The influence of aging treatments on sulfide stress corrosion cracking of PH 13-8 Mo steel welds

Abstract

Slow displacement rate tensile tests were carried out to study sulfide stress corrosion cracking (SSCC) of PH 13-8 Mo stainless steel welds in a saturated H 2S solution. The welds aged in the temperature range of 482–593 °C were susceptible to SSCC; the fracture surfaces revealed mainly quasi-cleavage fractures after notched tensile tests. However, the SSCC susceptibility in terms of the percentage loss of the notched tensile strength (NTS) of the welds was dependent on the aging treatment. The SSCC resistance and the austenite content of the welds increased with the aging temperatures. The presence of greater amounts of austenite, mainly reverted austenite, in the W1100 specimen (the weld aged at 1100 °F or 593 °C) than that in other aged specimens could account for its lower hardness and better SSCC resistance. On the other hand, the AW (as-welded) specimen containing a small amount of retained austenite films in a soft matrix exhibited a slightly improved SSCC resistance than that in the W1100 specimen. The lower hardness of the AW specimen was owing to the absence of fine coherent precipitates, leading to a reduced local stress and an enlarged plastic zone located in front of the notch in the test. With lower hardness, the local stress would also be lower and less likely to exceed some critical stress for failure in the saturated H 2S solution. For the aged specimens, the hardness/strength level and the amount of reverted austenite were the important factors that affect SSCC susceptibility.