International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882

Volume 3, Issue 5, August 2014

CORROSION STUDY ON WELDMENTS OF AUSTENITIC

STAINLESS STEEL
V. Gopalakrishnan1, V.BaluSamy2, S.O. Mohammed Rafi3
1

Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan engineering college, Perambalur
2
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, PSG college of Technology, Coimbatore
3
Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan engineering college,
Perambalur
shaikhrafi100@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
304 (Fe-Cr-Mn-Ni) stainless steel is the most
widely used for general corrosive resistant tubing and
pipe applications in boiler; it is used in chemical
plants, refineries, paper mills, and food processing
industries. Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is a
common mode of failure encountered in boiler
components especially in austenitic stainless steel
tubes at high temperature and in chloride-rich water
environment. Welding in stainless steel forms the
corrosion due to carbide precipitation in heat affected
zone. The SCC behaviour of 304 stainless steel in
welding joint has been widely described in this work.
Keywords- 304 stainless steel, Stress corrosion
cracking, carbide precipitation, chloride-rich water.

I. I N T R O D U C T I O N
Stainless steels or, more precisely, corrosion-resisting
steels are a family of iron-base alloys having excellent
resistance to corrosion. These steels do not rust and
strongly resist attack by a great many liquids, gases,
and chemicals. Many of the stainless steels have good
low-temperature toughness and ductility. Most of them
exhibit good strength properties and resistance to
scaling at high temperatures. All stainless steels
contain iron as the main element and chromium in
amounts ranging from about 11% to 30%. Chromium
provides the basic corrosion resistance to stainless
steels.
Manganese steels are not harden able by heat treatment
and are nonmagnetic in the annealed condition. They
may become slightly magnetic when cold worked or
welded. This helps to identify this class of stainless
steels. All of the austenitic stainless steels are weld
able with most of the welding processes, with the
exception of Type 303, which contains high sulphur
and Type 303Se, which contains selenium to improve
much inability.
The austenitic stainless steels have about 45% higher
thermal coefficient of expansion, higher electrical
resistance, and lower thermal conductivity than mildcarbon steels. High travel speed welding is
recommended, which will reduce heat input and
carbide precipitation, and minimize distortion. The
melting point of austenitic stainless steels is slightly

lower than melting point of mild-carbon steel. Because

of lower melting temperature and lower thermal
conductivity, welding current is usually lower. The
higher thermal expansion dictates that special
precautions should be taken with regard to warping
and distortion. Tack welds should be twice as often as
normal. Any of the distortion reducing techniques such
as back-step welding, skip welding, and wandering
sequence should be used. On thin materials it is very
difficult to completely avoid buckling and distortion.
Stainless Steel (type 304) is one of three materials
taken for the experiment. Type 304 stainless is the
most widely used analysis for general corrosive
resistant tubing and pipe applications; it is used in
chemical plants, refineries, paper mills, and food
processing industries. Type 304 has a maximum
carbon content of .08%. It is not recommended for use
in the temperature range between 800 F and 1650 F
due to carbide precipitation at the grain boundaries
which can result in inter-granular corrosion and early
failure under certain conditions. Stainless steel 304
type has very has very low thermal conductivity in the
order of 16 w/m.k. Welding of Stainless Steel Due to
the low thermal conductivity, the heat transfer rate is
also very low, which will results low tensile strength.
Experiments are conducted to increase the strength the
welding process selected for stainless is shield metal
ARC welding and TIG welding.
Austenitic stainless steels (which contain 18% Cr8%
Ni) are engineering materials widely used in many
branches of industry, especially in the food and
beverage manufacturing and processing sector, due to
their attractive combination of good mechanical
properties, formability, and corrosion resistance. Their
corrosion resistance is afforded by a thin Cr2O3 surface
film (typically 13 nm thick), known as passive film,
which has self-healing capability in a wide variety of
environments. However, when austenitic stainless
steels are exposed to the critical temperature range of
425870 _C for a given period of time, chromium (Cr)
carbides are formed at the grain boundaries and Cr
depletion occurs adjacent to these carbides, affecting
their corrosion resistance.Corrosion occur mainly due
to dust inclusion, moisture present in the gas and heat
affected in the weld zone.

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume 3, Issue 5, August 2014

STRESS CORROSION CRACKING:

Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is the growth of crack
formation in a corrosive environment. It can lead to
unexpected sudden failure of normally ductile metals
subjected to a tensile stress, especially at elevated
temperature in the case of metals. SCC is highly
chemically specific in that certain alloys are likely to
undergo SCC only when exposed to a small number of
chemical environments. The chemical environment
that causes SCC for a given alloy is often one which is
only mildly corrosive to the metal otherwise. Hence,
metal parts with severe SCC can appear bright and
shiny, while being filled with microscopic cracks. This
factor makes it common for SCC to go undetected
prior to failure. SCC often progresses rapidly, and is
more common among alloys than pure metals. The
specific environment is of crucial importance, and only
very small concentrations of certain highly active
chemicals are needed to produce catastrophic cracking,
often leading to devastating and unexpected failure.

Fig.1 represents the dimensions of standard specimen

without welding and the specimen which are to be
welded are as shown in fig.2, the two specimen pieces
are welded to form the length of standard specimen,
the welding is carried out with the help of TIG welding
with standard settings, the final view of the test
specimen after carrying out the machining as per the
dimension shown in fig. 3 are as follows

II. MAT ERI AL AN D METHOD OLO GY

CORROSION ANAL YSIS:

Corrosion is the gradual destruction of materials by
chemical reaction with its environment. In the most
common use of the word, this means electrochemical
oxidation of metals in reaction with an oxidant such as
oxygen. Rusting, the formation of iron oxides, is a
well-known example of electrochemical corrosion.
Corrosion can also occur in materials other than
metals, such as ceramics or polymer.

MATERIAL FORMATION:
304 Austenitic stainless steel is the family of iron
based alloys having excellent resistance to corrosion. It
is taken in the form plate and it is formed to the
standard dimension for testing. Without welding two
specimen are formed. With weld two specimen are
formed.

F i g . 1 S t a n d a r d d i me n s i o n o f s p e c i me n

Fig. 2. Dimensionof weldspecimen

F i g . 3 . A f t e r ma c h i n i n g

F i g . 4 f i n a l v i e w o f t e s t s p e c i me n

H IGH TEMP ERAT URE CO RRO SIO N:

High-temperature corrosion is chemical deterioration
of a material (typically a metal) as a result of heating.
This non-galvanic form of corrosion can occur when a
metal is subjected to a hot atmosphere containing
oxygen, sulphur or other compounds capable of
oxidizing (or assisting the oxidation of) the material
concerned.
CORROSION I N STAI NLESS STEEL :
Stainless steel can pose special Corrosion challenges,
since its passivation behaviour relies on the presence
of a major alloying component (chromium, at least
11.5%). Because of the elevated temperatures of
welding and heat treatment, chromium carbide can
form in the grain boundary of stainless alloys. This
chemical reaction robs the material of chromium in the
zone near the grain boundary, making those areas
much less resistant to corrosion. This creates a
galvanic couple with the well-protected alloy nearby,
which leads to weld decay (corrosion of the grain
boundaries in the heat affected zones) in highly
corrosive environments.
A stainless steel is said to be sensitized if chromium
carbides are formed in the microstructure. A typical

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume 3, Issue 5, August 2014

microstructure of a normalized type-304 stainless steel

shows no signs of sensitization while a heavily
sensitized steel shows the presence of grain boundary
precipitates. The dark lines in the sensitized
microstructure are networks of chromium carbides
formed along the grain boundaries.
WEIGHT LOSS METHOD:
Preparation of corrosion media:
1. NaCl- 3.5grams+96.5ml distilled H2O
2. Oxalic acid- 5grams+95ml distilled H2O
3.Oxalic acid -10grams+90ml distilledH2O
4. Nitric acid -5grams+95ml distilled H2O
5.Nitric acid-10grams+90ml distilledH2O

Fig.5. Corrosion media

Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is the growth of crack
formation in a corrosive environment. It can lead to
unexpected sudden failure of normally ductile metals
subjected to a tensile stress, especially at elevated
temperature in the case of metals. SCC is highly
chemically specific in that certain alloys are likely to
undergo SCC only when exposed to a small number of
chemical environments. The chemical environment
that causes SCC for a given alloy is often one which is
only mildly corrosive to the metal otherwise. Hence,
metal parts with severe SCC can appear bright and
shiny, while being filled with microscopic cracks. This
factor makes it common for SCC to go undetected
prior to failure. SCC often progresses rapidly, and is
more common among alloys than pure metals.

Fig.6. NaCl - 3.5grams+96.5ml distilled water

III. RESULTS AND TABLES

Five sample of base metal weight is note down and
similarly five sample of weld metal weight is note
down. Sample is kept in corrosion medium under
observation at normal laboratory condition for 30 days.
Weight of each specimen after taken from the
corrosion medium is noted down. Finally the weight

loss of base metal and weld metal graphically

represented and which as shown below.

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume 3, Issue 5, August 2014

T a b l e : 1 W e i g h t l o s s c o mp a r i s o n
Sr.
No.

Corrosion
medi a

T a b l e: 3 T e ns il e va l u e o f wel d me t a l

Ini t i al
we i gh t
( gms.)

Final
we i gh t
( gms.)

NaCl

29.81

28.79

Oxalic acid
5%

28.50

27.47

Oxalic acid
10%

32.32

31.40

Nitric
5%

acid

29.82

28.21

Nitric
10%

acid

35.47

34.43

TENSIL E TES T:
The specimen is machined to Indian standard for
transverse tensile in universal testing machines. The
specimen is tested and the ultimate tensile strength is
observed. The values of UTS are listed in the table.
Material Specification: SS 304
Welding Process: TIG Welding
Description: Butt Joint

MATERIA YIELD
L/
STRENG
CONDITI TH
ON
(N/mm2)
STAINLE
SS
STEEL30
4
341.07
STAINLE
SS
STEEL30
4Withoutc 361.76
orrosionm

TENSILE
STRENG
TH
(N/mm2)

%
OF
ELONG
ATION

583.52

51.

598.58

54.
3

HARDNE SS TES T:
Hardness is a measure of how resistant solid matter is
to various kinds of permanent shape change when a
force is applied. Macroscopic hardness is generally
characterized by strong intermolecular bonds, but the
behaviour of solid materials under force is complex;
therefore, there are different measurements of
hardness: scratch hardness, indentation hardness, and
rebound hardness.
Hardness is dependent on ductility, elastic, stiffness,
plasticity, strain, strength, toughness, viscoelasticity
and viscosity.
T able: 4 Hardness t est

T a b l e: 2 Te n si l e va l u e o f b as e me t al
Sr.no.
MATERIA YIELD
L/CONDITI STRENG
ON
TH
(N/mm2)
STAINLES
S
STEEL304
with
corrosion
media Base
STAINLES
S
STEEL304
Withoutcor
rosionmedi
a base plate

TENSILE
STRENG
TH
(N/mm2)

%OF
ELONGAT
ION

mat e r i al

Ave r a ge
va l u e
of HRB

B a s e me t a l

90.3

W e l d me t a l

87.7

54.24
351.07

361.76

617.28

624.25

55.31

OP TICAL MI CRO S COP E TEST:

E m b e d d i n g , materials after embedding in resin, the
specimen is usually ground and polished to a mirrorlike finish using ultra-fine abrasives. The polishing
process must be performed carefully to minimize
scratches and other polishing artefacts that reduce
image quality.
Sectioning produces thin slices of specimen, semitransparent to electrons. These can be cut on diamond
knife to produce ultra-thin slices about 6090 nm

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International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 0882
Volume 3, Issue 5, August 2014

thick. Disposable glass knives are also used because

they can be made in the lab and are much cheaper.
Staining uses heavy metals such as lead, uranium or
tungsten to scatter imaging electrons and thus give
contrast between different structures, since many
(especially biological)
materials
are
nearly
"transparent" to electrons.
OPTICAL MICROSCOPE RESULT:

strength, hardness,
properties.

ductility and

other

physical

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We give all the glory and thanks to our ALMIGHTY
GOD for showering upon, the necessary wisdom and
grace for accomplishing this work.
We express our gratitude and thank our PARENTS
first for giving health and sound mind for completing
this work. We extend our gratitude to all our friends
and family member who have helped physically and
morally for the development of this work.
REFERENCES
[1] .N.B.Mostafa, M.N.Khajavi, Optimization of
welding parameters for weld penetration in FCAW
Journal of achievements in materials and
manufacturing Engineering , Volume16 , issue 1-2
MAY-june 2006.

Fig.7. Before etching

[2] The effect of annealing on properties of AISI 316L

base and weld metals Stjepan Kouh1, Mirko Goji1,
Ladislav
Kosec2,
RMZ

Materials
and
Geoenvironment, Vol. 54, No. 3, pp. 331-344, 2007.
[3] Emerging Markets and Trends in the use of
Stainless Steels, Nickel-Based Alloys, and Titanium
presented at the Stainless Steel world 2007 conference
in Maastricht, The Netherlands , November7, 2007.
www.stainless-steel- world.net.
[4] Leif karisson, ESAB AB, Gothenburg, Stainless
steels past present and future,Svetsaren no.1.2004.47.

Fig.8. After etching

IV. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION:

After testing we are identified some problems in weld
metal compare to the base metal. Problems are
Corrosion is occur in both metal because of chlorine
rich environment and high temperature. On
comparison weld metal having little bit corrosion than
the base metal. Compare to the base metal the weight
of weld metal, strength and hardness also get
decreases.Stress corrosion cracking is occurred in the
heat affected zone in weld metal.

V. CONCLUSION
In boiler manufacturing industries high capacity boiler
800 mw and 1000 mw are under design and in the
boiler the pressure and temperature is more so that
water to steam and steam to water through the pipe for
this purpose , In austenite stainless steel pipe which is
welded. Because of welding stress corrosion cracking
is occur which results reduce in material property like

[5] Welding of Stainless Steel Technical and Trade

information-CIGWELD.

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