losing nitrogen during welding by choosing nitrogen-containing
shielding and backing gas.

Keywords: Duplex stainless steel, welding, HAZ, nitrogen, manganese, microstructure,

austenite formation, phase balance, precipitates, element distribution, segregation,
depletion, solidification, pitting corrosion resistance, solidification, element loss,
evaporation, deposition, weld oxide, thermo-mechanical simulation, thermodynamic
modelling, EPMA, XPS, post-weld cleaning, pickling.

III
Preface
Welding is an essential part in developing and commercialising a new stainless steel.
It is important to show that it has good weldability and to be aware of its limitations.
In this thesis, five papers collecting research work on welding of lean duplex LDX 2101
are presented, with a primary emphasis on the interrelation between microstructure
(phase balance, weld oxide formation, element distribution and precipitates) and
corrosion properties. The main focus has been on autogenous GTA and laser welding
of rather thin material (1-2.5 mm), since some of the grades often replaced by LDX 2101
can be welded without filler additions. The ability to improve the austenite formation
and pitting corrosion resistance by means of nitrogen additions to the shielding gas,
nitrogen-based backing gas, use of filler metal or laser hybrid welding methods was
also investigated. Although the weldability of the duplex stainless steels is far from
fully mastered, more knowledge on the weldability of these grades has been gained
and some new phenomena been identified and explained.

The main work in this thesis was carried out at Outokumpu Stainless at Avesta
Research Centre (ARC), Sweden and supervised by Prof. Staffan Hertzman. Courses and
thesis writing were primarily undertaken as an external PhD at the Division of Physical
Metallurgy, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, at Kungliga Tekniska
Högskolan (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden with Prof. John Ågren as supervisor. The first
section consists of an introduction to the duplex stainless steels and their weldability,
plus a summary of the main findings in this work. The second part consists of the
papers below, which will be referred to in the text by their respective letters.

A. Weldability aspects of a newly developed duplex stainless steel LDX 2101

E.M. Westin, B. Brolund, S. Hertzman
Steel Research International 79 (2008) 6 473-481.

B. Weld oxide formation on lean duplex stainless steel

E.M. Westin, C.-O.A. Olsson, S. Hertzman
Corrosion Science 50 (2008) 9 2620-2634.

C. Pitting corrosion resistance of GTA welded lean duplex stainless steel

E.M. Westin
Welding in the World 54 (2010) 11/12 R308-R321.

D. Effect of laser and laser hybrid welding on the corrosion performance of a lean
duplex stainless steel
E.M. Westin, A. Fellman
In press: Journal of Laser Applications 13pp.

E. Element distribution in lean duplex stainless steel welds

E.M. Westin, S. Hertzman
Submitted to: Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A 23pp.

Other papers that are referred to in this thesis:

Single-pass laser-GMA hybrid welding of 13.5 mm thick duplex stainless steel

E.M. Westin, K. Stelling, A. Gumenyuk
Welding in the World 55 (2011) 1/2 13pp.

IV
Localized corrosion resistance of welded austenitic and lean duplex stainless
steels
M.M. Johansson, E.M. Westin, J. Oliver, R.F.A. Pettersson
Accepted for publication in: Welding in the World, IIW Doc.-No. II-1740-10 (2010) 14pp.

Welding stainless steels – Experience with water heaters

E.M. Westin, D. Serrander
Accepted for publication in: Welding in the World, IIW Doc.-No. II-1748-10 (2010) 14pp.

Effect of heat input modification on duplex stainless weld quality

A. Salminen, E.M. Westin
Proc. ICALEO 2010, Orlando, FL, LIA, Paper 1903 (2010) 668-675.

Fracture toughness of welded commercial duplex stainless steel

H. Sieurin, E.M. Westin, M. Liljas, R. Sandström
Welding in the World 53 (2009) 3 R24-R33.

Short focal length scanner-fiber laser welding of stainless steel sheets and tubular
products
M.P. Vänskä, V. Kujanpää, E.M. Westin, T. Torvinen
Proc. ICALEO 2009, Orlando, FL, LIA, Paper 1803 (2009) 766-772.

Welds in the lean duplex stainless steel LDX 2101 – Effect of microstructure and
weld oxides on corrosion properties
E.M. Westin
Licentiate Thesis in Materials Science, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden, 2008.

Fiber laser hybrid welding of stainless steel

A. Fellman, E.M. Westin
Proc. ICALEO 2008, Temecula, CA, LIA, Paper 1204 (2008) 545-553.

Corrosion resistance of welded lean duplex stainless steel

E.M. Westin
Proc. Stainless Steel World America 2008, Houston, TX, Paper PS08025 (2008) 17pp.

Laser welding of a lean duplex stainless steel

E.M. Westin, E. Keehan, M. Ström, B. von Brömssen
Proc. ICALEO 2007, Orlando, FL, LIA, Paper 609 (2007) 335-344.

Fracture toughness of the lean duplex stainless steel LDX 2101

H. Sieurin, R. Sandström, E.M. Westin
Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A 37A (2006) 10 2975-2982.

Mechanical properties of welds in the new lean duplex stainless steel LDX 2101®
C. Ericsson, P. Johansson, M. Liljas, E.M. Westin
Proc. Stainless Steel World 2003, Maastricht, KCI Publishing, Paper P0356 (2003) 423-431.

V
Content
1 Stainless steels and their weldability ...................................................................... 1
1.1 Austenitic stainless steels ............................................................................... 2
1.2 Ferritic stainless steels ................................................................................... 4
1.3 Ferritic-austenitic (duplex) stainless steel ..................................................... 5
1.3.1 Lean duplex stainless steel ........................................................................ 6
1.3.2 Standard duplex stainless steel .................................................................. 7
1.3.3 Superduplex stainless steel ........................................................................ 7
1.3.4 Filler metal for welding duplex stainless steel............................................ 8
2 Alloying elements ................................................................................................... 9
3 Corrosion resistance ............................................................................................ 11
4 Welding methods.................................................................................................. 12
5 Characterisation techniques ................................................................................ 14
5.1 Composition and microstructure ................................................................ 14
5.1.1 HTHAZ simulation ................................................................................. 14
5.1.2 Microscopy ............................................................................................. 15
5.1.3 Chemical analysis ................................................................................... 15
5.2 Mechanical and corrosion properties .......................................................... 16
5.2.1 Mechanical testing .................................................................................. 16
5.2.2 Post-weld cleaning .................................................................................. 16
5.2.3 Corrosion testing ..................................................................................... 17
6 Aim of this work................................................................................................... 18
7 Microstructure of duplex welds............................................................................ 18
7.1 Solidification (Paper E) ................................................................................ 18
7.2 Weld metal austenite formation and morphology ...................................... 24
7.3 Ferritization, nucleation and growth of austenite in HTHAZ (Paper A)... 25
7.4 Theoretical modelling of austenite formation (Paper A) ............................ 27
7.5 Specification of phase balance ..................................................................... 29
7.6 Secondary phases ......................................................................................... 30
8 Corrosion resistance ............................................................................................. 33
8.1 Effect of nitrogen on corrosion resistance of duplex welds ........................ 34
8.1.1 Preventing nitrogen loss (Paper C) .......................................................... 34
8.1.2 Effect of nitrogen additions when laser welding (Paper D) ...................... 37
8.2 Effect of heat input on corrosion performance ........................................... 38
8.2.1 Low heat input ........................................................................................ 39
8.2.2 High heat input ........................................................................................ 40
8.3 Effect of element partitioning on corrosion resistance (Paper E) .............. 40
8.4 Element loss – evaporation and deposition (Paper B) ................................ 41
8.5 Weld oxides and their influence on corrosion properties (Paper B) .......... 43

VI
 8.6 Discoloration of welds (Paper B) ................................................................. 48
8.7 Preferential location of pitting (Papers C and D) ....................................... 48
9 Laser welding of duplex stainless steel (Paper D) ................................................ 50
10 Mechanical properties........................................................................................ 52
10.1 Hardness ..................................................................................................... 53
10.2 Tensile properties ....................................................................................... 53
10.3 Weld metal impact toughness .................................................................... 53
11 Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 55
12 Summary of papers ............................................................................................ 56
Paper A. Weldability aspects of a newly developed duplex stainless
steel LDX 2101 ................................................................................................... 56
Paper B. Weld oxide formation on lean duplex stainless steel ......................... 57
Paper C. Pitting corrosion resistance of GTA welded lean duplex
stainless steel ...................................................................................................... 58
Paper D. Effect of laser and laser hybrid welding on the corrosion
performance of a lean duplex stainless steel ..................................................... 59
Paper E. Element distribution in lean duplex stainless steel welds .................. 60
13 Acknowledgements............................................................................................. 61
14 References .......................................................................................................... 62
15 Appended papers ................................................................................................... 66

VII
1 Stainless steels and their weldability
Stainless steels are alloyed with at least 12% chromium and become corrosion resistant
by formation of a passive film on the surface. By varying the composition of the steel
with chromium, nickel, molybdenum, nitrogen, etc., it is possible to achieve different
properties suitable for various applications. Stainless steels may be divided into
different groups on the basis of their microstructure. Of these austenitic, ferritic and
ferritic-austenitic (duplex) are the most commonly used. In daily life, most people
have austenitic stainless steel sinks, some ferritic cooking utensils and the water
heaters making the shower comfortable are today mostly made of a duplex grade.
Some stainless steels are presented in Table 1. There are several material standards
available. The most common names are given when first mentioned in the thesis, but
the main designations used throughout the thesis are found in the column “Material”
in Table 1.
Table 1. Examples of stainless steels.

Material EN ASTM/UNS C N Cr Ni Mo Others PRE*

409 1.4003 S40977 0.02 - 11.5 0.5 - - 12

Ferritics

430 1.4016 430 0.04 - 16,5 - - - 17

444 1.4521 444 0.02 0.01 17.8 - 2.1 Ti 25

LDX 2101® 1.4162 S32101 0.03 0.22 21.5 1.5 0.3 5Mn 26

2304 1.4362 S32304 0.02 0.10 23 4.8 0.3 26

Duplex

2205 1.4462 S32205 0.02 0.17 22 5.7 3.1 - 35

2507 1.4410 S32750 0.02 0.27 25 7 4 - 43

304 1.4301 304 0.04 - 18.1 8.1 - - 18

304L 1.4307 304L 0.02 - 18.1 8.1 - - 18

321 1.4541 321 0.04 - 17.3 9.1 - Ti 17

Austenitics

316 1.4401 316 0.04 - 17.2 10.1 2.1 - 24

316L 1.4404 316L 0.02 - 17.2 10.1 2.1 - 24

316L 1.4432 316L 0.02 - 16.9 10.7 2.6 - 25

316Ti 1.4571 316Ti 0.04 - 16.8 10.9 2.1 Ti 24

904L 1.4539 904L 0.01 20 25 4.3 1.5Cu 34

Superaustenitics

254 SMO® 1.4547 S31254 0.01 0.20 20 18 6.1 Cu 43

1.4565 1.4565 S34565 0.02 0.45 24 17 4.5 5.5Mn 46

654 SMO® 1.4652 S32654 0.01 0.50 24 22 7.3 3.5Mn,Cu 56

*Pitting resistance equivalent, PRE = Cr + 3.3 × % Mo + 16 × %N

1
This work focuses on fusion welding in which two pieces of base material are fused
together with an electric arc or a laser beam. This can be performed either with filler
metal additions or autogenously (without filler metal additions). Some examples of
filler metals that may be suitable are given in Table 2 with the EN ISO designations.
The various stainless steels available today show different weldability as discussed
more in detail in the Outokumpu Welding Handbook [1] and below. The final weld
metal corrosion and mechanical properties are determined by a complex mixture of
metallurgical, geometrical and surface effects. These effects may have varying
importance depending on the demands on the performance of the welded construction.
Table 2. Examples of suitable filler metals for welding different stainless steels.
Material EN ASTM/UNS Filler

409 1.4003 S40977 13 or 19 9 L

Ferritics

430 1.4016 430 19 9 L or 23 15 L

444 1.4521 444 19 12 3 L or 23 12 2 L

LDX 2101® 1.4162 S32101 23 7 N L or 22 9 3 N L

2304 1.4362 S32304 23 7 N L or 22 9 3 N L

Duplex

2205 1.4462 S32205 22 9 3 N L

2507 1.4410 S32750 25 9 4 N L

304 1.4301 304 19 9 L

304L 1.4307 304L 19 9 L

Austenitics

321 1.4541 321 19 9 L or 19 9 Nb

316 1.4401 316 19 12 3 L

316L 1.4404 316L 19 12 3 L

316Ti 1.4571 316Ti 19 12 3 Nb or 19 12 3 L

904L 1.4539 904L 20 25 5 Cu or NiCr21MoFeNb

Superaustenitics

254 SMO® 1.4547 S31254 NiCr21MoFeNb or NiCr25Mo16

1.4565 1.4565 S34565 NiCr25Mo16

654 SMO® 1.4652 S32654 NiCr25Mo16

1.1 Austenitic stainless steels

The majority of the stainless steels used today are chromium-nickel austenitic grades
of AISI 304L (EN 1.4307) type. They are general-purpose grades with good resistance to
atmospheric corrosion and many organic and inorganic chemicals. Steel of AISI 316L
(EN 1.4404) type contains molybdenum for increased resistance to pitting and crevice
corrosion in environments containing chlorides. These alloys show in general excel-
lent weldability with all fusion and resistance welding processes and can often be
welded without filler metal. As modern stainless steels are easily produced with low

2
carbon contents, intergranular corrosion (IGC) caused by chromium carbide
precipitates in the grain boundaries of the heat-affected zone (HAZ) is rarely an issue
nowadays, but titanium and/or niobium stabilized grades are, however, still specified
in some standards and by some users. The austenitic steels have about 50% higher
thermal expansion compared to carbon steel, ferritic and duplex stainless steels. This
means that larger deformation and higher shrinkage stresses may be a result from
welding. These grades have excellent formability and high toughness at low
temperatures, but the strength is somewhat lower than that of the other stainless steel
types. These grades may, in addition, be sensitive to stress corrosion cracking (SCC)
under certain conditions, i.e. a special corrosive environment in combination with
tensile stress in the material and often at elevated temperature.

The higher alloyed high performance austenitic stainless steels differ substantially
from more conventional grades with regard to resistance to corrosion and, in some
cases, also mechanical properties. This is mainly due to the high contents of
chromium, nickel, molybdenum and nitrogen, which results in very good resistance to
uniform corrosion and various types of SCC, high to excellent resistance to pitting and
crevice corrosion, good ductility, formability and weldability. Examples of high
performance austenitic stainless steels are listed, with increasing corrosion resistance;
AISI 904L (EN 1.4539), 254 SMO® (EN 1.4547, UNS S31254), EN 1.4565 (UNS S34565) and 654
SMO® (EN 1.4652, UNS S32654). These grades are, for instance, used in applications such
as process equipment in chemical process industries, flue gas cleaning, desalination,
seawater handling and heat exchangers. The high performance austenitic stainless
steels have a fully austenitic microstructure in the solution annealed condition. Most
standard austenitic stainless steels and their recommended fillers are designed to
solidify as δ-ferrite, distributing impurities such as sulphur and phosphorous more
efficiently, and are thus less sensitive to solidification cracking. For a fully austenitic
weld metal, impurities may be concentrated to the grain boundaries or the inter-
dendritic regions, resulting in low-melting phases and susceptibility to solidification
cracking. High-alloyed austenitic stainless steels may also show precipitation of
intermetallic phases in the weld metal and HAZ. Smaller amounts of precipitates do
not usually affect the corrosion resistance or mechanical properties of the weldment.
Welding should generally be performed using a moderate heat input (<1.5 kJ/mm),
with an interpass temperature not exceeding 100°C and the lowest possible dilution of
the parent metal. The need to minimize dilution from the parent steel often make
submerged arc welding (SAW) unsuitable. For superaustenitic grades, the weld metal
pitting corrosion resistance can be decreased due to microsegregation, primarily of
molybdenum, during solidification. This can be compensated by using over-alloyed
nickel base filler metal.

Contamination of the steel surface by metals with low melting points, such as copper
and zinc, can give rise to liquid metal penetration of the grain boundaries in the HAZ
heated to 750-800°C [2]. This can cause intergranular cracking and brittle fracture of the
normally ductile steel [3-5]. Such liquid metal embrittlement (LME) or contamination
cracking forms under the internal residual stresses always present after welding. LME
requires a susceptible microstructure, tensile stress and a liquid metal [6] and has only
been observed in face centred cubic (FCC) metals including the austenitic stainless
steel AISI 300 series [7,8]. The susceptibility increases with the alloy content of the
austenitic stainless steel.

3
1.2 Ferritic stainless steels
The standard ferritic stainless steels normally contain 11-18% chromium, but no or
only small amounts of nickel. The slightly higher proof strength than for austenitic
stainless steels, in combination with lower work hardening make ferritics an attractive
alternative where forming operations are necessary. Ferritic grades have good
resistance to SCC and provide an oxidation resistance sufficient for many applications
at temperatures up to 700°C to 950°C, depending on composition. Ferritic stainless
steels have, however, lower ductility and significantly decreased toughness at low
temperatures compared to austenitics. They have often lower corrosion resistance than
the standard austenitic grades and are therefore primarily used in indoor applications
and as alternatives to carbon steel, giving lower maintenance costs and longer service
life. AISI 409 (EN 1.4003) and AISI 430 (EN 1.4016) are low-alloyed ferritic grades which
can replace carbon steel in many applications. Typical applications for AISI 409 are
within the transportation sector, e.g. railroad carriages, buses, trucks and containers.
AISI 430 with higher chromium content is used in a variety of interior applications
including washing machines, dish-washers, sinks, refrigerators and tableware. The
higher alloyed grade AISI 444 (EN 1.4521) with high chromium and molybdenum
contents often offers corrosion resistance similar to standard austenitic grades and can
replace these in many applications. As for the duplex grades, ferritics should not be
used at temperatures between 300-550°C as they can become brittle. Another drawback
is that they generally have lower weldability than the austenitic and duplex grades. All
fully ferritic stainless steels are susceptible to grain growth in the HAZ, which, in turn,
can cause a coarse-grained weld metal. As this will decrease the ductility and
elongation, the heat input should be kept below 0.8 kJ/mm, which limits the maximum
material thickness. For high-alloyed ferritic grades and when welding with fully
ferritic fillers, fast cooling rates from high temperatures can result in martensite
formation in the weld metal and HAZ. Here, an optimized heat input is important to
avoid embrittlement after welding. Martensite formation can also be limited by
preheating the material to 50-250°C and the ductility of weldments restored by
annealing. Over-alloyed austenitic fillers produce a tougher weld metal and are
preferred if this is allowed by the application and service environment. High carbon
contents may cause precipitation of chromium carbides along the grain boundaries in
the HAZ with increased risk of IGC. With low levels of carbon and nitrogen and/or
addition of titanium and/or niobium stabilizers, most modern ferritic stainless steels
are ferritic at all temperatures and have improved weldability. These single phase,
non-hardenable grades normally do not need any preheating or heat treatment after
welding. Stabilized ferritic steels are also less prone to grain growth during welding.
Due to lower thermal expansion and higher thermal conductivity, distortion and
buckling may be lower during welding compared to austenitic stainless steels. Since
ferritic stainless steels are susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement, moist electrodes
and shielding gases that contain hydrogen should be avoided. If the gas protection is
insufficient during welding or if nitrogen is added to the shielding gas, formation of
chromium nitrides caused by an uptake of nitrogen from the atmosphere may occur.
Such precipitates can cause embrittlement and decrease the corrosion resistance. For
the same reason, contamination that may cause carbon pick-up, should be avoided.

4
1.3 Ferritic-austenitic (duplex) stainless steel
The ferritic-austenitic grades have a ferrite matrix intermixed with austenite and are
more commonly called ‘duplex‘ stainless steels from the Latin ’two-fold’. The duplex
microstructure combines properties of both phases that may even be enhanced in the
combination; the ferrite provides high strength and resistance to SCC, while the
austenite contributes good ductility and general corrosion resistance [9,10]. Excellent
resistance to localized corrosion in neutral and acidic chloride-containing solutions
can be obtained owing to increased chromium, molybdenum and nitrogen contents
[11-13]. The high mechanical strength also contributes high resistance to fatigue and
abrasive conditions. Duplex alloys can be cost-effective alternatives to austenitic
grades with equivalent corrosion resistance; especially in applications where the
doubled yield strength can be utilized in the design to decrease the wall thickness.
Duplex stainless steels are successfully used in pressure vessel and storage tank
applications where weight reduction by reduced wall thickness, decreases the cost for
material, welding and transportation.

There are numerous commercial duplex stainless steels available in the large family
ranging from the lower alloyed lean duplex grades, to the highly alloyed superduplex
grades. These normally contain 20-29% chromium, 1-8% nickel, 0-4.5% molybdenum,
0.1-0.3% nitrogen and 0.02-0.03% carbon. There are also some hyperduplex grades with
even higher alloying content. It is popular to differentiate the different grades in terms
of the main alloying components affecting the corrosion properties, and the pitting
resistance equivalent; PRE = %Cr + 3.3 × %Mo + 16 × %N is generally accepted as a
rough estimation of the localized corrosion resistance of duplex grades [14]. The
resistance to pitting corrosion in neutral chloride-containing solutions increases with
higher PRE numbers, but this should only be considered as an indication. Localized
laboratory corrosion tests may give another ranking of the grades than the PRE. Also
other elements such as manganese, tungsten, copper, sulphur and carbon may affect
the pitting performance [15]. One disadvantage of duplex grades may be their
moderate toughness at low temperatures, but the ductility is normally sufficient for
service temperatures down to –40°C. In addition, proneness to embrittlement after
thermal aging, limits the maximum service temperature of welded components to
250°C. Duplex steels are suitable for most forming operations used in stainless steel
fabrication. However, due to the higher mechanical strength and lower toughness,
operations such as deep drawing, stretch forming and spinning are more demanding to
perform than with austenitic alloys. The high strength of the duplex grades may also
cause a relatively high spring back.

Generally all fusion welding methods can be used for welding duplex stainless steels
on condition that suitable welding procedures and consumables are used. Weld metal
properties such as strength, toughness and corrosion resistance may be impaired by an
excessively large deviation of the phase balance compared to the parent metal [16,17].
Too high austenite fractions, which give a mixed ferrite-austenite solidification mode,
can result in increased segregation while too high ferrite fractions can cause
chromium nitride precipitation. Both of these phenomena can have a negative effect
on the pitting corrosion resistance. The chemical composition of the weld metal is
crucial and the solution normally is to add an over-alloyed filler wire specially
developed for the particular grade [18,19]. Nitrogen is also an important alloying
element in duplex grades, which increases the corrosion resistance and strength.
Nitrogen additions to the shielding and backing gas during autogenous gas tungsten

5
arc (GTA) welding have been reported to be beneficial for the pitting corrosion
resistance by preventing nitrogen loss [20-22]. The driving force for such escape of
nitrogen increases when welding nitrogen-alloyed grades, leading to a larger risk of
losing the desired properties. This degassing process of nitrogen can cause a more
ferritic weld metal surface with chromium nitride precipitates in the ferrite grains
exposed to the corrosive medium, hence impairing the resistance to pitting corrosion
and the toughness [16,23,24]. The weld microstructure is not only dependent on the
chemical composition, but also on the welding parameters, which affect the thermal
weld cycle [25]. The heat input should be sufficient to enable reasonable austenite
formation in the weld and HAZ. A minimum of 0.2-0.5 kJ/mm is usually required when
arc welding, depending on grade and material thickness. The heat input needs also to
be limited to maximum 1.0-3.5 kJ/mm and the maximum interpass temperature to 100-
150°C when multi-pass welding to avoid precipitation of detrimental phases in
previous passes. Post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) of welded duplex stainless steel is
normally not needed. By optimizing the welding procedure it is possible to ensure that
the necessary corrosion resistance and strength are achieved without heat treatment.
Typical duplex base metal and weld microstructures are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. (a) Base metal microstructure and (b) simulated high temperature heat affected
zone (HTHAZ) microstructure after reaching a peak temperature of 1360°C followed direct
by cooling at 20°C/s [A].

1.3.1 Lean duplex stainless steel

The number of applications for duplex stainless steel increases steadily and new
alloys are continuously developed. Lately, the main focus has been on lean duplex
grades, and the fluctuating alloying element prices (especially nickel and
molybdenum) during the last decade has accelerated the development and the amount
of applications for these steels. As stated by Liljas and Qvarfort [16] in 1986,
substitution of nickel with nitrogen can increase the austenite content of the weld
metal without altering the austenite content in the base metal. As a consequence, the
expensive nickel can partly be substituted with nitrogen and manganese [26]. The lean
duplex grades have typically 20-24% chromium, 1-5% nickel, 0.1-0.3% molybdenum and
0.10-0.22% nitrogen. These alloys, unlike most other duplex grades, are only alloyed with
small amounts of molybdenum and the lean alloying content results in lower cost. The
lean alloy 2304 (1.4362, UNS S32304) was developed to compete primarily with austenitic
AISI 316L, but with twice the yield strength and significantly better resistance to SCC. The
PRE is about 24-25, which is about the same as that of the AISI 316L steel, giving equal
or mostly higher pitting resistance. 2304 can generally replace AISI 304L and AISI 316L,
and can be found in storage tanks for e.g. white liquor and pulp, bridges, waste water
treatment, mining, firewalls and blast walls on offshore platforms. The weldability of

6
this type of duplex steel is generally good when using slightly over-alloyed filler metal
[27]. Fillers that may be suitable are ISO 23 7 N L or 2209 (ISO 22 9 3 N L). The more
recently-developed lean duplex grade LDX 2101® (EN 1.4162, UNS S32101) initiated the
boom in the lean duplex market and has become one of the largest duplex volumes sold
worldwide. LDX 2101 has 21% chromium and fairly low nickel content of 1.5% and the
composition is balanced with 5% manganese and 0.22% nitrogen to give rapid austenite
formation in both the weld metal and in the HAZ [28,29]. LDX 2101 has successfully
replaced the low-alloyed austenitic grades AISI 304L, AISI 316L and construction steel
in applications such as pressure vessels, bridges and storage tanks. The grade has
twice the yield strength of AISI 304L and the corrosion resistance in chloride-
containing environments is better. The pitting resistance of GTA and laser welded LDX
2101 is often in parity with that of AISI 316L [30,C,D]. If the high yield strength can be
utilized, large savings are possible on material, transport and filler metal costs, with at
least the same corrosion performance. LDX 2101 is also used within the transport and
automotive industry in such different applications as fuel tanks and tram bodies,
where crash tests have proven that the material has good energy absorption [31,32].
LDX 2101 and 2304, are due to high chromium content in combination with low
molybdenum content, good alternatives in pulp & paper applications such as in kraft
digesters and storage of alkaline pulping liquors [33]. Also in strongly oxidizing acids,
steels without molybdenum-alloying are often more resistant than the molybdenum-
alloyed steels. LDX 2101 and 2304 are also the dominating materials in domestic water
heaters.

1.3.2 Standard duplex stainless steel

The dominant commercial duplex stainless steel type contains 21-23% chromium, 4.5-
6% nickel, 2.5-3.5% molybdenum and 0.10-0.22% nitrogen, and is designated 2205 (EN
1.4462, UNS S31803, UNS S32205). This steel was developed in the 1970s, but was later
optimized with higher nitrogen levels for improved weldability [23,27]. The PRE of
2205 is about 35 resulting in a resistance to localized corrosion similar to that of the
austenitic grade AISI 904L. The weldability of this grade is good, but overmatching filler
with increased nickel content, e.g. ISO 22 9 3 N L, is normally required for optimum weld
metal properties. Typical applications are cargo tanks, pressure vessels, pipe systems
in chemical tankers, bridges, tube heat exchangers and kraft digesters.

1.3.3 Superduplex stainless steel

The superduplex stainless steels typically contain 24-29% chromium, 4.5-8% nickel, 2.7-
4.5% molybdenum, 0.1-0.35% nitrogen and are in some cases alloyed with copper and
tungsten. These grades are characterised by a PRE > 40. The superduplex grades were
developed to withstand very aggressive environments to compete with superaustenitics
and nickel-base alloys [12]. 2507 (EN 1.4410, UNS S32750) has, due to high molybdenum
and nitrogen contents, a PRE of 42-43, and offers high mechanical strength and
corrosion resistance in extremely aggressive environments such as chloride-
containing acids. Examples of applications are desalination plants, seawater systems,
bleach washers and flue-gas cleaning. A consequence of the high alloy content, is that
there is a risk of precipitation of intermetallic phases, limiting the heat input and
interpass temperatures when multipass welding. Overmatching filler with increased
nickel content is required, e.g. 2509 (ISO 25 9 4 N L), to compensate element partitioning
for optimum corrosion resistance.

7
1.3.4 Filler metal for welding duplex stainless steel
The equilibrium phase balance and corrosion resistance of the annealed base metal
cannot be attained when welding autogenously due to higher ferrite fractions, possible
element loss and segregation of important alloying elements. Use of over-alloyed
consumables is for this reason generally recommended for welding of all duplex
grades, in order to achieve corrosion resistance and impact toughness close to that of
the base metal. Consumables should have somewhat higher chromium and
molybdenum contents and may be alloyed with nitrogen for desirable optimum weld
metal corrosion resistance [16,34]. Use of consumables having minimum +10 higher
PRE has been suggested. A minimum filler metal nitrogen content of 0.14% for duplex
grades and 0.22% for superduplex steels has been recommended [35]. Nitrogen alloying
counteracts possible loss from the molten pool and inhibits nitrogen migration from
the high temperature heat affected zone (HTHAZ) [36]. Fillers generally contain 2-6%
more nickel than the base metal to control the phase balance, to maintain high corrosion
resistance and to improve mechanical properties. Nickel additions shift the austenite
formation to higher temperatures, resulting in higher weld metal austenite contents
[37]. Over-alloying can, however, be problematic with 25Cr grades because of the risk
of increased formation of σ phase or other intermetallic phases during the weld
thermal cycle [38]. Excessive amounts of nickel can also shift the solidification mode
from fully ferritic to a mixed ferritic-austenitic solidification, which increases
segregation of elements and may cause ductility loss [39]. Too high nickel contents in
the weld metal also dilute the nitrogen in a larger amount of austenite, and decrease
the resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion [40]. If austenitic fillers are used, the weld
metal may be fully austenitic and thereby show reduced strength and be more susceptible
to solidification cracking. However, in many cases, dilution by the parent steel gives
sufficient ferrite to ensure adequate properties.

Fillers such as ISO 23 7 N L and ISO 22 9 3 N L can be used for welding the lean duplex
alloys LDX 2101 and 2304. Duplex 2205 is, however, alloyed with molybdenum, so ISO
22 9 3 N L filler should be used to compensate molybdenum segregation in the weld
metal. When using the right filler metal, the duplex stainless steels can be welded to
construction steel and to other stainless grades. Table 3 shows fillers that may be
suitable when combining duplex grades with other stainless grades.

Table 3. Recommended fillers for combining different stainless grades [1,41].

Grade LDX 2101 2304 2205 304 316 444
LDX 2101 23 7 N L 23 7 N L 22 9 3 N L 23 7 N L 23 7 N L 23 7 N L
22 9 3 N L 22 9 3 N L 22 9 3 N L 22 9 3 N L 22 9 3 N L
23 12 2 L 23 12 2 L 23 12 2 L
23 12 L 23 12 L
2304 23 7 N L 23 7 N L 22 9 3 N L 23 7 N L 23 7 N L 23 7 N L
22 9 3 N L 22 9 3 N L 22 9 3 N L 22 9 3 N L 22 9 3 N L
23 12 2 L 23 12 2 L 23 12 2 L
23 12 L 23 12 L
2205 22 9 3 N L 22 9 3 N L 22 9 3 N L 22 9 3 N L 22 9 3 N L 22 9 3 N L
23 12 2 L 23 12 2 L 23 12 2 L
23 12 L 23 12 L
2507 25 9 4 N L 25 9 4 N L 25 9 4 N L 25 9 4 N L 25 9 4 N L 25 9 4 N L
23 7 N L 23 7 N L 22 9 3 N L 23 12 2 L 23 12 2 L 23 12 2 L

8
2 Alloying elements
The desired corrosion and mechanical properties of stainless steels are obtained by
optimizing the balance of the important alloying elements. From now on, the focus
will be on duplex grades.

Chromium
Chromium is the most important alloying element for stainless steel and a content of
at least 12% is needed to create and maintain the passive film giving the material its
corrosion resistance. Duplex grades normally contain relatively high levels of
chromium, typically 20-29% to stabilize the ferrite phase. Coordinated additions of
austenite-stabilizers, such as nickel or nitrogen, are required to maintain the phase
balance. Chromium is beneficial for the resistance to both uniform and localized
corrosion and decreases the pit propagation rate [42,43]. Chromium increases the
pitting potential, the critical pitting temperature (CPT) and the critical crevice
temperature (CCT), and improves the passive film stability in acidic environments.
There is a maximum limit to the chromium content of approximately 30-32%, where
intermetallic phase precipitation can markedly reduce the ductility, toughness and
corrosion resistance of these alloys.

Nickel
Nickel is a strong austenite stabilizer and a principal addition to austenitic stainless
steels. Nickel alloying may decrease the resistance to crevice corrosion resistance in
sodium chloride, and has been reported to be both beneficial and detrimental in pitting
corrosion tests [40,44]. In the duplex stainless steels, however, the main role of nickel
is to maintain the ferrite-austenite balance, rather than modifying the corrosion
resistance [43]. Optimum nickel contents balance the chromium and molybdenum
contents to give equal proportions of ferrite and austenite after solution annealing.
This appears to be most advantageous for the corrosion resistance, but also for the
mechanical properties [42]. Low nickel levels can result in formation of a high
proportion of ferrite and thereby decreased toughness. Nickel has also a positive
effect on the impact toughness at low temperatures.

Molybdenum
Molybdenum is a ferrite-stabilizing alloying element with a strong beneficial
influence on uniform and pitting corrosion resistance (included in the PRE) and on the
passivation properties [45]. A molybdenum content in excess of 3 or 3.2% has been
reported to be required to have high resistance to localized corrosion in acidic
environments and to crevice corrosion in warm seawater [42,46,47]. Molybdenum is
favourable in most environments, but in strongly oxidizing environments, such as
warm concentrated nitric acid and in hot alkaline solutions, grades containing
molybdenum are less resistant than alloys without molybdenum [33]. The addition of
molybdenum in duplex stainless steels should not exceed approximately 4% since it
makes the material more susceptible to intermetallic phase precipitation by widening
the σ phase field [48,49]. Molybdenum has also been suggested to promote
precipitation of α’, which is responsible for the 475°C embrittlement of ferritic
stainless steels and the ferrite phase of duplex grades.

9
Nitrogen
Nitrogen is an interstitial element that stabilizes the austenite and has strong influence
on several properties. Nitrogen significantly increases the strength of the duplex
grades, but may also improve the ductility and toughness of the alloy [49]. Nitrogen
has a strong beneficial influence on the passivity of stainless steels and is favourable
for increasing the resistance of the base metal to pitting corrosion (included in the
PRE), pit propagation, crevice corrosion, IGC and SCC [14,16,43,46,50-52]. Tsuge et al.
[14] estimated that the nitrogen content required for achieving the same pitting
resistance in both ferrite and austenite in 22Cr steels is approximately 0.18%. In base
metals with lower nitrogen content, the austenite would be less resistant to pitting.
The beneficial effects of nitrogen have been reported to be further enhanced in the
presence of molybdenum [42,51,53]. Nitrogen promotes the start of austenite formation
at higher temperatures during the weld cooling cycle and the duplex grades contain up
to 0.4% nitrogen to give improved austenite formation when welding [23]. Nitrogen has
been reported to reduce the elemental partitioning of chromium and molybdenum
between the ferrite and austenite and at the same time, hinder intermetallic phase
formation [48]. The effect of nitrogen on the driving force for σ phase formation may,
however, be smaller for duplex grades compared to that of the austenitic grades,
because nitrogen does not change the chromium activity as result of a simultaneous
change in phase fraction [54,55].

Manganese
Manganese stabilizes austenite and can partly replace nickel. Additions to stainless
steel have been used to increase the solubility of nitrogen, which have a strong bene-
ficial influence on the pitting resistance. It has been reported that manganese itself
may have a negative effect on the pitting resistance, but combined additions of nitro-
gen and manganese override this effect [48]. Replacing nickel with manganese and
nitrogen also makes the price of the material more stable since the nickel price has
fluctuated significantly in recent years. Examples include the low nickel lean duplex
stainless steel LDX 2101® [56] and the superaustenitic stainless steel 654 SMO® [57].

Other elements
Tungsten has become more commonly used as an alloying element in commercial
stainless steels where it is used as a supplement to molybdenum for improved
corrosion resistance [48,54]. When used in the PRE expression, the factor for tungsten
is approximately half of that for molybdenum because of higher atomic weight.
Tungsten has, however, also been reported to promote formation of intermetallic
phases and cause a more rapid embrittlement than molybdenum [15,58]. Copper is
added to highly corrosion resistant austenitics such as AISI 904L and 254 SMO®, and
duplex grades such as Ferralium 255 (EN 1.4507, UNS S32550 and Zeron 100 (EN 1.4501,
UNS S32760) to further improve the corrosion resistance in, for instance, reducing acids
such as dilute sulphuric acid [45,54]. In most modern duplex alloys, carbon is limited
to levels of 0.03 wt.% to minimize the risk of formation of chromium carbides and
thereby decrease the susceptibility of the duplex stainless steels to intergranular
corrosion [49].

10
3 Corrosion resistance
Stainless steels are corrosion resistant due to formation of an invisible, 2-4 nm thick,
passive film that is established in oxidizing environments when the steel contains at
least 12% chromium. This film has the ability to be rebuilt by oxidation of the
underlying metal when it has been damaged. There are, however, environments in
which permanent breakdown of the passive layer occur either uniformly or locally,
causing corrosion of the unprotected surface. Different media can cause different
types of corrosion attack, which may vary in nature and appearance. Uniform
corrosion or general corrosion occurs with an even corrosion rate over the whole
surface that is exposed to the corrosive medium (often for the steel an aggressive acid
e.g. hydrochloric acid or hydrofluoric acid). The corrosion rate is generally expressed
as the material loss in mm/year and can thus be used as an estimation of the lifetime.
Selective corrosion can also occur in two phase materials such as duplex stainless
steels. Different chemical compositions of the phases may lead to preferential attack
at the weaker phase. Pitting corrosion most often occurs where chloride ions cause a
local breakdown of the passive layer. The presence of halides, such as chlorides, in
neutral or acidic solutions increases the corrosivity of both organic and inorganic
acids. The solution becomes more aggressive at high chloride concentrations, low pH
and high temperatures, but also small amounts of chlorides, 250 ppm, may affect the
pitting corrosion resistance of stainless steels. One example is drinking water that can
cause corrosion of stainless steel in domestic water heaters [30]. The pits often appear
to be rather small at the surface, but may have larger cross-section areas deeper inside
the metal, Figure 2. Pitting corrosion is often more deleterious than uniform corrosion
due to the rapid propagation rate and it is not possible to circumvent the problem by
dimensioning with thicker gauges as for uniform corrosion. As the attack is small at
the surface and may be covered by corrosion products, pitting attack often remains
undiscovered until it causes perforation and leakage. Crevice corrosion occurs under
the same conditions as pitting, i.e. in neutral and acid chloride solutions. In the
stagnant solution inside a crevice, the supply of new oxidant is restricted and crevices,
such as those found at flanges or lap joints, are thus often the most critical sites for
corrosion. High chloride concentrations and low pH increase the probability of pitting
and crevice corrosion, as do high temperatures and stagnant solutions. Chloride-
induced stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is a brittle failure mode caused by the
combined effect of tensile stress, including residual stresses in welds, and a corrosive
environment. Most cases of SCC occur at temperatures above 50°C but failures at
ambient temperature have occurred on standard grade austenitic steels, such as AISI
304L and AISI 316L in swimming pool atmospheres [33]. Steels with a ferritic or duplex
structure and high performance austenitic alloys generally display a very high
resistance to SCC. lntergranular corrosion (IGC) occurs preferentially in chromium-
depleted grain boundaries as a consequence of precipitation of chromium carbides of
M23C6 type in the HTHAZ subject to 550-850°C. In the modern duplex and high alloy
austenitic stainless steels, sensitization caused by chromium carbide precipitation is
rarely a problem, because of the low carbon content of these grades [27]. When
chromium carbides appear, these are less harmful in duplex grades, since the ferrite
allows a rapid healing of depleted zones compared to austenitics [10]. Titanium and
niobium form carbides more easily than chromium and stabilized steels show good
resistance to IGC even though their carbon contents may be fairly high. Low carbon
grades and stabilized grades can be considered as equally resistant to IGC, unless
exposed for long periods at temperatures above 500°C, in which case stabilized grades
are to be preferred [33].

11
 Figure 2. Principal cross-section of a corrosion pit [after 59].

When choosing a stainless steel for a certain application, it is important to consider all
factors that could affect the corrosion performance such as the corrosion environment,
concentrations, pH, impurity content and the service temperature. Other factors that
could have an effect on the performance of the product are weld defects, the presence
of oxide from welding or heat treatment, contamination of the steel surface by
particles of non-alloyed or low-alloyed steel, microbial activity, the presence of
crevices and chlorination of water. More information about the corrosion performance
of different stainless steels and the ability to withstand certain environment,
concentrations, pH, etc. can be found in the Outokumpu Corrosion Handbook [33].

4 Welding methods
There are many methods available for joining stainless steel, but fusion welding,
where the material is joined by melting and filler metal added when needed, predom-
inanates. The choice of welding method depends on what is available and practically
suitable for the specific application. The steel grade, required properties, material
thickness, welding position and surrounding environment are normally taken into
account when choosing the welding method. Here follows a brief description of the
welding methods used or that are referred to in this thesis work. More details of the
experimental work can be found in the appended papers. When fusion welding, the
melt pool is protected and the arc stability given by use of shielding gas or by
formation of a slag. When gas tungsten arc (GTA) or tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding,
the arc is formed between a non-consumed tungsten electrode and the workpiece in a
shielding gas atmosphere. The arc melts the base material and filler metal is added
from the side if needed. GTA welding can result in beautiful, smooth welds with high
surface and weld quality, with the highest impact toughness and best fatigue proper-
ties. The productivity, however, is low and the method consequently is used where
high demands are set. GTA welding is successfully used in many tube mills, within the
nuclear and process industries, otherwise primarily for thin materials and for produ-
cing high quality root beads in joints that are subsequently filled with a more produc-
tive method. In order to maintain satisfactory corrosion resistance, there are high
demands on the root protection when welding from one side. In plasma arc welding
(PAW), the arc is further constricted by a double-gas nozzle having a separate plasma
gas. PAW gives narrow penetration, relatively high welding speeds and is normally
used as an automatic process. When gas metal arc (GMA) or metal inert/active gas
(MIG/MAG) welding, the arc is formed between the workpiece and a continuously fed
solid wire electrode that melts in a shielding gas atmosphere. This is probably the

12
most common welding method due to its high productivity. The welding speed is con-
siderably higher than for GTA welding and the impact toughness is typically equally
high. The method is suitable for material thicker than 2 mm and primarily used in
fillet joints and when butt welding from both sides. Main disadvantages are that the
method causes some spatter formation and embedded surface slags, that can only be
removed by grinding. There is also an increased risk of forming defects such as lack
of fusion. The modern synergic pulse power sources have considerably improved the
conditions for GMA welding. GMA welding can also be performed as flux core arc
(FCA) welding with an electrode filled with a flux that forms slag and supplies alloy-
ing elements. Compared to welding with solid wire, higher welding speed and deeper
penetration can be obtained with smoother welds and improved resistance to fatigue.
There is lower risk of spatter formation and embedded slag, which makes post-weld
cleaning easier. Drawbacks are that the slag needs to be removed after welding and
shielding gas is still required. Shielded metal arc (SMA) or manual metal arc (MMA)
welding is performed manually with a covered electrode. The coating gives arc
stability and forms a slag that protects the filler and the melt during welding and
cooling. By choosing different covers, the weld properties and weldability can be
improved. The method is flexible, rather cheap and often used outdoors and for repair
welding. SMA is commonly used for the root weld when multipass welding, but the
method has fairly low productivity and cannot be automatized. Other drawbacks are
slag removal and that the covered electrodes easily absorb moist and thus need to be
stored in a controlled atmosphere. Submerged arc welding (SAW) gives very high
productivity and is primarily used when welding thick material. To protect the melt
and the arc from reacting with the surrounding atmosphere, the melt is covered with a
flux. The drawbacks are the handling of the flux and slag, and that the flux often
restricts the welding position to horizontal. The method also increases the risk of hot
crack formation in some stainless steels. In addition, all slag forming welding
methods give more oxides and slag particles in the weld metal, which decrease the
impact toughness compared to the gas shielded methods. Laser welding with a
coherent (single phase) light of a single wavelength (monochromatic) gives better
penetration than conventional welding methods and can significantly increase the
welding speed. A laser beam is highly focused with sufficiently high energy density
that the material melts and partly evaporates. Welding in such a keyhole, results in a
deep and narrow weld, but the small beam demands particularly careful edge prepara-
tion and high accuracy. Traditionally, the CO2 laser, where the laser beam is generated
in a gas mixture and transported via mirrors, is most common in the industry, follow-
ed by the Nd:YAG laser, where the laser beam is transported with fiber optics. The CO2
laser is available with higher power and gives high quality welds, while the Nd:YAG
laser has higher flexibility and is more suitable for robotic welding. In recent years,
the use of high-brightness solid-state fiber and disk lasers has increased rapidly. These
are available with higher powers than the CO2 and are more flexible than the Nd:YAG.
The ability to weld at higher speed with less heat input compared to the classic fusion
welding methods gives less distortion. General drawbacks with laser welding are that
the equipment generally involves a large investment and that some materials can form
undesired microstructure due to the rapid cooling. Laser welding is most common
within the automotive industry and in tubular mills. When laser hybrid welding, the
beam is combined with an arc welding method such as GMA or GTA. The benefits are
usually high welding speed, gap bridgeability and low distortion [60]. For duplex
grades, the most important improvement is the higher heat input compared to laser
welding, resulting in decreased cooling rates and hence improved austenite formation.

13
5 Characterisation techniques
This section gives an introduction to how the microstructure and material properties
have been studied. The characterisation techniques used in this thesis work are listed
in Table 4.

Table 4. Characterisation techniques and the papers where they have been used.
Operation Microstructure Corrosion Mechanical properties Chemical composition
Ferrite content A-E
Pickling C,D
ASTM G150 C,D
Wet paper test B,C
Ferroxyl test B,C
Weld simulation A
SEM/EDS A,C,E A-C
LOM A-E
TEM/EDS A,C A,C
XPS B,C
EPMA E E B,C,E
LECO C,E
Tensile test D
Impact energy A

5.1 Composition and microstructure

The compositions of the material and consumables used in this thesis are presented in
Table 5.

Table 5. Material and filler wire compositions given in wt.%.

Material C Si Mn P S Cr Ni Mo Cu N
LDX 2101 0.025 0.70 5.2 0.016 0.001 21.4 1.5 0.30 0.31 0.226
2304 0.018 0.42 1.5 0.022 0.001 22.8 4.8 0.29 0.26 0.096
2205 0.013 0.40 1.5 0.020 0.001 22.4 5.8 3.21 0.12 0.188
2507 0.014 0.20 0.8 0.024 0.001 24.7 6.8 3.77 0.19 0.256
316L 0.017 0.38 1.8 0.029 0.001 17.3 10.0 2.02 0.31 0.064
444 0.017 0.38 0.5 0.029 0.001 18.0 0.3 2.03 0.14 0.024
19 9 L Si* 0.018 0.85 1.9 0.014 0.010 19.8 10.1 0.10 0.05 0.051
23 7 N L* 0.021 0.32 0.5 0.015 0.001 23.2 7.2 0.34 0.36 0.144
22 9 3 N L* 0.014 0.48 1.6 0.015 0.001 22.9 8.6 3.19 0.10 0.157
*Fillers

5.1.1 HTHAZ simulation

As the HTHAZ of LDX 2101 normally is very narrow and consequently difficult to test
separately, such microstructures were simulated using a Gleeble 3500TM thermo-me-
chanical simulator. 6 × 12 × 120 mm sized specimens were individually heated above
the ferritization temperature for full ferritization and then cooled at different rates
(using air cooling, compressed argon and water quenching) to room temperature. The
temperature was measured with thermocouples ultrasonically welded to the sample.

14
5.1.2 Microscopy
The phase balance can affect both the corrosion performance and the ductility.
Cross-sections of the welds were prepared by grinding and polishing with SiO2 in the
last step. A modified Beraha etchant (60 ml H2O + 30 ml HCl + 1 g K2S2O5) was applied
to elucidate the weld shape and ferrite and austenite fractions. The ferrite content was
assessed in a light optical microscope (LOM) using image analysis (Optimas 6.1
software). With scanning electron microscopy (SEM) it is possible to generate images
of the surface. Different contrast modes can be used to distinguish between
topography and variations in composition. Specimens polished to mirror finish before
corrosion testing were studied in a LEO 440 SEM. In this case the examination was
carried out in back scatter mode to reveal the phases for determination of preferential
pitting location and to potentially find the fusion line. Crystallographic information
and phase identification were obtained from electrolytically polished samples
analyzed in a HKL Channel 5 electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) system using a
field emission gun scanning electron microscope, FEG-SEM Zeiss UltraTM 55. With
transmission electron microscopy (TEM) it is possible to study small particles and
identify these by their diffraction pattern. Carbon replicas were prepared on polished
cross-sections by etching in hydrochloric acid, coating with carbon then detaching the
carbon film with adherent particles in 8% bromine meth-anol. The examination of the
replicas was performed with a Philips CM 200 FEG-TEM.

5.1.3 Chemical analysis

To determine the weld metal nitrogen content, drilled shavings were analysed using
the Leco melt evaporation method. The milling depth was carefully controlled in
order to ensure that only weld metal was included. When the welds were too small to
produce drill shavings, cross-sections were polished to 3 µm and examined using a
modified electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) instrument (ARL-SEMQ, Dell GX1-500).
The instrument contained six wavelength dispersive spectrometers modified for
mapping. Chromium, manganese, nitrogen, nickel, silicon and molybdenum were
mapped using an electron beam of 1 µ m diameter, which was scanned over 50×50 µm
or 2 × 2 µm and the data was used to evaluate the element distribution and average
composition of the welds. In order to detect iron deposits, the ferroxyl test described
in ASTM A380 was carried out on polished heat tint and on stained paper from a wet
paper corrosion test. A LEO 440 SEM equipped with energy dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy (EDS) was used for characterisation of surface deposits. EDS was also
used for chemical analysis of the precipitates in the TEM work. EDS offers a relatively
fast chemical analysis and is not sensitive to surface topography. The EDS detector
cannot detect elements lower than lithium and overlapping energy peaks have to be
disconvoluted during analysis. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), also known
as electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) was used for weld oxide
analysis. Alternative techniques for this investigation could have been Auger electron
spectroscopy (AES) and glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GD-OES). AES
has a higher lateral resolution, but gives less information on the chemical binding
state. For GD-OES, the minimum spot size is about 1 mm in diameter and the surface
has to be relatively flat to allow formation of a vacuum seal. This makes XPS a good
choice for this type of investigation where a micron-range lateral resolution is desired
in combination with nano-depth information on the surface chemistry. The principle
of surface analysis by XPS is that the sample is irradiated with monoenergetic X-rays
of known energy. By measuring the kinetic energy of the photoelectrons emitted from
the sample, information about the composition and the chemical state can be obtained.

15
The XPS spectrum is generated by plotting the number of photoelectrons (intensity) as
a function of binding energy in a small fixed energy interval [61]. The binding energy
of the peaks is characteristic of each element and the spectral peaks from a mixture
are approximately the sum of the individual constituents [59,62,63]. The quantification
of each state is taken as the area under the peak fit over the peak area sensitivity factor
[61]. Using tabulated binding energies data, the oxidation states present on the surface
can be determined. A reasonable estimate of background intensities is obtained by the
iterated Shirley method used in this work. A PHI Quantum 2000 Scanning ESCA
Microprobe was used for characterising weld oxide thickness and composition. The
effective lateral resolution in the small spot mode was set to about 100 µm to obtain an
average over several austenite and ferrite regions. Both line scan spectra and sputter
depth profiling were performed. The ability to distinguish between the different
chemical states will be diminished when sputtering due to changes in the chemical
states, but useful information on elemental distribution can still be obtained.

5.2 Mechanical and corrosion properties

5.2.1 Mechanical testing

Tensile testing was performed to evaluate the strength and ductility of the weld
metal. Often the weld metal strength is higher and the ductility lower than the base
metal. Tensile tests across the welds were carried out on specimens of DF13 type in
accordance with the European standard EN 10002-1 and ASTM E370. The weld bead
reinforcement was normally removed by grinding and a strong weld frequently results
in failure in the base metal. Impact toughness testing at various temperatures was
conducted on half size, 5 × 10 × 55 mm, Charpy-V specimens in base and weld metal in
accordance with EN 10045-1, and the impact energy was compensated with a factor 2.

5.2.2 Post-weld cleaning

A critically important factor for all types of stainless steels is that the surfaces must be
thoroughly cleaned prior to and after welding for optimum corrosion resistance. A
post-weld cleaning treatment it is often necessary to restore the stainless steel surface
and achieve good corrosion resistance after fabrication. Post-weld cleaning is
primarily used to remove weld oxides and surface defects such as e.g. spatter, slag
inclusions and undercut. There are different methods available, both mechanical
methods such as brushing, sand blasting and grinding and chemical methods, e.g.
pickling. Which method to apply depend on what damage the fabrication has caused,
i.e. what types of imperfections have to be removed, but also on requirements with
regard to corrosion resistance, hygienic demands and aesthetic appearance. The most
effective way is to use a combination of a mechanical and a chemical method, e.g.
polishing followed by pickling. In this work, polishing was performed by hand with a
grinding wheel until the visible heat tint had been removed. Some welds were
corrosion tested after polishing while most were pickled in a mixed nitric and
hydrofluoric acid at room temperature or at elevated temperatures (60°C). Other welds
were pickled without any prior polishing.

16
5.2.3 Corrosion testing
The most reliable test method to verify if a material is corrosion resistant or not is
naturally to test it in the specified environment in real conditions. This is rather time-
consuming and thus the material or welds often need to be tested in laboratory
conditions in more concentrated electrolytes and at elevated temperatures for faster
evaluation. Many corrosion types can occur, but only pitting corrosion has been taken
into consideration. In this thesis, the tests were carried out in 1 M NaCl in the flush-
port Avesta cell according to the ASTM G150 standard [64], Figure 3.

Figure 3. Schematic illustration of the Avesta cell and the location of the specimen.

This test method determines the potential-independent critical pitting temperature

(CPT) by way of a potentiostatic technique using a temperature scan, and a specimen
holder that is designed to eliminate crevice corrosion [65,66]. The CPT is the lowest
temperature on the test surface at which stable propagating pitting occurs under
specified test conditions. After an initial stabilization period at 0°C, the temperature of
the solution is increased with a ramp of 1°C/min until the current surpasses the
threshold value of 100 µ A/cm2 for at least 60 s. The temperature at which the current
first surpasses the threshold value is defined as the CPT. The potential was held
constant at +700 mVSCE during the whole temperature scan and the current was logged.
The sample size was 30 × 30 or 60 × 60 mm and the sample area exposed to the 1 M
2 2
NaCl solution was 1 cm or 10 cm , respectively. A visual inspection of the sample
surface was conducted under microscope to confirm pitting. Four to nine welded
specimens were used for improved statistics and these were tested on the cap or
rootside, or both. The base metal was also pickled and corrosion tested as a reference.
The other commonly used pitting resistance test, ASTM G48-E [67], where the material
is immersed in 6% FeCl3 + 1% HCl for 24 h, is normally too aggressive for AISI 304L,
AISI 316L and LDX 2101.

In Papers B and C, a wet paper corrosion test is used, in which the weld cap is polished
manually until the visual heat tint has been removed. Then the welds are thoroughly
cleaned with washing-up detergent and ethanol. Thereafter, clean paper is moistened
using a tap water spray. The sheets are piled between wet paper and kept for
approximately 10 h; followed by visual examination for stains on weld surfaces and
papers.

17
6 Aim of this work
The objective of this thesis work was to contribute information on how to weld the
recently-developed lean duplex alloy LDX 2101. This grade is often used to substitute
austenitics in the AISI 300 series, which normally have better weldability than the
duplex grades. Austenitics can often be welded autogenously, while the duplex alloys
typically require over-alloyed consumables. The aim was to verify that LDX 2101 may
be an exception since it has lower alloying content than the traditional duplex grades,
combined with high austenite formation rate. This was addressed by pitting corrosion
testing GTA welds performed with and without filler metal, nitrogen additions to the
shielding gas and use of nitrogen-based backing gas. The main focus was the
interrelation between microstructure (ferrite-austenite phase balance, weld oxide
formation, element distribution and chromium nitride precipitates) and corrosion
properties. Laser welding and laser hybrid welding with different laser sources were
carried out to compare the laser weldability of LDX 2101 with standard duplex grades.
The base metal lean duplex grade LDX 2101 has a pitting corrosion resistance on a par
with that of austenitic AISI 316L. Austenitics in the AISI 300 series show a significant
decrease in corrosion resistance when weld oxides are present on the surface. Due to
the lean alloying, LDX 2101 is liable to behave in a similar way. The ambition was to
corrosion test welded LDX 2101 and compare with other grades in the as-welded
condition and after pickling, to show the benefits with post-weld cleaning. The loss in
corrosion resistance of welded material compared to that of the base metal would
thereby be possible to quantify. Variations in the weld oxide thickness and composi-
tion may affect the corrosion resistance and required pickling time. More weld oxides
are formed when adding nitrogen to the shielding gas when GTA welding. For this
reason, weld oxides present on LDX 2101 were examined in detail. The goal was to
explain how weld oxides form and how these differ in composition from those formed
on other grades. In the following chapters results from the papers are discussed and
placed into perspective by comparison to other published works. Some data is also
taken from papers by the current author, which are not included in the thesis.

7 Microstructure of duplex welds

7.1 Solidification (Paper E)

Most duplex stainless steels show ferritic solidification. No austenite is formed during
the solidification, but in the solid state during subsequent cooling. The ferritic solidifi-
cation occurs as epitaxial growth of the ferrite grains from the fusion boundary and the
dendrite growth is oriented in relation to the thermal gradient [68]. The resulting,
rather coarse columnar ferritic structure influences the final duplex structure as it
provides the starting conditions for the solid-state transformations that occur upon
cooling. Ferrite grain size and orientation can influence the weld cracking susceptibi-
lity as well as morphology and ferrite content of the final microstructure [16,69].

When the solidification occurs with ferrite as the primary phase, the partitioning of
the metallic elements between the ferrite and austenite phases is not as prominent in
the weld metal, while nitrogen is partitioned and enriched in the austenite to a greater
extent than in the base metal [16,70]. However, it was first when Ogawa and Koseki
[23,71] illustrated the partitioning by mapping the weld metal that it was clearly
established that segregation of metallic elements could follow the dendritic
solidification structure. The element distribution in the dendrites is primarily affected

18
by the chemical composition of the material and to some extent by the cooling rate
[21,23]. The PRE implies that the pitting resistance is primarily governed by the amount
and distribution of the elements chromium, molybdenum and nitrogen. Segregation of
these important alloying elements in stainless steel welds may consequently locally
lower the corrosion performance.

In Paper E, the distribution of chromium, molybdenum, silicon, nitrogen, nickel and

manganese in LDX 2101 weld metal, HAZ and parent metal was studied. Cross-sections
of welds that had been performed bead-on-plate with Ar and Ar + 2% N2 as shielding
gas were subject to EPMA mapping. This was in turn used to show variations in the
expected pitting corrosion resistance. In LDX 2101 base metal, Figure 4, the ferrite-
stabilizing elements chromium, molybdenum and silicon were partitioned in the
ferrite phase, while the austenite-stabilizers nitrogen, nickel and manganese were
concentrated in the austenite phase. This distribution has previously been shown for
other steel grades [23,72-75]. In the weld metal, chromium is often evenly distributed,
while molybdenum, nickel and manganese mostly are segregated interdendritically
[23]. This was seen in Paper E for LDX 2101, where there was a clear elemental
distribution of nickel, manganese, silicon and molybdenum in the original dendritic
structure with the lowest concentration in the dendrite cores, Figure 5. The chromium
pattern was more diffuse with a slight enrichment in the ferrite. Nitrogen on the other
hand controlled the austenite formation and was more or less only found in the
austenite. The balanced composition of LDX 2101 with nitrogen improves the austenite
formation and shows less elemental distribution after welding compared to previously
reported duplex grades. Contrary to the work by Bhatt et al. [21] on 21Cr-7Ni-2.5Mo-
1.7Mn-0.04N duplex steel, nitrogen additions to the shielding gas did not apparently
affect the distribution of chromium, nickel and molybdenum, but mainly affected the
austenite formation. When welding with Ar + 2% N2 as shielding gas, the nitrogen
fraction increased and further improved the austenite formation compared with pure
argon.

LDX 2101 has improved austenite formation compared to most duplex grades. When
this modern nitrogen-alloyed grade is autogenously welded, there is limited grain
growth and ferritization of the HTHAZ. The austenite formation can be sufficient to
conceal the fusion line so it is more difficult to locate compared to other grades,
Figure 6. The fusion line and HTHAZ are clear in the 2304 weld in the left hand, but
cannot be seen in LDX 2101.

Local segregation and depletion along the fusion line of LDX 2101 welds were revealed
in Paper E by EPMA mapping, Figure 7. This is an observation that has not been
reported previously. The fusion line was depleted in silicon, molybdenum, nickel and
manganese while the same elements were enriched in the weld metal adjacent to the
fusion zone. The chromium content was rather uniform in the fusion zone and showed
no signs of depletion. This is suggested to be the effect of the epitaxial ferritic
solidification. The first solidified material contains primarily iron and chromium and
pushes all other analysed metallic elements in front of the solidification line. With
increasing constitutional undercooling, the planar growth continues as cellular growth
[76] and when the growth rate becomes critically high, the planar solid-liquid interface
becomes unstable. Enrichment of the same elements in the weld metal adjacent to the
depleted zone persists and from here the solidification continues as columnar
dendritic growth.

19
Figure 4. Distribution of alloying elements in the base metal of LDX 2101 [E].

20
Figure 5. Distribution of elements in weld metal of LDX 2101 welded with pure argon [E].

21
(a) (b)

Figure 6. Examples of weld microstructures over the fusion line. (a) 2304 (GTA welded bead-
®
on-plate with ISO 23 7 N L filler metal and pure argon as shielding gas and (c) LDX 2101
GTA welded autogenously bead-on-plate with pure argon as shielding gas. [E]

Figure 7. Distribution of elements in the fusion line of LDX 2101 [E].

An experiment was carried out in Paper E to investigate if it was possible to locate the
actual fusion line within the depleted zone. An AISI 316L sheet of 0.12 mm was
clamped between two LDX 2101 plates and a weld was made bead-on-plate on the

22
surface starting on LDX 2101 material, passing over the AISI 316L sheet onto the next
LDX 2101 plate. The weld surface was ground and EPMA mapping of nickel and
manganese was performed from above. This was to determine where in the depleted
zone the AISI 316L material, with higher nickel and lower manganese than the LDX
2101 material, would melt. When melted close to the HTHAZ, this could indicate that
planar growth occurs. When present in the whole depleted zone, this would be a sign
of element diffusion from the HTHAZ into the melt at high temperature. The results
shown in Figure 8 indicate that the fusion line could be located anywhere between the
border of the depleted zone in the HTHAZ and the centre of the depleted zone.

Figure 8. Distribution of elements along the fusion line of LDX 2101 with an AISI 316L sheet
clamped between two LDX 2101 plates. The two images to the right are more detailed
analyses in the intersection where the AISI 316L sheet has been melted by the weld. [E]

The diffuse chromium pattern with no distinct variations over the HAZ and fusion line
could probably be explained by a horizontal tie-line in the ferrite-austenite two-phase
area, promoting austenite formation by rapid nitrogen diffusion [77,78]. There is only a
small difference in partitioning of chromium between ferrite and austenite in LDX 2101
due to the rather low nickel content. However, if the nickel fraction were to increase,
the phase distribution would change and the chromium would probably be more
concentrated to the ferrite phase, Figure 9. It means that mapping of chromium for
LDX 2101 shows a relatively uniform chromium distribution, while other duplex

23
grades with higher nickel content may show higher concentration of chromium in the
ferrite and nickel in the austenite.

Figure 9. Chromium distribution coefficient, KCr = Crferrite/Craustenite for Thermo-Calc calculations

for LDX 2101 with 0, 1.5 and 5% nickel content [E].

The microstructure of the LDX 2101 weld metal is independent of the segregation
pattern, since nitrogen controls nucleation and growth of austenite by rapid diffusion.
When this nitrogen-alloyed duplex stainless steel is welded autogenously, the auste-
nite formation can be sufficiently good to conceal the fusion line and neither the den-
drites nor the depleted fusion zone, detected with EPMA, were visible in the polished
and etched condition [E]. This confirms that nitrogen plays the most important role for
the austenite formation in nitrogen-alloyed duplex stainless steel weld metals.

7.2 Weld metal austenite formation and morphology

The duplex weld microstructure should have a balance of approximately equal
amounts of ferrite and austenite for optimum corrosion resistance and mechanical
properties. A highly ferritic weld may have decreased pitting resistance, whereas an
excessively austenitic weld could have lower resistance to SCC [79]. As the
solidification of duplex stainless steel weld metals is fully ferritic, diffusion-control-
led solid-state transformation to austenite occurs below the solidus temperature during
subsequent cooling [23,49,80]. This temperature range is determined by the chemical
composition of the steel. Naturally a more ferritic composition gives a wider ferrite
range. The austenite formation has been suggested to be controlled by a paraequili-
brium transformation mechanism in which the diffusion of nitrogen is the controlling
process rather than diffusion of the slower moving metallic elements [81,82]. A higher
nitrogen alloying content will raise the ferrite-to-austenite transformation temperature
and enhance the austenite growth rate. Higher nitrogen levels thus both increase the
driving force for austenite formation and decrease the temperature range where ferrite
grain growth occurs [83]. As the austenite transformation is a diffusion-controlled
process, it is dependent on the cooling time. When there is insufficient time for
nitrogen to form austenite, nitrogen can precipitate as chromium nitrides in the ferrite
grains in the fusion zone and may reduce the corrosion resistance and the ductility of
the material [24,84,85]. At slower cooling, the transformation from ferrite to austenite
occurs at significantly higher temperature producing more austenite, and the width of
the austenite at ferrite grain boundaries becomes wider [86,87].

24
During cooling, initially allotriomorphic austenite is rapidly precipitated along the
ferrite grain boundaries in continuous networks and on further cooling, austenite
precipitates as Widmanstätten side-plates growing into the grains [88]. With sufficient
time, austenite particles with acicular morphology may appear inside the ferrite grains
[86,88]. The rate of transformation is governed by a large number of factors, which are
both process and material dependent. These include the composition of the alloy and
filler metal, and the dilution from the base metal [16,25]. The welding parameters, in
turn, influence the maximum temperature, time above the transformation temperature
range and the cooling rate, which further affect the ferrite grain size, number of
nucleation sites, nucleation rate, austenite growth and composition of the precipitated
phases [49,89]. Thicker material gauges result in higher cooling rates. The level of
inclusions may also influence austenite formation since inclusions are potential
nucleation sites for intragranular austenite in the same way as the inclusions, which
promote acicular ferrite in low-alloy steel weld metals [90]. Additional austenite
formation can take place by subsequent reheating at elevated temperatures either
when multipass welding or during PWHT [49]. Figure 10 illustrates the solidification
and subsequent austenite formation of duplex grades of LDX 2101 type.

Figure 10. Principle of dendritic solidification and austenite formation in LDX 2101 welds [E].

7.3 Ferritization, nucleation and growth of austenite in HTHAZ (Paper A)

The structural changes that occur in the HAZ of stainless steel weldments may degrade
strength, toughness, and corrosion resistance. The potential problems include
excessive grain growth, precipitation of nitrides, carbides and intermetallic
compounds, and improper phase balance [91]. It is often appropriate to divide the HAZ
phenomena into the high temperature HAZ (HTHAZ) and the low temperature HAZ
(LTHAZ). The former is the zone with a thermal cycle resulting in almost complete
ferritization, while the latter is the zone where the phase balance has remained
substantially duplex. According to Brandi [92], the temperature for LTHAZ ranges
approximately from 950°C to 650°C, and the HTHAZ from the solidus temperature to

25
approximately 1000°C depending on the duplex grade. There are, naturally, transitions
between these zones and the complexity can increase when multipass welding is used.
Microstructural changes such as ferrite grain growth and chromium nitride
precipitation in the HTHAZ have a larger influence on the mechanical and corrosion
properties compared to effects in the LTHAZ. Consequently, most research is reported
for HTHAZ, but σ phase and chromium nitride precipitates have also been found in
three-pass simulated LTHAZ of UNS S32550, UNS S32750 and UNS S32760 [92]. This was
not seen in the lower alloyed grades UNS S31803 and UNS S32304, but the pitting
corrosion resistance decreased for all heat inputs and materials studied compared to
the base metal.

The HTHAZ width can normally easily be measured for grades such as 2304 and 2205,
but the width varies with the welding conditions and the chemical composition of the
plate [93]. The improved austenite reformation in the HTHAZ of the LDX 2101 and 2507
grades with higher nitrogen content can obscure the fusion line and make it difficult to
determine its location as previously shown in Figures 6 and 10 [E]. The width of the
HTHAZ is typically in the order of 1-2 grain diameters and it is a function of both
composition (and associated thermal width of the ferrite phase field) and the time
available for dissolution of the austenite [37]. The large microstructural gradients in
the HAZ, leading to very narrow regions with similar microstructure, make evaluation
of properties of an individual microstructure fairly complicated in the HAZ of real
weldments. This is particularly true when studying the effect on mechanical
properties. Thermo-mechanical simulation of separate test pieces is consequently
often required to create a sufficiently large area of uniform microstructure (fully
ferritized material) for subsequent metallographic examination and impact toughness.
Figure 11 shows typical examples of such Gleeble™ simulated HTHAZ specimens of
LDX 2101 cooled at various cooling rates.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 11. Gleeble™ simulated HTHAZ microstructure held at 1360°C for 5 s followed by (a)
water quenching, (b) intermediate cooling in compressed argon and (c) cooling in air [94].

Duplex grades solidify in a ferritic mode and consequently, the HTHAZ close to the
fusion line will have a fully ferritic structure at temperatures above approximately
1350 ± 50°C depending on the alloy composition [81]. Nitrogen has a strong effect on
the ferritization of duplex steel, since the dissolution of austenite in the HTHAZ
primarily occurs via diffusion of nitrogen [75,95]. Nitrogen increases the ferrite-to-
austenite transformation temperature and thus delays ferritization and grain growth of
ferrite. This is because some residual austenite is retained at high temperatures and
prevents grain growth by grain boundary pinning [25]. With longer holding times
above the ferritization temperature, all the original duplex microstructure is dissolved,
and grain growth occurs as shown in Paper A. The ferrite fraction in the HAZ increases
at higher peak temperatures and with increasing cooling rates [71,96]. Grain growth
during ferritization can lead to high ferrite contents since nucleation of austenite

26
occurs primarily at grain boundaries and a coarse ferrite grain size may lead to less
austenite reformation on cooling [89,97]. This appears to be of less importance in
duplex grades with high nitrogen contents such as LDX 2101, where the effect of the
grain size on austenite reformation seems to be negligible as shown in Figure 12 from
Paper A. A higher nitrogen content results in more efficient austenite reformation and
makes the alloy less sensitive to rapid cooling rates [98]. The grain size, varied by alte-
ring the holding time at the ferritization temperature, had limited effect on the impact
toughness of HTHAZ simulated specimens of various duplex grades, while slower
cooling, giving improved austenite reformation, were beneficial [69]. This was also
seen in Paper A for LDX 2101, Figure 13. Higher cooling rates result in less austenite
reformation and decreased impact toughness, probably related to the larger mean free
crack path in ferrite and to presence of chromium nitrides. Similar results have pre-
viously also been reported by Komenda and Sandström [86] for 2205. A strong relation
between the width of the austenite located at ferrite grain boundaries and the impact
energy was found. As the width of austenite increased, so did the impact energy.

Figure 12. The effect of holding time at peak temperature on grain size and the subsequent
effect on the austenite content [A].

Figure 13. The effect of the austenite fraction, varied by altering the cooling rate, on the
impact toughness of simulated HTHAZ microstructures at different temperatures [A].

7.4 Theoretical modelling of austenite formation (Paper A)

The effect of nitrogen on austenite formation in the HTHAZ of LDX 2101 was studied in
Paper A. The experimental data was analysed using the thermodynamic database
Thermo-Calc and a modified theoretical model for phase transformation, which was
originally developed by Hertzman et al. [82,89] for the 2304, 2205 and 2507 duplex
grades. The austenite reformation kinetics was modelled based on the theory by Cahn

27
[99] of grain boundary nucleated growth and the Hillert-Engberg model on kinetics of
spherical and planar growth [100]. The paraequilibrium concept was adopted,
assuming that the phase transformation is controlled by the nitrogen redistribution
alone. The difference between overall steel nitrogen content and the ferrite nitrogen
content in paraequilibrium with austenite defines the driving force for austenite
growth. Substitutional diffusion would occur at high temperatures outside the
paraequilibrium range (here calculated with Thermo-Calc to be above 1288°C), where
chromium is assumed to control the growth rate. The kinetics of the austenite growth
were calculated and compared to experimental data with reasonable agreement, Figure
14. The model gives discontinuities in the curves where there is a shift from spherical
to planar growth. The calculated line in Figure 14c, representing the slowest cooled
specimen, demonstrates the effect of substitutionally controlled growth at tempera-
tures above 1288°C with 0.226 wt.% nitrogen. At higher temperatures there is no driving
force for austenite growth due to nitrogen according to the paraequilibrium. Instead
the kinetics are assumed to be controlled by chromium diffusion. The effect of
chromium diffusion decreases with increased cooling rate due to shorter time in the
actual temperature interval. At the highest cooling rate, Figure 14a, there will be no
time to allow Widmanstätten austenite to form. At moderate cooling rates,
representative of arc welding, Figure 14b and Figure 14c, the experimental data still
show a certain fraction of lamellar Widmanstätten austenite. The austenite reformation
in LDX 2101 was excellent and the Thermo-Calc modelling gave consistently lower
ferrite contents than what was experimentally obtained. The deviations between the
calculations and the experimental data could possibly be explained by the rapid
formation of Widmanstätten austenite during cooling and this should be included in
future model development.

Figure 14. Austenite fraction versus temperature compared with the experimental results.
Specimens were held at 1360°C for 0 s and cooled at different rates. [A]

The calculated influence of cooling rate on the austenite fraction is presented in Figure
15 for the grain sizes 130, 170 and 205 µm, respectively, and compared to experimental
data. Again the discrepancy is explained by the Widmanstätten austenite, which is not
considered in the calculations. The assessed effect of nitrogen content on austenite
reformation is shown in Figure 16. A nitrogen increase from 0.226 wt.% to 0.250 wt.%
would increase the austenite fraction by some 3% whereas a decrease to 0.200 wt.%
would lead to slightly larger decrease in reformed austenite. This seems to be valid
throughout the cooling rate range.

28
Figure 15. Austenite fraction at various cooling Figure 16. Effect of alloy nitrogen content
rates for different grain sizes (GS) compared (wt.%) and cooling rate on reformed auste-
with experimental results [A]. nite fraction in HTHAZ [A].

The different duplex grades display different austenite reformation capabilities. In an

ambition to rank them using Thermo-Calc, and individual nitrogen mobilities from the
Dictra database; the work on LDX 2101 in Paper A was used together with results from
earlier studies [82]. Two conditions were chosen, 20°C/s and 75°C/s, and 170 µm and 205
µ m grain sizes, Figure 17. LDX 2101 was on a par with that of the superduplex 2507
grade and significantly better than the 2205 and 2304 grades.

Figure 17. Comparison of the calculated austenite fractions for four different duplex stainless
steels. (a) Material cooled at 20°C/s resulting in a grain size of 205 µm and (b) material
cooled at 75°C/s resulting in a grain size of 170 µm at cooling rated from 1°C/s to 200°C/s. [A]

The experimentally simulated HTHAZ resulted in fairly large grain diameters as

previously seen in Figure 11. The grain coarsening in real welds is less pronounced.
Continuous cooling transformation (CCT) diagrams were produced for three more
relevant different grain sizes (30, 50 and 100 µ m) to be able to predict the austenite
fraction for different cooling rates, nitrogen contents and grain sizes, Figure 18. If the
grain size is smaller than 50 µ m, the austenite fraction will be above 40% for all the
calculated cooling rates. The highest cooling rate is 200°C/s, which is rarely obtained
during ordinary arc welding operations, but may be encountered in laser welding.

7.5 Specification of phase balance

Some standards specify that the weld metal ferrite content should be in the range of
35-65% or 30-70% [101,102], since excessively high ferrite contents are known to
decrease the toughness and pitting resistance and increase the sensitivity to hydrogen
embrittlement, and too low ferrite contents could decrease the strength and the

29
resistance to SCC. However, both experimental and practical experience has proven
that rather good properties are obtained over a relatively large range of ferrite and
austenite contents. Over the range 30-70% austenite, the phase balance has been shown
to be of minor importance [34]. There is also evidence that LDX 2101 welds with higher
ferrite contents than 65% may still show strength, hardness and corrosion performance
in parity with or close to that of the base metal [30,94,C,D]. If the measured phase
balance deviated from the specified one, it does not necessarily mean that the
properties are deteriorated, but rather that a more thorough control of the material
properties is needed [103]. A round robin test performed by the International Institute
of Welding (IIW) on identical duplex 2205 weld specimens also demonstrated large
scatter between different laboratories of as much as ± 20% of the measured ferrite
mean value [104,105]. This confirms that assessment of microstructure should be of
informative character and not a cause of rejection. It would thus be more relevant to
qualify a welding procedure by demonstrating with mechanical and corrosion testing
that the procedure, when applied to the base material at the proposed thickness, will
not deteriorate the toughness or corrosion resistance.

Figure 18. Calculated CCT diagrams showing formed austenite fraction for LDX 2101 at
cooling rated of 1°C/s to 200°C/s with a grain size of (a) 30 µm, (b) 50 µm and (c) 100 µm [A].

7.6 Secondary phases

The original two-phase duplex structure can decompose to varying proportions of
austenite and ferrite, secondary phases such as Cr2N, M23C6, M7C3, secondary austenite
(γ2), and intermetallics such as σ, chi (χ), laves, π, and R phase [106,107]. Such unwan-
ted secondary phases may form in duplex stainless steels and weld metals subject to
temperatures in the range of 300-1100°C by heat treatment, welding operations or
service at too high temperatures [10,58,107-109]. Exposure in this temperature range has
been reported to result in a more rapid precipitation in the weld metal than in the base
metal due to the higher alloy content of the weld metal ferrite [109,110]. Repeated ther-
mal cycles in multipass welds might have an additive effect in promoting precipitation
[111]. The material producers often specify a maximum heat input and interpass
temperature when multipass welding to avoid excessively low cooling rates.

An intermetallic compound is a phase that is formed from two or more metals. The
most common intermetallic phase in stainless steel is σ, which may precipitate with an
adverse affect on ductility, toughness and corrosion resistance [107,112,113]. The σ
phase is an Fe-Cr-Mo compound enriched in iron, chromium, molybdenum, silicon and
tungsten, but with low nickel and manganese contents [114]. Depending on the
chemical composition of the base material, σ phase can form over a wide range of
temperatures from 600°C to 1000°C [108,109]. Ferrite-austenite grain boundaries are
common nucleation sites and carbide particles in the grain boundaries have been
reported to facilitate the nucleation [115]. Nickel as an alloying element promotes
austenite and decreases the ferrite content. This in turn concentrates chromium and

30
molybdenum in the ferrite phase and contributes to σ precipitation in the ferrite phase.
If nickel is substituted partly with nitrogen as an austenite former, this results
according to Komizo et al. [116] in a decreased nickel content in the ferrite phase and
the tendency to form σ phase decreases. The precipitation rate of intermetallic phases
is strongly related to the composition of the steel and weld metal. Embrittlement due
to formation of intermetallic phases is rarely a problem for the lean or standard duplex
grades, but of some concern for the superduplex steels [29,107,108]. R, π and χ are
formed at somewhat lower temperatures than σ, but have the same negative effect. σ
phase is in many cases used as a collective term for all intermetallic phases, since
proper phase identification is complicated and the various intermetallic phases often
are assumed to affect properties similarly [107]. χ and R phases may also be important
as precursors from which σ phase can form [117]. Mechanical and corrosion test
methods can be used to control the level of impairment, and impact toughness is a
very sensitive measure of σ phase even at the early stages of formation [107,109,113].
Intermetallic compounds can be dissolved and the corrosion and toughness properties
restored by a solution annealing heat treatment [91].

Although nitrogen has a high diffusion rate, the solubility in the ferrite is low and it
further decreases with decreasing temperature. Consequently, chromium-rich nitrides
can precipitate within the ferrite grains due to supersaturation during cooling
[23,24,89,96]. Precipitation of nitrides also occurs in the grain or phase boundaries as a
result of isothermal heat treatment in the temperature range 700-900°C [113,118]. The
most frequently reported chromium nitride is Cr2N [90,119]. Cr2N precipitates
particularly in HAZ and weld metal subject to rapid cooling or nitrogen loss resulting
in high ferrite contents. The precipitation of chromium nitrides can be reduced by
increasing the austenite level by higher heat input or by additions of austenite-
promoting elements such as nickel and nitrogen. At higher nitrogen contents, the
driving force for austenite formation increases and the start temperature for austenite
formation is higher; the diffusion distance required for nitrogen transport to grain
boundaries is thus decreased and austenite formation dominates [81]. Slow cooling
rates increase the austenite formation, allow more nitrogen to dissolve and hence
reduce the amount of Cr2N [49]. Figure 19a shows excessive ferrite content in a 22Cr
laser weld with high amounts of Cr2N precipitates. Adjacent to the intergranular
austenite phase a precipitate-free zone in the ferrite is observed, which corresponds to
the diffusion range of nitrogen during the weld thermal cycle. The nitrogen-depleted
regions are the result of the migration of nitrogen into the adjacent austenite during
the transformation [49]. The presence of Cr2N precipitates has repeatedly been
demonstrated to decrease the pitting resistance of welds [23,47,84,120,121] and is
attributed to adjacent depletion of particularly chromium and to some extent nitrogen.
This depletion leads to a local reduction of the PRE and the precipitates may become
preferential corrosion sites electrochemically [120]. The pitting propagates preferen-
tially within the nitride-rich centres of the ferrite grains and is often interrupted at
unaffected grain boundary austenite that has higher corrosion resistance [23,122,C],
Figure 19b. When present at the surface, Cr2N are known to decrease the corrosion
resistance [24,123], but the nitrides are not as harmful if these are not exposed to the
corrosive medium [124,C].

31
Figure 19. (a) A highly ferritic microstructure in 2205 with large amounts of chromium
precipitates in the ferrite and ferrite-ferrite grain boundaries. (b) Preferential pitting attack of
the ferrite phase in an LDX 2101 weld metal.

Figure 20 shows Cr2N precipitates in a HTHAZ simulated LDX 2101 specimen after air-
cooling [94]. The nitrides were more densely distributed after water-quenching giving
a higher cooling rate and consequently a higher ferrite content. The size of the Cr2N
precipitates was in parity with the size reported in the ferrite matrix of 2205 [90,119].

Figure 20. Bright field image of the distribution of Cr2N precipitates

after HTHAZ simulation for 5 s at 1360°C followed by air-cooling [94].

Under certain conditions non-equilibrium cubic chromium nitride (CrN) and hexagonal
Cr2N can be precipitated simultaneously [24,89,96,121]. The precipitation of CrN may be
explained by crystallographically favoured nucleation, in addition to greater driving
force for the precipitation of CrN compared to Cr2N at temperatures below
approximately 1000°C as suggested by Jargelius-Pettersson et al. [24]. Omura et al. [84]
confirmed that the fraction CrN / (CrN + Cr2N) increases in 2205 welds with increasing
cooling rate. With faster cooling, greater quantities of CrN were precipitated and it
was noted that CrN formed the greater part of the chromium nitrides when the cooling
rate was faster than 100°C/s. Taking into consideration the free energy of formation, it
may be assumed that chromium depletion around such a non-equilibrium phase is
small and the effect on pitting resistance minimal [24,84]. No CrN nitrides have been
found within the scope of this thesis, but their presence is not excluded.

Secondary austenite, γ2, forms when supersaturated ferrite, containing chromium

nitride precipitates, is reheated by subsequent passes in multipass welding or in PWHT
[108,125-127]. As the secondary austenite is formed at a lower temperature than the
primary austenite, it contains somewhat less chromium, molybdenum and nitrogen

32
[125,128]. Secondary austenite thus has slightly lower pitting resistance compared to
primary austenite, but normally shows better corrosion performance than the ferrite.
Formation of secondary austenite may consequently increase the corrosion resistance
of the weld, since it forms from ferrite via the dissolution of chromium nitrides
[107,118,129]. Figure 21 shows CO2 laser welds in LDX 2101 before and after PWHT,
where the austenite formation significantly increases after annealing.

Unannealed 83 ± 5% ferrite Annealed 48 ± 3% ferrite

Figure 21. CO2 laser weld metal in LDX 2101 before and after annealing [unpublished work].

As for all other ferritic and duplex grades, the upper temperature limits of LDX 2101
during service are set by the so-called 475°C embrittlement, occurring above
approximately 300°C and below about 500°C [107,108]. This is due to decomposition of
the ferrite phase into iron-rich ferrite and chromium-rich α’, which may cause
embrittlement [10,130]. Weld decay can also occur if the interpass temperature in
multipass welding is allowed to be much above the commonly specified 150°C, since
this will increase the time spent in the sensitising temperature range on cooling [111].

As the carbon content is kept low in the modern duplex alloys, carbide precipitates,
mainly M23C6 and M7C3, are rarely ever observed [108]. Small amounts of grain boun-
dary carbides have been found in simulated HTHAZ specimens in 2205 [119] and LDX
2101 [94], but these were concluded to have negligible effect on corrosion resistance.

8 Corrosion resistance
The pitting resistance of the weldment after adequate post-weld cleaning is generally
somewhat lower than for the parent material [12,34,46,C,D]. There are, however, a
number of metallurgical reactions that can occur and the corrosion resistance can be
further decreased by several factors and phenomena (as discussed above e.g. nitrides).
The effect of welding on the corrosion performance is controlled by a complex
combination of material properties, welding procedure and surface cleanliness, Figure
22. The material thickness and heat input affect the cooling rate, which together with
the material composition govern the phase balance in the HAZ. Use of over-alloyed
filler metal, nitrogen additions to the shielding gas and nitrogen-based backing gas
further control the weld metal phase balance and corrosion resistance by preventing
nitrogen loss and compensating element segregation. Weld oxides, which have a
negative effect on the corrosion performance, can be minimized by adequate backing gas
protection and be removed by post-weld cleaning (acid pickling being most efficient).

33
 Figure 22. Factors affecting the corrosion performance when GTA welding.

8.1 Effect of nitrogen on corrosion resistance of duplex welds

Nitrogen is the most important alloying element for improved weldability of duplex
stainless steel since it causes the formation of austenite to occur at higher tempera-
tures. High nitrogen contents thus decrease the influence of the cooling rate on the
microstructure and the material becomes less sensitive to welding with low heat input.
Ogawa and Koseki [23] explained that an increase in the nitrogen content of duplex
stainless steels improves the pitting resistance of the weld metal and the HTHAZ, by
promoting austenite formation during the cooling process after welding and thus
avoiding large ferrite grains with considerable amounts of chromium nitride precipita-
tes. This has been confirmed several times for different duplex steels [14,16,22,98].

8.1.1 Preventing nitrogen loss (Paper C)

As indicated by the PRE, nitrogen is important for the corrosion properties. Nitrogen
loss from the weld pool can lead to a decreased pitting corrosion resistance due to
high ferrite contents and associated chromium nitride precipitates. Normally the
nitrogen loss is negligible when using slag shielded welding techniques such as SMAW
and SAW since the slag layer protects the molten pool from releasing nitrogen [12].
Increasing nitrogen content in the shielding gas increases the weld metal nitrogen con-
-tent, austenite formation and localized corrosion resistance of the weld metal for both
single and multipass welds in the as-welded and heat treated conditions [19,131-134].
This is particularly effective when welding without filler such as during autogenous
GTA and PAW. In Paper C, 2.5 mm LDX 2101 was GTA welded from both sides using
different shielding gases and fillers. The austenite formation increased significantly
when nitrogen was added to the shielding gas, Figure 23. The influence of filler
additions was smaller, but the effect increased when combined with nitrogen
additions. It is well known that nitrogen increases the pitting corrosion resistance
(CPT) and nitrogen loss could consequently have a negative effect, but no
improvement in pitting corrosion resistance could be seen with higher nitrogen
content on weld metal austenite formation, Figure 24. The CPT of the lightly polished
and pickled welds was also only a few degrees centigrade (0-5°C) lower than for the
base metal leaving small room for improvement. Nitrogen can also be considered in
the backing gas to counteract the degassing of nitrogen from the weld. Use of
nitrogen-based backing gas such as 90-100% N2 + 0-10% H2 is frequently recommended
to prevent nitrogen loss and improve corrosion resistance [12,27,30,135-137,C].

34
Figure 23. The effect of weld metal Figure 24. The effect of weld metal austenite
nitrogen content and use of filler wire on content on corrosion resistance [C].
the weld metal austenite formation [C].

Figures 25 and 26 illustrate the effect of nitrogen additions on the net nitrogen content
and the resulting weld microstructure at the surface exposed to the corrosive medium.
Assuming that the LDX 2101 base material contains 0.22 wt.% nitrogen and pure argon
is used as shielding and backing gas, nitrogen loss will occur on both sides, because
the system strives to reach equilibrium, Figure 25a. The resulting microstructure
would then be essentially ferritic at the surface of the duplex weld metal as shown in
Figures 25b and 25c. If, on the other hand, 90% N2 + 10% H2 is used as backing gas,
there is no driving force for nitrogen loss on the rootside and when Ar + 2% N2 is used
as shielding gas, nitrogen is absorbed by the weld metal, giving in a more balanced
weld metal nitrogen content, Figure 26a. The nitrogen present at the surface improves
the austenite formation and makes the weld metal more resistant to pitting, Figures
26b and 26c.

Figure 25. (a) Nitrogen balance when welding with pure argon, (b) resulting LDX 2101 weld
metal microstructure with (c) high ferrite content at the surface indicating nitrogen loss [30].

Figure 26. (a) Nitrogen balance when welding with nitrogen additions to shielding and backing
gas, (b) resulting LDX 2101 weld metal microstructure with (c) high austenite content at the
surface [30].

35
Work by the present author not included in this thesis indicates that use of nitrogen
normally has larger effect on the austenite formation than filler when GTA welding,
Figure 27. LDX 2101 and 2507 showed higher austenite formation than 2304 and 2205. As
the thin parent materials were automatically welded without a gap, the amount of
filler wire was fairly small. The effect on the austenite formation would be larger
when welding thicker material with a gap, especially when welding manually. Figure
28 shows the CPT measured on the rootside of pickled 1 mm GTA welded specimens.
When LDX 2101 was welded with argon as shielding and backing gas, the CPT was at a
similar level to that of ferritic AISI 444 and lower than for AISI 316L. When adding
nitrogen to the shielding gas and using nitrogen-based backing gas, the CPT of welded
LDX 2101 was close to that of the base metal and at a similar level to that of AISI 316L.
Nitrogen also increased the CPT for 2304.

Figure 27. Effect of shielding and backing gas composition when GTA welding 1 mm LDX
2101, 2304 and 2205 with ISO 22 9 3 N L filler and 2507 with ISO 25 9 4 N L filler. Either with
pure argon as shielding and backing gas or with Ar + 2% N2 as shielding gas and 90% N2 +
10% H2 as backing gas. [30]

Figure 28. Critical pitting temperature (CPT) measured with ASTM G150 on the rootside of
pickled 1 mm GTA welds performed with argon as shielding and backing gas or Ar + 2% N2
as shielding gas and 90% N2 + 10% H2 as backing gas. AISI 444 and AISI 316L were
performed with ISO 19 12 3 L filler and LDX 2101 and 2304 with ISO 22 9 3 N L filler. [30]

36
There is often a practical maximum limit to how much nitrogen can be added to the
shielding gas. When GTA welding, additions of more than 3% N2 have been reported to
cause severe erosion of the tungsten electrode [133]. When GMA welding, nitrogen
should not be added to the shielding gas. Too high nitrogen levels can result in
problems with porosity in the weld metal, especially at high cooling rates, where there
may be insufficient time for the nitrogen to redistribute by diffusion. The welding
speed should neither be too high (rapid solidification) or too low (very large fusion)
when GMA welding high-nitrogen duplex grades.

8.1.2 Effect of nitrogen additions when laser welding (Paper D)

While nitrogen additions are beneficial when GTA welding, nitrogen loss cannot be
adequately compensated by nitrogen additions to the shielding gas when laser
welding. This effect has been reported to be negligible when Nd:YAG laser beam
welding, due to short thermal cycles, smaller weld pool surfaces and active
evaporation [138-140]. This was confirmed in Paper D when 1 mm LDX 2101 was
autogenously welded with Nd:YAG with different nitrogen concentrations in the argon
shielding gas. Pure argon was used as backing gas. Nd:YAG laser welding of LDX 2101
with shielding gas mixtures ranging from pure argon to pure nitrogen had no effect on
the ferrite content and on the corrosion resistance as shown in Figure 29. When the
CPT was in the lower range (around 10°C), pitting occurred in the weld metal. When
the CPT was higher (around 20°C), pitting was instead found in the base metal about 1-3
mm from the fusion line.

Figure 29. (a) The effect of nitrogen additions to argon shielding gas on the austenite content
and (b) the effect of austenite content on the critical pitting temperature (CPT) measured with
ASTM G150 when autogenous Nd:YAG laser welding 1 mm LDX 2101 [D].

On the other hand, Nd:YAG laser-GTA hybrid welding allows some uptake of nitrogen
from the shielding gas [D]. The austenite formation can also be influenced by using
nitrogen-based backing gas [30]. As seen in Figure 30, autogenous CO2 laser welds
with nitrogen as backing gas have significantly higher austenite content than when
welding with argon.

37
Figure 30. CO2 laser welds performed on 1 mm LDX 2101, 2304, 2205 and 2507 using either
argon or nitrogen as backing gas [30].

The pitting corrosion resistance of the pickled CO2 laser welded samples was at the
same level as that of the base metal, Figure 31. The effect of the improved austenite
formation when using nitrogen as backing gas was therefore small, although the
pickling time decreased. The high pitting corrosion resistance can partly be explained
by the low heat input associated with laser welding, which results in low levels of
weld oxide, also by pickling having removed the surface nitrides. Pitting typically
occurred in the weld metal or 1-5 mm from the fusion line, in the parent material.

Figure 31. Critical pitting temperature (CPT) measured with ASTM G150 on the rootside of
pickled 1 mm CO2 laser welds [30].

8.2 Effect of heat input on corrosion performance

Due to its effect on the weld thermal cycle, the heat input has been shown to have a
significant influence on the structure and properties of welded duplex stainless steels
and material producers often specify a suitable heat input range. The difference may
become smaller when adding filler. Holmberg [19] reported that neither the corrosion
resistance nor the mechanical properties of 2205 welded with ISO 22 9 3 N L filler varied
significantly for normal heat input (0.3-2.0 kJ/mm) that resulted in a weld metal ferrite
level between 23 and 53%. In conventional GTA welding, large deviations in phase

38
balance between base metal and as-solidified weld metal can partly be avoided by
adding nitrogen to the shielding gas or by using a high nickel filler metal or both [131].
In the HAZ, the microstructure can essentially only be controlled by the cooling rate,
which is dictated by welding parameters and material geometry.

8.2.1 Low heat input

The austenite reformation in the HAZ is controlled by the composition and cooling
rate, which is related to the heat input and material thickness. The consequence of a
too low heat input and thick gauges may be highly ferritic microstructures and
considerable amounts of chromium nitride precipitates within the ferrite grains in the
weld metal and HAZ. Some duplex alloys with ferrite contents exceeding 80% in the
HAZ could have seriously impaired pitting corrosion resistance [123]. PWHT can restore
the pitting resistance by improving the austenite formation and eliminating nitrides
[16,24]. The minimum arc energy to avoid rapid cooling typically is specified to 0.5-0.6
kJ/mm if PWHT is not prescribed [141]. A thin material can normally be welded with
lower heat input compared to a thicker material where the larger amount of
surrounding material would contribute to faster cooling. 1 mm thick LDX 2101 can for
instance be laser and GTA welded with as low heat input as 0.2 kJ/mm [30]. In Paper D,
it was shown that laser welded 1-2 mm LDX 2101 resulted in fairly high austenite
formation and rather good corrosion resistance after pickling. Laser welding is
otherwise less suitable for thick gauges and other duplex grades due to the low heat
input, which gives a rapid cooling rate and excessively high ferrite contents. Figure 32
shows a comparison between autogenous CO2 laser welds in 2205 and LDX 2101. The
higher heat input when GTA welding duplex alloys generally gives better weld metal
austenite formation and higher weld quality without spatter and can thus improve the
corrosion resistance compared to laser welding.

(a) (b)

Figure 32. CO2 laser welding resulting in (a) high ferrite content in 2205 (91 ± 3% ferrite) and
(b) better austenite formation in LDX 2101 (61 ± 3% ferrite) [30].

By using a laser hybrid welding process where the laser beam and the arc process act
in a common process zone, filler metal can be added to the melt pool at significantly
higher heat input, resulting in lower cooling rates. Laser hybrid welding with GMA has
been proven suitable for welding duplex stainless steels of up to 8 mm in one bead
[142]. Larger gauges can also be welded in one single bead, but the surrounding
material will cool down the material rapidly and the root may become essentially
ferritic resulting in lower corrosion resistance and toughness [143]. The heat input
when laser welding may also be increased by scanning the laser beam [144,145].

39
8.2.2 High heat input
High heat inputs usually result in lower cooling rates. This favours nucleation and
growth of austenite and can lead to better resistance to localized corrosion of both the
weld metal and HTHAZ [146,147]. Slow cooling allows diffusion of ferrite-stabilizing
elements such as chromium and molybdenum into the ferrite phase so these approach
the equilibrium values, and this has been reported to increase the corrosion resistance
[148,149]. Extremely high heat inputs should generally be avoided in order to prevent
excessive ferrite grain growth in the weld region, which can affect the ductility and
toughness. Too high heat inputs may cause precipitation of σ phase in the weldment.
This is rarely a problem in lean or standard duplex grades, but of some concern for the
superduplex steels, especially when multipass welding [103,107]. The maximum heat
input for 2507 is for this reason set to 1.0 kJ/mm when SAW. For lean duplex LDX 2101,
the heat input should be limited to 1.0-1.5 kJ/mm when SAW since too large fusion
could dilute the weld metal to lower nickel contents and thereby have a negative
effect on low temperature impact toughness [1].

8.3 Effect of element partitioning on corrosion resistance (Paper E)

As indicated by the PRE, the pitting resistance of a stainless steel is primarily
governed by the amount and distribution of the elements chromium, molybdenum and
nitrogen. Most recommended welding consumables are designed to result in slightly
over-alloyed weld metals to compensate for any element partitioning and to stimulate
austenite formation. Partitioning of molybdenum is known to decrease the pitting
resistance of high-alloyed austenitic weld metal [150]. This phenomenon is, however,
not as prominent as for the austenitic stainless steels, since duplex stainless steels
have a ferritic solidification, which results in a lower partitioning of alloying elements
[70]. The molybdenum content in LDX 2101 is low and the effect of its interdendritical
segregation on the properties is consequently fairly negligible. Nitrogen is normally
the most important alloying element since it controls the austenite formation and
results in a more uniform corrosion resistance after welding. Nitrogen additions to the
GTA shielding gas have been reported to be beneficial for the corrosion performance
by preventing nitrogen loss [20-22]. By increasing the weld metal nitrogen content, the
ferrite fraction decreases and this has a positive effect on pitting corrosion resistance.
This has also been seen for LDX 2101 where nitrogen additions to the shielding gas and
nitrogen-based backing gas improved the austenite formation, the weld metal pitting
resistance and also the average PRE of the weld metal [30,C-E].

Variations in the expected pitting corrosion resistance based on the calculated PRE
distribution of the mapped elements in Paper E, confirm that the ferrite phase would
have the lowest corrosion performance in both base and weld metal, which is
consistent with experimental corrosion test results on LDX 2101 welds [C]. It means
that the PRE value based on the element partitioning in ferrite is a more relevant
parameter than the overall chemical composition. Vannevik et al. [151] drew the same
conclusion when studying superduplex grades with 0.3-0.4 wt.% nitrogen, where the
ferrite was the most susceptible phase in both the base and weld metal. EPMA
mapping of the PRE distribution in the centre of the ferrite grains has, however, been
reported to be somewhat misleading, since these areas contain chromium nitride
precipitates [23]. Local chromium and nitrogen depletion around the nitrides may lead
to significantly lower corrosion resistance than for the surrounding ferrite matrix and
instead become preferential pitting sites.

40
Figure 33 shows the calculated PRE distribution in the fusion line from Paper E. The
average PRE was significantly higher in the austenite in both base and weld metal, but
no decrease in PRE was seen along the fusion line, since chromium and nitrogen are
evenly distributed and the molybdenum content low. It has also been found that
although the HTHAZ of LDX 2101 contains chromium nitride precipitates, pitting attack
rarely occurs in the fusion line of pickled duplex welds [C,D]. The exception may be
insufficiently pickled welds performed with pure argon.

Figure 33. Calculated PRE distribution along the fusion line of (a) Ar and (b) Ar + 2% N2 [E].

The lean duplex stainless steel LDX 2101 has improved austenite formation compared
to older duplex grades and the segregation of all elements apart from nitrogen is low.
This means that filler wire additions are not required as for other duplex grades
assuming that there is no large nitrogen loss that could cause excessive ferrite
contents. As the nitrogen appears to be controlling the austenite formation, it is
essential to avoid nitrogen loss during welding.

8.4 Element loss – evaporation and deposition (Paper B)

Loss of alloying elements from the weld metal can result in changes in the
microstructure and consequently lead to degradation of both mechanical and corrosion
properties. Element loss can occur from the weld metal or from the consumables. The
burn-off rate is different for different alloying elements and this also varies between
different welding methods and can be affected by the choice of welding parameters.

Khan et al. [152] have reported vaporization, primarily of manganese and iron from
laser weld metals of high manganese stainless steel in the AISI 200 series. These were
Nd:YAG laser welded at low laser powers. At a constant welding speed, the change in

41
the chemical composition was determined by the vaporization rate and the size of the
weld pool, with the latter being the dominant factor. Although the rate of vaporization
of alloying elements such as iron and manganese increased with the increase in laser
power, the composition change was more pronounced at low laser power due to the
small weld pool size. The vaporization rate increased and the weld pool size
decreased with increased welding speed. The fiber laser welds reported in Paper D
could be expected to behave similarly to these Nd:YAG laser welds since the high-
brightness lasers result in exceptionally narrow and deep welds. These welds also
showed the highest ferrite contents and lowest pitting corrosion resistance compared
to other laser types.

In Paper B, stationary (non-moving) GTA welding of LDX 2101 for 0-20 s was performed
with different shielding gases with up to 8% nitrogen. EPMA mapping on cross-
sections was used to produce quantitative images of the manganese, nitrogen and
chromium distribution for each weld and some of the data are plotted in Figure 34.
The manganese content showed a significant decrease with both increased stationary
welding time and with increased nitrogen fraction in the shielding gas. Nitrogen
additions to the shielding gas may enhance evaporation from the weld metal because
of the higher weld temperatures attained (increased voltage). The EPMA measurements
showed that the LDX 2101 weld metal absorbed nitrogen from the shielding gas. The
weld metal nitrogen content increased with increased amount of nitrogen in the
shielding gas and was rather constant with time. However, the nitrogen content
decreased with increased stationary arc welding time when pure argon was used. The
chromium content in the weld metal was slightly lower than in the parent metal, but
the scatter was large. The chromium losses appear to increase slowly with increasing
stationary welding time, apart from Ar + 2% N2 where there was little change. Bhatt et
al. [21] studied a 21Cr-7Ni-2.5Mo-1.7Mn-0.04N duplex steel using ISO 22 8 3 L filler and
different nitrogen additions to the argon shielding gas. When adding 5% nitrogen to
the shielding gas the chromium content decreased from 21.0 wt.% to 17.9 wt.%
compared to pure argon.

Figure 34. Weld metal composition as a function of shielding gas nitrogen content and
stationary arc welding time for (a) manganese, (b) nitrogen and (c) chromium [B].

The evaporation of weld metal species was also shown to affect the weld oxide
composition and thickness by subsequent deposition in Paper B. Diffusion, oxidation,
evaporation and redeposition are possible processes, which can affect the composition
and distribution of the weld oxide formed on the surface. Nitrogen additions to the
shielding gas appear to increase the evaporation and subsequent redeposition of metal
originating from the weld metal when GTA welding. Addition of 2% nitrogen to the
shielding gas gave a thicker oxide than that of pure argon on both LDX 2101 and 2304.

42
The explanation proposed is that with increased amount of nitrogen in the shielding
gas, the evaporation and the deposition increase; forming a thicker surface layer.

8.5 Weld oxides and their influence on corrosion properties (Paper B)

During welding, weld oxide frequently referred to as heat tint or weld discoloration is
formed on the surface adjacent to the weld, which has been subjected to temperatures
above 300-400°C [153,154]. The weld oxide is generally considered to be a thermal
oxide formed under diffusion control. It has different composition and is typically
several orders of magnitude thicker than the 2-4 nm thick passive film naturally
established in oxidizing environments on stainless steels [154,155]. In contrast to the
passive film, weld oxides on stainless steel generally impair the corrosion resistance.
The presence of heat tint has been demonstrated to increase significantly the
susceptibility to localized corrosion attack compared to parent metal; even invisible
oxides can have a detrimental effect [156]. The effect of heat tint on pitting resistance
has been related to the oxide composition, thickness, structure, homogeneity and
chromium distribution [157]. These factors are in turn controlled primarily by the bulk
composition, peak temperature and oxygen content in shielding and backing (purging)
gas during welding. The weld oxide compositions and their corrosion resistance are
not necessarily related to oxide colours since this mainly would indicate different film
thickness [158,159].

Several authors have studied weld oxides to explain their influence on corrosion
resistance. The traditional explanation that the reduction in corrosion resistance is due
to a thin chromium-depleted layer located in the underlying base metal and caused by
chromium diffusion from the bulk into the chromium-rich oxide has frequently been
debated [153,156-159]. The oxidation temperature, which varies with the distance from
the weld, has been suggested to influence the relative diffusion rates of iron and
chromium. AES and GD-OES sputter depth profiles have shown that heat tint formed at
relatively low temperatures consists primarily of iron [156-159]. It is suggested to be a
double-layered oxide, consisting of an iron-rich outer layer and an inner layer of more
chromium-rich oxide. Pitting attack is normally located 1-13 mm from the fusion line
depending on the material thickness and heat input. This coincides with the most iron-
rich oxide formed at around 600-700°C [156-158,160-162]. The chromium-rich oxide
formed at higher temperature is more resistant to corrosion attack. Azuma et al. [156]
have proposed that this acts as a passive film by forming CrOOH in chloride solutions.

The presence of heat tint on the weld and HAZ of any stainless steel will make the
surface more susceptible to pitting and crevice corrosion. Localized corrosion may
occur at significantly lower chloride concentrations and temperatures and it is
generally accepted that pickling is needed for optimum corrosion properties. The
corrosion resistance of welds with root surface oxides formed on duplex (LDX 2101,
2304, 2205 and 2507) and superaustenitic stainless steels (AISI 904L, 254 SMO and 654
SMO) have been compared to low-alloyed austenitic grades (e.g. AISI 304, AISI 316L
and AISI 316Ti) in different investigations [30,135-137,163-165,B,C]. Low-alloyed
stainless steels (e.g. AISI 304L, AISI 316L, AISI 444 and LDX 2101) appear to be more
sensitive to residual weld oxide than steels with higher corrosion resistance. When
blue coloured oxide cannot be avoided and no pickling is applied, a higher alloy grade
may be needed. Most failures have been found in AISI 304L and AISI 316L type of
steels, but residual weld oxide has also been identified to be the main cause of

43
corrosion attack in duplex grades. Figure 35 shows pitting attack in weld oxides
formed on LDX 2101.

Figure 35. Pitting attack in weld oxide formed on the (a) topside after GTA welding and no
pickling and (b) rootside that would require pickling or selection of a higher alloyed grade [30].

In Paper B, heat tints formed on the duplex steels LDX 2101 and 2304, welded with and
without nitrogen additions to the shielding gas, were studied by X-ray photoelectron
spectroscopy (XPS) to determine the effect of base metal and shielding gas
composition on the weld oxide. Compared to commodity austenitics (AISI 300 series)
where iron and chromium are dominant in forming weld oxides, lean duplex grades
show a relatively strong influence of manganese and nitrogen, Figure 36.

Figure 36. Results from surface XPS line scans on the top surface of LDX 2101 and 2304
GTA welds without taking the oxidation states into consideration [B].

Formation of heat tint is normally explained by oxidation of the parent metal and
diffusion from the weld metal. In Paper B, it is suggested that manganese is
evaporated from the weld metal and forms weld oxide by subsequent redeposition
from the gas phase, Figure 37. Nitrogen additions to the shielding gas enhance
evaporation from the weld metal because of the higher weld temperatures attained.
This in turn makes the weld oxide thicker, due to redeposition, changes the
composition and caused a double-layer structure to develop. For LDX 2101, the double-

44
layer was found to consist of manganese oxide and manganese oxynitrides, while on
2304 samples chromium oxynitrides were formed below the outer surface layer
consisting essentially of manganese oxide. When welding with pure argon,
manganese oxide dominated on both LDX 2101 and 2304. Nitrogen additions to the
shielding gas thus increase the weld metal manganese evaporation and encourage the
formation of oxynitrides.

Figure 37. Proposed transportation paths involved in weld oxide formation on the topside [B].

A schematic illustration of heat tint formation on LDX 2101 and 2304 when welding
with and without nitrogen additions to the shielding gas is presented in Figure 38. The
weld oxide formed on LDX 2101 was thicker and wider than the oxide formed on 2304;
and contained more manganese and nitrogen. This difference is considered to be
primarily due to the different steel compositions. No studies concerning the effect of
manganese on the heat tint formation have been found in the literature, but many
papers report manganese present in surface oxide on steel that has been oxidized for
longer times in isothermal exposures [166-168]. In LDX 2101 some nickel has been
replaced with manganese and nitrogen, whereas 2304 has both higher nickel and
chromium contents. The fraction of manganese increases and the oxide becomes both
thicker and somewhat wider when welding with nitrogen in the shielding gas. This is
again related to the evaporation-deposition process [B].

Figure 38. Proposed weld oxide composition on the top surface for LDX 2101 and 2304
welded with and without nitrogen additions to the shielding gas [B].

It has been demonstrated repeatedly that oxide removal by adequate mechanical

and/or chemical cleaning can restore the corrosion properties close to those of the
bulk material [162,164,169-172,C,D]. Several techniques for removal have been
suggested and evaluated; of these pickling has proven to be most efficient. Such
chemical cleaning can be performed by dipping the whole component into a bath, by

45
spraying the pickling agent or by applying a paste. The time required for pickling
depends on the material composition, surface roughness, pickling agent, pickling
temperature and weld quality. The pickling time needed is shorter if the surface is
clean and good shielding/backing gas protection is used. Brushing, grinding or shot
blasting before pickling may further improve the corrosion resistance by making the
pickling more efficient and decrease the required pickling time. Surface finish is an
important additional factor that influences the resistance to initiation of pitting and
possible crevice corrosion. The resistance increases with smoother surfaces.

When post-weld cleaning is not an option, the use of proper backing gas purging
becomes increasingly important. A shiny weld and a straw yellow HAZ are
empirically regarded as signs of sufficient root protection for adequate corrosion
resistance. The aim should be to limit the oxygen content in the backing gas to a
maximum of 25-50 ppm in order to avoid severe oxidation [135]. There may be cases
where stricter control is necessary. Backing gas should also be used when tack
welding, Figure 39.

Figure 39. GTA weld performed with high quality backing gas, giving minimum weld oxide.
The tack weld without purging requires longer pickling than the rest of the weld for adequate
pitting resistance. [30]

For conventional austenitic and ferritic stainless steels, pure argon is used as backing
gas. For nitrogen-alloyed stainless steels, purging with 90% N2 + 10% H2 can give cleaner
welds and higher pitting resistance than pure argon [12,135,136]. Hydrogen reacts with
residual oxygen to form water vapour instead of weld oxides on the rootside. This
could decrease the required purging time to reach 50 ppm residual oxygen and the
need for pickling. For various reasons, pure nitrogen may also be used as backing gas.
This is equally beneficial to the austenite formation, but is not as efficient in
decreasing oxidation as hydrogen-containing gases. Purging with 95% N2 + 5% H2 gives
a result being somewhere in between.

As seen in Table 6 use of a nitrogen-based backing gas significantly improves the

pitting resistance in the pickled condition. According to ASTM G150, CPT values below
10°C are not valid for ranking, and should be reported as <10°C. In this study, however,
the actual measured CPT value has been used for research purposes. ASTM G150 cannot
be used for measuring the CPT of welded low-alloyed stainless steels with residual
weld oxides. This is due to an initial peak that exceeds the threshold value of 100
µ A/cm2 so the test is terminated immediately at the start. No pitting, however, occurs
at this stage, but discoloration or oxide loss can be seen. Recent tests with polarization
curves have shown that the initial peak is caused by oxide dissolution that is followed
by a current drop and pitting occurs at later stage [165,173], Figure 40. In Table 6, only
the 2304 welds performed with nitrogen in the shielding and backing gas showed a
measurable CPT >10°C in as-welded condition. Nitrogen-based backing gas probably
decreases the residual oxygen available for forming weld oxides and improves the

46
austenite formation. 2304 base metal has also higher corrosion resistance than the
other grades and the initial current peak does not exceed 100 µ A/cm2 although some
oxide dissolution occurs.

Table 6. Pitting corrosion resistance expressed as the critical pitting temperature (°C) of base
metal (BM) and the rootside of GTA welds in as-welded and pickled condition [30].
Welding Filler Gas composition Corrosion resistance
Grade
method metal Shielding Backing As-welded Pickled
444 BM --- --- --- 12 ± 3
444 GTAW 19 12 3 L Ar Ar N/A 7 ± 2*
316L BM --- --- --- 21 ± 1
316L GTAW 19 12 3 L Ar Ar N/A 19 ± 1
LDX 2101 BM --- --- --- 24 ± 1
LDX 2101 GTAW 22 9 3 N L Ar Ar N/A 5 ± 1*
LDX 2101 GTAW 22 9 3 N L Ar + 2% N2 90% N2 + 10% H2 N/A 23 ± 5
2304 BM --- --- --- 32 ± 1
2304 GTAW 22 9 3 N L Ar Ar N/A 18 ± 2
2304 GTAW 22 9 3 N L Ar + 2% N2 90% N2 + 10% H2 19 ± 3 27 ± 4
*Values below 10°C

Figure 40. Polarization curve of the topside of LDX 2101 welded with Ar + 2% N2 intentionally
stopped at three different potentials and the corresponding surface appearance. Pits are seen
at Position 3 but not at Position 1 or 2, where oxide dissolution was found alone. [165]

47
8.6 Discoloration of welds (Paper B)
In Paper B, four different commercial duplex stainless steel grades (LDX 2101, 2304,
2205 and 2507) were GTA welded bead-on-plate using pure argon and Ar + 2% N2 as
shielding gas. A simple corrosion test, in which polished duplex welds were
interleaved with damp paper for 10 hours, was used to demonstrate that the
composition of the heat tint formed during welding with nitrogen additions to the
shielding gas is different from the weld oxide when pure argon is used. The
specimens welded with pure argon were unaffected while all duplex materials welded
with Ar + 2% N2 displayed stains at different distances from the fusion line after the
test, Figure 41. The reason seems to be that manganese or chromium oxynitrides
formed in the latter case are responsible for the staining. The distribution of the
discoloration also corresponds to the iron-rich region where pitting normally occurs.
Iron deposits were also indicated by the ferroxyl test. The stains were, however, easily
removed and the corrosion resistance was restored by pickling as shown in Paper C.

Figure 41. Weld discoloration after the wet paper corrosion test [B].

8.7 Preferential location of pitting (Papers C and D)

In this work, two main factors, which dominate the corrosion behaviour and
determine the preferential pitting location in duplex welds have been identified; the
microstructure and the presence of weld oxides. Use of pure argon may be sufficient
to form a stable arc and to obtain a clean rootside with minimum amount of weld
oxides. However, when welding nitrogen-alloyed duplex grades, pure argon is
associated with nitrogen loss from the weld metal and HAZ. Autogenous welds
performed with pure argon have higher ferrite content with more chromium nitride
precipitates at the surface, Figure 42. As pitting occurs preferentially in ferrite grains
with large fractions of chromium nitrides, the weld metal becomes most susceptible to
pitting when pure argon is used. When welding materials with high nitrogen content
autogenously, nitrogen may be added to the shielding gas and nitrogen-based backing
gas is preferred. This prevents nitrogen loss, increases the austenite formation and
decreases chromium nitride precipitation, which, in turn increase the weld metal
pitting resistance and may have a measurable effect on the pitting corrosion resistance

48
of the whole weldment [30,146,C,D]. Nitrogen may even form a protective austenite
layer on the surface of the weld and HTHAZ, Figure 43. This increases the weld metal
corrosion resistance compared to that with pure argon as shielding and/or backing gas.

Figure 42. Weld metal surface and resistance of GTA welded LDX 2101 to pitting attack after
testing in 1 M NaCl in accordance with ASTM G150. Ar + 2% N2 as shielding gas resulted in
improved austenite formation at the top surface and made the weld metal more resistant to
pitting. [C]

(a) (b)

Figure 43. LDX 2101 GTA welded with (a) pure argon as backing gas showing nitrogen loss
and high ferrite content on the surface and (b) 90% N2 + 10% H2 giving a uniform phase
balance and a protective layer of austenite on the surface [30].

No pitting was found in the HTHAZ of LDX 2101 for pickled laser and lightly polished
and thoroughly pickled GTA welds [C,D]. Provided that the weld metal austenite
formation is sufficient and adequate post-weld cleaning has been used, pitting is often
located some millimetres from the fusion line [156,162]. This was also consistently
seen in this work [B-D]. The attack consequently occurs rather in the parent metal than
in the coarse grain zone with chromium nitrides and the location often corresponds to
the transition region where the weld oxide is no longer visible. The temperature in this
region is approximately 600-700°C and does not give rise to visually changed
microstructure. Several authors have concluded that this is where the oxide is most
iron-rich [156,158,160]. The absence of pitting in the HTHAZ indicates that chromium
nitrides are not always the limiting factor and the explanation lies probably in the
formation of weld oxide on the surface.

49
If the welds are ground flat prior to corrosion testing, then the heat tint effects are
eliminated and microstructural effects become dominant as illustrated in Paper C. In
this case, the pitting corrosion resistance decreased around 3°C due to exposure of
chromium nitrides in the weld metal and HTHAZ to the corrosive medium. On the
other hand, if the original top surface of the weld is retained and the weld oxide
instead removed by pickling, higher pitting resistance may be observed due to the
protective nature of the oxide film remaining after pickling [24,124,C]. In the root,
nitrogen-based backing gas has proven to be very efficient in increasing the pitting
resistance of LDX 2101 by forming an austenite layer on the outer surface [30,C].

9 Laser welding of duplex stainless steel (Paper D)

The use of laser welding has increased continuously over the last decades and the
growth has been further intensified by the introduction of high power high-brightness
lasers, such as the fiber and disk lasers. The properties that are normally considered as
benefits when laser welding, the low heat input and the rapid cooling rate, which
prevent distortion, are however, often seen as disadvantages when welding duplex
steels. Excessive ferrite contents and considerable amounts of chromium nitride
precipitates within the ferrite grains in the HAZ and fusion zone may reduce the
corrosion resistance and the ductility of the material. For the duplex stainless steels
2205 and 2304, solidification structures close to 100% ferrite have been reported
[123,174]. In conventional GTA welding, large deviations in phase balance between
base metal and as-solidified weld metal can partly be avoided by adding nitrogen to
the shielding gas and/or by using nickel-alloyed filler metal. As previously discussed,
nitrogen in the shielding gas has little or no effect when laser beam welding. The
effect of adding matching filler wire during laser welding may also be limited due to
small melts and rapid cooling rates [D]. The most frequently reported solution to
obtain a proper phase balance when laser welding duplex stainless steel normally is to
use pure nickel or nickel based additions in form of foil, shims, wire and powder
[175,176]. This is in practice rarely used in industrial applications, due to the increased
cost and complexity. Consequently, laser welding of duplex grades is typically limited
to applications where PWHT of the welds can be performed to restore the phase
balance [177]. This type of solution is, however, rather cost-intensive and can be
impractical, especially for large components. One profitable example is, however,
tube welding where continuous solution annealing of the material can be performed
inline. Another option is to use a laser hybrid welding process where more filler metal
can be added to the melt pool compared to laser welding with filler additions, and
higher heat input results in lower cooling rates. Laser-GMA hybrid welding and
especially fiber laser welding can cause spatter, but this can be limited by accurate
parameter settings and good root shielding [142,D]. The austenite formation in 2205 and
2304 has been shown to be somewhat improved by fiber laser scanning with nitrogen
as backing gas, but this was also associated with some weld sinkage and spatter [144].

LDX 2101 is a lean duplex stainless steel with improved laser weldability compared to
most duplex grades. This is related to the balanced alloying with manganese and
nitrogen to promote austenite formation. Laser welding of LDX 2101 has been
performed with and without filler wire, and laser hybrid welding with GTA and GMA
using Nd:YAG, CO2 and fiber lasers [30,94,178]. In Paper D, the aim was to show how
the ferrite content, the mechanical properties and corrosion performance of this
material are affected by laser welding and laser hybrid welding with different laser

50
sources. The work demonstrated that LDX 2101 can be laser welded without
deterioration in ductility and corrosion performance. It was, however, concluded that
filler addition when laser welding, or laser-GTA hybrid welding with and without
nitrogen additions to the shielding gas, and laser-GMA hybrid welding further improve
the austenite formation, ductility and the weld metal pitting resistance. Autogenous
fiber laser welding results in the narrowest and CO2 laser welding the widest welds,
Figure 44. Use of hybrid welding methods give wider welds and larger weld bead
areas. Nd:YAG laser-GTA hybrid welds had the smoothest surface owed to the GTA,
while fiber laser-GMA and CO2 laser-GMA may cause exaggerated weld bead
reinforcement that could have a negative impact on the fatigue properties [D]. All
welds fulfilled the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength requirements of base
metal LDX 2101. The elongation values were lower (typically 15-25% compared to min.
30% for the base metal) and particularly for the autogenous fiber laser welds with the
lowest austenite formation.

Figure 44. 1 mm thick LDX 2101 material welded with (a) autogenous Nd:YAG laser, (b)
Nd:YAG laser-GTA hybrid with ISO 23 7 N L filler and Ar + 3% N2 as shielding gas, (c)
autogenous CO2 laser, (d) CO2 laser-GMA hybrid with ISO 22 9 3 N L filler, (e) autogenous
fiber laser and (f) fiber laser-GMA hybrid with ISO 22 9 3 N L filler [D].

Figure 45 shows the effect of weld metal austenite formation on the pitting resistance
of laser welded LDX 2101 [D]. Autogenous CO2 laser welding typically results in better
austenite formation and pitting corrosion resistance than both the Nd:YAG and high-

51
brightness fiber lasers. Autogenous fiber laser welding resulted in the highest ferrite
contents and lowest pitting corrosion resistance compared to the other laser types. The
narrow welds might increase the alloying element loss as Khan et al. [152] reported for
Nd:YAG laser welding. Evaporation of austenite-stabilizing elements such as nitrogen,
nickel and manganese could reduce the austenite formation and loss of chromium and
nitrogen may decrease the pitting resistance. Apart from having the highest ferrite
content, another reason could be that pitting of fiber laser welds occurred in some
cases in association with small spatter on the rootside. Laser hybrid welding
significantly improved the austenite formation and made the weld metal more
resistant to pitting. Pitting was not found in the weld metal or HTHAZ, but instead in
the base metal 1-3 mm from the fusion line. The actual effect on the critical pitting
temperature was, however, not as significant. The largest improvement was seen
when adding nitrogen to the shielding gas when Nd:YAG laser-GTA hybrid welding
since this appears to counteract nitrogen loss. The pitting resistance of laser-GTA
welded LDX 2101 was, for instance, in parity with GTA welded LDX 2101 and AISI 316L
[30,C]. The increased austenite formation when hybrid welding was related more
strongly to the increased heat input than to the choice of filler metal.

Figure 45. The influence of weld metal austenite content on the CPT for LDX 2101 laser weld
roots after pickling compared to the parent material. The austenite fraction varied for different
laser methods, when adding filler metal and when using laser-hybrid welding methods. [D]

10 Mechanical properties
Holmberg [19] reported that the mechanical properties of duplex 2205 do not vary
significantly for normal heat inputs and typical ferrite levels obtained when using
suitable filler metals (23-53%). The tensile properties of welded joints are generally
acceptable, with strength levels on a par with that of the base metal or higher, but with
somewhat reduced ductility. The impact toughness is generally lower, but varies
significantly depending on welding procedures, filler compositions and the final
microstructure.

52
10.1 Hardness
The duplex grades show higher hardness with higher strength and are significantly
harder than for example AISI 316L weldments. The hardness of duplex welds and HAZ
is normally somewhat higher than that of the base metal. This is largely due to the
higher ferrite content, but a second contributory factor can also be residual stress. The
hardness of a simulated HAZ may increase with increasing peak temperature and
increasing cooling rate [94]. The weld metal hardness decreases with higher heat
inputs and slower cooling, which result in improved austenite formation [177]. Vickers
microhardness measurements displayed no large differences over FCA weld cross-
sections in LDX 2101 and 2304 [179]. LDX 2101 was, however, harder than 2304, and had
a higher strength, which was related to the finer grain size and higher nitrogen
content. In contrast to grades that can form martensite on welding, hardness
measurements rarely give much information about the weld metal properties of
duplex grades.

10.2 Tensile properties

The duplex grades have approximately twice the yield strength of the austenitic
grades with similar PRE. The high mechanical strength is the result of several
simultaneous mechanisms such as interstitial solid solution hardening by nitrogen,
substitutional solid solution hardening, strengthening by grain refinement, because the
presence of two phases prevents their mutual growth during heat treatment, and
hardening due to the formation of secondary austenite [180]. Further strengthening
occurs due to the presence of ferrite since this phase is harder than the austenitic
structure. Provided that the established duplex fillers are used, the tensile strength of the
parent metal is normally exceeded over the temperature range recommended for use of
duplex stainless steels [16,80]. Within reasonable limits, the ferrite-austenite balance has
only small influence on yield and tensile strength of welded joints, but it has a marked
influence on ductility [177]. The base metal minimum elongation level, typically 25%, is
normally reached, but examples of low ductility have also been reported [141,181].
Kotecki [182] found that the ductility decreased with increased ferrite content in 2205.
The weld metal strength of different GTA, laser and laser hybrid welds on LDX 2101
was in parity with the base metal, whereas the ductility was somewhat lower than for
base material, typically in the range 15-25% [178,D]. Filler metal additions and laser
hybrid welding generally increased the elongation compared to autogenous welding.
Tensile testing of 30 mm LDX 2101 and 2304 FCW welds showed higher strength and
slightly decreased elongation compared to the parent metal [179]. LDX 2101 had
somewhat higher strength than 2304, which is primarily due to the higher nitrogen
alloying content. The strength of the materials increased and the ductility decreased
with decreasing temperature, in a similar manner to that of 2205 [183].

10.3 Weld metal impact toughness

Duplex steels have lower toughness than the austenitic in the AISI 300 series due to the
lower nickel content and the ferritic matrix showing a ductile-to-brittle transition
temperature range similarly to the ferritic steels [141]. However, the presence of
austenite gives a progressive decrease in absorbed energy and increase in brittle fracture
appearance as the test temperature is lowered, rather than the abrupt transition in ferritic
steels. The duplex alloys thus have a toughness between that of the austenitic and
ferritic grades. The ductile-to-brittle transition temperature is generally higher for the
weld metal and HAZ than for the parent material [184,185]. The toughness of duplex

53
welds can further be decreased by higher ferrite contents and increasing specimen
thickness. The impact toughness is dependent upon several factors such as the weld
metal oxygen content, welding method, composition (primarily nickel content) and
microstructure [186]. Favourable results are normally obtained as long as the slag
levels are low and reasonable fractions of austenite have formed in the weld metal and
reformed in the HAZ [69]. Good low temperature toughness of duplex weld metals
have been obtained for GTAW, GMAW, SMAW and SAW, but the highest level is
normally obtained with GTAW; while flux protected welds have lower toughness due to
higher oxygen contents [16,19,35,141,187-189]. The toughness of duplex welds and HAZ
can be reduced by a high ferrite content and large fractions of Cr2N precipitates, which
increases with increased cooling rate and peak temperature [80,190]. Deleu and Dhooge
[191] simulated the HAZ of 2304 and concluded that any weld thermal cycle reduces the
impact toughness of all HAZ microstructures compared to the unwelded base metal.
This was also seen in Paper A, where HTHAZ simulated LDX 2101 showed decreased
impact toughness compared to the base metal and the toughness further decreased
when the specimens were cooled rapidly. HAZ microstructures with higher amounts of
undissolved austenite typically show higher impact values [69]. Use of proper welding
parameters, joint configuration and suitable filler metal, often over-alloyed with
nickel and also PWHT can increase the weld metal energy absorption considerably as
both the phase balance is restored and possible precipitates are dissolved [16,49].
Multipass weld deposits can also show higher toughness as a result of further austenite
formation in the reheated regions [69]. 27 and 40 J minimum Charpy-V impact energy
values are often specified depending on steel grade [192] and application and
documentation of thick plate confirms that duplex welds normally meet these
requirements for design temperatures down to about –40°C [103].

Sieurin et al. [179] showed that 2304 base metal had higher impact toughness than LDX
2101 base metal as a result of higher nickel content and finer microstructure, while
FCA weld metals showed rather the same values due to similar final composition.
When welding low-nickel duplex alloys such as LDX 2101, large dilution from the base
metal should be avoided as this may have a negative impact on the toughness. This
limits the maximum heat input to 1.5 kJ/mm for FCAW. For SAW the heat input may be
restricted to maximum 1.0 kJ/mm, which means this method is seldom the first option.

Sieurin and Sandström [183] correlated the impact toughness to the fracture toughness
by reference temperatures derived by Wallin [193]. Wallin’s master curve is the basis
for the American testing and analysis standard ASTM E1921-97 [194]. It determines the
fracture toughness in the brittle-to-ductile transition range, where the reference
temperature, T0, characterizes the onset of cleavage cracking. The statistical
correlation between fracture toughness and impact toughness T0 = T27J – 18 established
by Wallin [195], gives reasonable estimations of the fracture toughness of duplex
grades, when the impact transition temperature, T27J, is known from Charpy-V impact
testing. Fracture and impact toughness data have been generated for 30 mm thick
parent material and FCA welds of LDX 2101 and 2304, and submerged arc welded 2205
[179,183]. The reference temperatures were below –100°C for the parent materials and
around –100°C for the welds, showing sufficient fracture toughness for most low
temperature applications. The high nickel content in 2205 contributes higher fracture
toughness, which confirmed the high fracture toughness of both 2205 base and SAW
weld metal shown by Dhooge and Deleu [196].

54
11 Conclusions
The lean duplex stainless steel LDX 2101 has here been demonstrated to have good
weldability with rapid austenite formation. The pitting resistance of GTA welded LDX
2101 is after pickling generally significantly higher than that of AISI 304L and in parity
with that of AISI 316L. Due to low element segregation, LDX 2101 can be autogenously
GTA welded without deteriorated corrosion performance in terms of CPT, but then it
becomes increasingly important to avoid losing nitrogen during welding. Nitrogen
additions to the GTA shielding gas and filler additions increase the austenite formation
and make the weld metal itself more resistant to pitting. The highest measured
increase in pitting resistance was, however, seen on the rootside of GTA welds
performed with nitrogen-based backing gas.

The laser weldability of LDX 2101 is in many cases better than for other duplex grades.
Autogenous CO2 laser welding resulted in the highest austenite formation and pitting
corrosion resistance compared to both Nd:YAG and high-brightness fiber lasers. The
austenite formation increased with nitrogen-based backing gas compared to that with
pure argon, and also when laser hybrid welding, but had in this case small influence
on the already high CPT.

After corrosion testing on pickled LDX 2101 welds the pits were typically located in
the weld metal, randomly in the base metal or 1-3 mm from the fusion line; in the
parent metal rather than in the coarse grain zone with chromium nitride precipitates.
The absence of pitting in the HTHAZ indicates that chromium nitrides are not always
the limiting factor. Element segregation and depletion were found along the fusion
line of LDX 2101 welds using EPMA, but had small effect on the corrosion resistance of
the pickled welds examined in this work. When the weld metal and HAZ had sufficient
nitrogen content and hence adequate austenite formation, the weld oxide controlled
the location of pitting after pickling.

Weld oxides do not only form by diffusion. There is also a significant contribution
from deposition that affects both weld oxide composition and thickness. This new
mechanism can possibly explain why many works report no chromium-depleted zone
under the weld oxide on austenitic stainless steels in the AISI 300 series. Some element
loss occurs when GTA welding LDX 2101 and the evaporation of manganese from the
weld metal increases with increased nitrogen addition to the shielding gas. The heat
tint formed on LDX 2101 contains significant amounts of manganese, suggested to be
primarily evaporated from the weld metal followed by subsequent redeposition.
Nitrogen additions to the shielding gas increased this evaporation. Oxynitrides were
formed in the weld oxide on welds performed with nitrogen in the shielding gas and
these are suggested to cause discoloration when subjected to a wet paper corrosion
test. The oxide formed on LDX 2101, when welding with nitrogen-enriched shielding
gas, is thus different from that formed when pure argon is used, but all GTA welds
showed high pitting resistance after pickling.

The ASTM G150 test was unsuitable for measuring the CPT of unpickled LDX 2101
welds because the test terminated immediately at the start of the temperature ramp.
More research is needed to quantify the actual decrease in pitting resistance. Weld
oxides should be removed by pickling for optimal corrosion resistance.

55
12 Summary of papers
A summary of the appended papers follows, including motivation of the work and
main conclusions. The contributions of the present author are also stated.

Paper A. Weldability aspects of a newly developed duplex stainless steel LDX

2101
Modern duplex grades have good weldability due to balanced chemical compositions
of both filler and base metals, but several aspects must be considered in order to fulfil
the performance requirements. Most important in autogenous welding of duplex
grades is the resulting ferrite content. The purpose of this work was to assess the
austenite reformation capacity, and the effect of alloying elements and thermal cycles
on the phase balance in the HTHAZ of LDX 2101. The microstructure evolution was
studied using bead-on-plate welding; weld simulation experiments and thermodyna-
mic modelling. The results were analysed using the thermodynamic database Thermo-
Calc and a theoretical model for phase transformation. At cooling rates representative
of arc welding, the austenite reformation in LDX 2101 was rapid and the microstructure
showed grain boundary austenite and a large amount of Widmanstätten austenite. The
grain size had limited effect on the impact toughness of the HTHAZ simulated
specimens, while lower cooling rates, giving improved austenite reformation, were
beneficial. The kinetics of the austenite growth could be calculated and compared to
experimental data. The theoretical modelling of austenite reformation was in
agreement with the experiments in terms of grain boundary austenite fraction, but the
model should be developed to include Widmanstätten austenite. Sensitivity analysis
showed the importance of nitrogen content on the austenite reformation in accordance
with previous studies. Higher base metal nitrogen fractions would increase the
austenite formation somewhat, while a reduced nitrogen content would lead to a
slightly larger decrease. The austenite reformation capacity of LDX 2101 was compared
with three different duplex grades previously assessed and was on a par with that of
the superduplex 2507 grade and significantly better than the 2205 and 2304 duplex
grades.

The author wrote the paper together with S. Hertzman, carried out the welding and
thermal simulations and evaluated the microstructure and properties. B. Brolund and S.
Hertzman developed the theoretical model and B. Brolund performed the calculations.

56
Paper B. Weld oxide formation on lean duplex stainless steel
Four different commercial duplex stainless steel grades (LDX 2101, 2304, 2205 and 2507)
were GTA welded bead-on-plate using pure argon and Ar + 2% N2 as shielding gas. A
simple corrosion test, in which polished duplex welds were interleaved with damp
paper for 10 hours, was used to demonstrate that the composition of the heat tint
changes when nitrogen additions are made to the shielding gas. All duplex materials
welded with Ar + 2% N2 displayed stains at different distances from the fusion line
after the test. No such stains were seen on the argon welds. However, the stains were
easily removed and the corrosion resistance restored by pickling. An explanation for
the differences in weld oxide formation was proposed based on XPS surface analysis
and sputtering depth profiles of the heat tint formed on LDX 2101 and 2304. It was
revealed that manganese dominated in the weld oxide and the content increased when
nitrogen was added to the shielding gas. The weld oxide formed on LDX 2101 was
thicker and wider than on 2304 and contained more manganese and nitrogen. These
elements have been used to compensate for the low nickel content in LDX 2101.
Nitrogen additions to the shielding gas gave a double-layer weld oxide consisting of
manganese oxide, plus manganese oxynitride on LDX 2101 and chromium oxynitride
on 2304. A new mechanism based on evaporation from the weld metal and subsequent
redeposition was suggested to explain the observed phenomena and weld oxide layers.
Nitrogen additions to the shielding gas changed the composition of the heat tint by
suppressing iron and chromium oxidation, increasing weld metal manganese
evaporation and encouraging the formation of oxynitrides. The simple corrosion test
carried out by stacking welds between wet papers showed discoloration only for the
welds in nitrogen-containing atmospheres, not those with argon. The reason seems to
be the manganese or chromium oxynitrides, which are formed in the former case and
appear to be responsible for the staining.

The author wrote the paper, did the literature survey, invented the simple corrosion
test, evaluated the temperature measurements, assisted with welding, EPMA and XPS.
The XPS analysis and evaluation were mainly performed by C.-O.A. Olsson, who
together with S. Hertzman assisted in writing the paper.

57
Paper C. Pitting corrosion resistance of GTA welded lean duplex stainless steel
This paper discusses how the corrosion behaviour of duplex welds may be affected by
the microstructure and presence of weld oxides. LDX 2101 can be autogenously welded
without deterioration in the CPT, but additions of filler metal and nitrogen to the GTA
shielding gas and use of nitrogen-based backing gas can further improve the austenite
formation and make the weld metal more resistant to pitting. Nitrogen-based backing
gas showed the largest impact on the measured CPT. Autogenous welds performed
with pure argon have a higher ferrite content with more chromium nitride precipitates
at the surface. As pitting occurs preferentially in ferrite grains with large fractions of
chromium nitrides, the weld metal becomes most susceptible to pitting when welding
with pure argon. Provided that the weld metal austenite formation is sufficient and
adequate post-weld cleaning has been used, pitting is often located some millimetres
from the fusion line. The absence of pitting in the HTHAZ indicates that chromium
nitrides are not always the limiting factor and the explanation lies probably in the
formation of weld oxide on the surface. If the welds are ground flat prior to corrosion
testing, then the heat tint effects are eliminated and microstructural effects become
dominant. In this case, the pitting resistance can decrease somewhat due to the
presence of chromium nitrides in the weld metal and in the HTHAZ. On the other hand,
if the original top surface of the weld is retained and the weld oxide instead removed
by pickling, higher pitting resistance may be observed due to the protective nature of
the oxide film remaining after pickling. When welding with nitrogen-containing
shielding gas, a surface austenite layer may form, which can protect the chromium
nitrides in the HTHAZ from the corrosive medium.

This paper is a summary of the licentiate thesis work published in 2008 [197], which is
based on Paper B and earlier publications [94,178], intermixed with new results. The
author wrote the paper, did the literature survey, invented the simple corrosion test,
carried out the Gleeble™ simulations, performed the metallographic work, evaluated
the temperature measurements and pitting corrosion test results, assisted with
welding, EPMA and XPS. The XPS analysis and evaluation were mainly performed by
C.-O.A. Olsson, who together with S. Hertzman supervised the work. E. Keehan
performed the TEM work and K. Grönlund the EPMA measurements.

58
Paper D. Effect of laser and laser hybrid welding on the corrosion performance
of a lean duplex stainless steel
The balanced composition with high nitrogen and manganese contents in the lean
duplex LDX 2101 has given this material improved weldability compared to most other
duplex grades. The objective of this paper was to show how the ferrite content, the
mechanical properties and corrosion performance are affected by laser welding and
laser hybrid welding with different laser and arc sources. All welds fulfilled the yield
strength and ultimate tensile strength requirements of base metal LDX 2101; whereas
the elongation values were lower, typically in the range 15-25% compared to min. 30%
for the base metal. The CO2 laser welds showed highest ductility. In conventional GTA
welding, nitrogen additions to the shielding gas can improve the weld metal austenite
formation, but the effect when laser welding is low. Nd:YAG laser welding of LDX 2101
with shielding gas mixtures ranging from pure argon to pure nitrogen had negligible
effect on the ferrite content. The austenite formation in autogenously laser welded
LDX 2101 is not sufficient to completely avoid chromium nitride precipitation and the
weld metal pitting resistance is consequently affected. This was particularly seen in
fiber laser welds. Autogenous fiber and Nd:YAG laser welding resulted in high weld
metal ferrite contents and these were least resistant to pitting. Fiber laser-GMA and
Nd:YAG laser-GTA hybrid welding significantly improved the austenite formation and
made the weld metal more resistant to pitting. The actual effect on the average critical
pitting temperature was, however, not as significant due to scatter. The largest
improvement was seen when adding nitrogen to the GTA shielding gas when Nd:YAG
laser-GTA hybrid welding. The CO2 laser and laser-GTA hybrid welds, all showed high
austenite fractions and correspondingly high pitting resistance. Pure nitrogen as
backing gas had a measurable positive effect on the weld metal austenite formation,
when CO2 laser welding, but had small effect on the already high CPT. The increased
austenite formation when hybrid welding was related more to the increased heat input
than to the choice of filler metal. Autogenous fiber laser welding gave the narrowest
and CO2 laser welding the widest welds. Hybrid welding generally made the welds
wider and increased the weld metal reinforcement. Laser-GMA hybrid welding
resulted in excessive weld bead reinforcement that could have a negative effect on the
fatigue strength. In this sense, laser-GTA hybrid welding is more beneficial.

The author wrote the paper together with A. Fellman, did the literature survey,
performed most laser welding and experimental work, and evaluated the corrosion
measurements. A. Fellman led parts of the laser welding.

59
Paper E. Element distribution in lean duplex stainless steel welds
EPMA mapping was used to quantify and illustrate the element distribution in
autogenous GTA welds performed bead-on-plate on LDX 2101 with and without
nitrogen additions to the shielding gas. As for other duplex grades, the base metal
chromium, molybdenum and silicon were partitioned in the ferrite phase, while
nitrogen, nickel and manganese were concentrated in the austenite phase. In the weld
metal, there was a clear elemental distribution of nickel, manganese, silicon and
molybdenum in the original dendritic structure with the highest concentration in the
interdendritic regions. The chromium distribution was more uniform and slightly
enriched in the ferrite. Local segregation and depletion along the fusion line were
revealed by EPMA mapping. The fusion line was depleted in silicon, molybdenum,
nickel and manganese, while the same elements were enriched in the weld metal
adjacent to the fusion zone. The chromium content was rather uniform in the fusion
zone and showed no signs of depletion as a result of the epitaxial growth and dendritic
solidification behaviour. The microstructure is, however, independent of the
segregation pattern since it is instead controlled by the nitrogen distribution. Neither
the dendrites nor the depleted fusion zone were visible in polished and etched
condition, since nitrogen controls the austenite formation and obscures the fusion line.
Nitrogen consequently plays the most important role for the austenite formation in
duplex stainless steel weld metals. LDX 2101 has improved austenite formation when
welding compared to other duplex grades and the segregation of all elements is low
apart from nitrogen. This means that filler wire additions are not required, as for other
duplex grades, assuming that there is no large nitrogen loss that could cause excessive
ferrite contents. As the nitrogen appears to control the austenite formation, it means
that it is essential to avoid losing nitrogen during welding.

The author wrote the paper, did the literature survey and evaluated the EPMA
measurements. S. Hertzman performed most Thermo-Calc simulations and assisted in
writing the paper. K. Grönlund performed the EPMA work.

60
13 Acknowledgements
A large number of people have, directly or indirectly, contributed to this thesis work.
It has been valuable to have support from many skilled scientists, colleagues and
friends. Without their help none of this would have been possible.

My supervisor Prof. Staffan Hertzman at the Outokumpu Research Foundation and KTH
was a leading light with patient guidance and never-ending encouragement. Prof. John
Ågren at KTH for accepting an external doctoral candidate and for navigation through
the administrative complexities attached to submission of a thesis. Dr Claes-Olof
Anders Olsson at ARC (now at Sandvik Materials Technology) contributed knowledge
on particularly corrosion and surface analysis. Mats Liljas and Björn Holmberg shared
their knowledge of metallurgy and consumables during innumerable discussions. I am
indebted to my manager Dr Rachel Pettersson at ARC and Prof. Carl E. Cross at
Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung (BAM) for their invaluable contributions to the
scripts, contagious enthusiasm and extra boost, often in form of chocolate.

Thanks are expressed to the co-authors of the papers, and those who have contributed
with experimental work and technical discussions. Kaj Grönlund at Corr-Control in
Avesta is acknowledged for the EPMA work and Torvald Andersson at the Ångström
Laboratory in Uppsala for XPS work. Prof. Rolf Sandström and Dr Henrik Sieurin at
KTH (now at Vattenfall R&D) for work on fracture mechanics. Sten Wessman at
Swerea-KIMAB and Bengt Brolund at SSAB performed thermodynamic simulations. Dr
Enda Keehan (then working for ESAB) carried out TEM work at CTH. Support from and
stimulating discussions with friends and colleagues attending the IIW Annual Assem-
blies and ICALEO were also appreciated. Laser welding was carried out at Lappeen-
ranta University of Technology, Luleå University of Technology, BAM, IPG Laser and
Nordic Laser Production. Many thanks to Outokumpu Group Sales and Marketing, the
Outokumpu Business Units and particularly Daniel Serrander for all customer visits,
which motivated the research and to Terho Torvinen, Dr Anna Fellman, Prof. Antti
Salminen and Prof. Alexander Kaplan for guidance in the laser world. Fredrik Hägg
and all welders at Avesta Welding (Böhler Welding Group) are acknowledged for
fruitful collaboration. Jernkontoret and Stiftelsen Prytziska Fonden Nr 2, and ITM-
skolan and C.J. Yngströms fond gave financial support for finishing the thesis.

Outokumpu Stainless financed the research work. My managers are acknowledged for
encouraging postgraduate studies within the framework of research at ARC and for
never giving up hope. I want to thank all colleagues at ARC, especially Henrik Ahrman
for welding, Hasse Peth for corrosion testing, and Jan Y. Jonsson for express help with
microscopes, and the Physical Metallurgy, Corrosion, Instrumentation and Laboratory
departments, for advice and assistance in producing this thesis, but also for many non-
scientific discussions, coffee breaks and non-work related activities.

Finally I want to thank those that have been on my side with endless support
throughout these years - my family and friends. Special thanks to Louise, Anders, Siri,
Vonka, Hanna, Rosita, Anki, Peter, Andreas, Gunilla, Anna, Fiffi, Anna-Karin, Markus,
Leif, Roger, Gibba, Micke, Kerstin, Lelle, Alex, Malte, Lars-Erik, Erik, Ingrid, Lennart,
Åsa, Björn, Jacob, Hugo, Magnus and Tusse for being the most devoted supporters.

Avesta November 1, 2010

Elin M. Westin

61
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