Dissimilar Metal Welds:

Inconel to Carbon Steel

Steven Knapp
sknap054@uottawa.ca
Graduate Student
Mechanical Engineering
Dr. Arnaud Weck
aweck@uottawa.ca
Outline

• Introduction
• Objectives
• Results
• Conclusion
• Future Work

2
Importance to Industry
• Dissimilar Metal Welds are used to connect to different
metals together
• Used where an object (pipe) is subjected to multiple
environments in one application

Advantage
Each section of the pipe can be optimized for its specific
application

Disadvantage
Weld consists of a mixture of materials which have
unknown material properties when combined with
unevenly distributed heating

3
 Heavy Water
Nuclear Reactor

120 mm

• Right to Left: Inconel 600 – Inconel 82

– Carbon Steel Gr. 106 B
• Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) Welding (also
called GTAW)
• Transporting Heavy Water at 310°C

4
 CANDU
Nuclear Reactor

CANDU:
CANada Deuterium Uranium

Fuel Rods

5
Background

Why this weld?

• Primary Water Stress Corrosion Cracking (PWSCC) was
observed in an Inconel Nozzle welded to Stainless Steel
• Researching areas in the reactor with similar
composition
Specific Weld Information:
• High values of hoop residual stress 800 MPa peaking at
start/stop welding point (Neutron Diffraction)
• Inconel-Weld fusion susceptible to PWSCC

6
Objectives

• To determine the mechanical properties and fracture

mechanics of the Inconel 600 / Inconel 82 Filler/ Grade 106
B Carbon Steel Welded Pipe used in CANDU nuclear reactors

Specific Test Goals

• To reveal the microstructure and grain size of each section
• To observe the evolution of strain and the amount of strain
in each section
• Extract Local Material properties for use in FEA modeling
• Observe through thickness crack growth and failure

7
Spatial Variations

Defining the Regions:

• Outer (Diameter)
• Middle
• Inner (Diameter)

Inconel 600 Carbon Steel

Carbon Steel Grade 106B
Weld Inconel 600 106B
Grade
4 mm

Weld Region:
• Very Large Grains
• 7 Weld Sections

Inconel 82 Weld Filler

8
 Inconel HAZ-Inconel (big grains) Weld (very large grains) …

Before testing

… Weld Ctd. Carbon Steel – HAZ (small grains) Carbon Steel (larger grains) 9
 Inconel HAZ-Inconel (big grains) Weld (very large grains) …

After testing

… Weld Ctd. Carbon Steel – HAZ (small grains) Carbon Steel (larger grains)10
 Indentation of Inconel Weld

Hardness Tests with

varying spacing

OD
• Small Spacing
(Large amount of data MID
in small area) ID

• Large Spacing
(Large area tested)

Hardness Tests
11
 Inconel hardness far from the weld

Inconel Through Thickness Hardness

310
Vickers Hardness (HV)

270

230

190 +/- 6 HV

150
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000
Distance From Inner Diameter (μm)

Hardness Tests
12
Inconel hardness along weld – 0.3mm from OD
320
Vickers Hardness (HV)

280

240 Inconel 600 Weld

200

160
0 5000 10000 15000 20000
Distance (μm)

13
Inconel hardness
Across Weld along
Hardness (3.3weld – 3.3mm from OD
mm from OD)

220
Vickers Hardness (HV)

200
Weld
Inconel 600
180

HAZ
160
0 5000 10000 15000 20000
Distance (μm)

14
Inconel hardness along weld – 3.3mm from OD

Vickers Hardness (HV)

220
210
200
190
180
HAZ
170 Inconel 600 Weld Carbon Steel
160
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000
Distance (μm)

15
 Tensile test on 1 mm thick samples
600

500

400
Stress [MPa]

300

200 OD - Sample 1B
ID - Sample 2A
100 MID - Sample 3A

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
Strain

16
Digital Image Correlation

17
 Set-up for testing large samples

Mirror polish for video Speckle patter for DIC

Inconel

Carbon
Steel

18
17
Testing (Movie) Until Failure - Polished surface
Outer Diameter Sample Middle Sample Inner Diameter Sample

Inconel Inconel Inconel

Carbon Carbon Carbon

Steel Steel Steel
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Weld width
9.76mm

8.16mm

7.36mm

6.88mm

5.60mm
20
 Digital Image Correlation
Early stages of deformation - Formation of a Lüder’s Band in the C-steel

Inconel

Weld

Steel

Eng. 413 MPa 421MPa 446MPa 457MPa 464MPa 477MPa

Stress
21
 Sample deforms first in Inconel/Weld region Deformation then localizes in C-Steel
Deformation is spatially inhomogeneous Deformation more homogeneous

Eng. 413 MPa 536MPa 583MPa 524MPa

Stress
22
 Stress strain curves extracted from DIC
600 Inconel - DIC
Weld - DIC
500 Carbon Steel - DIC

400
Stress [MPa]

400
300
380
360
200
340
320
100 300
0 0.02 0.04
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Strain

23
 Miniature Tensile Tests vs. DIC
1000
900 Inconel - DIC
800 Inconel - Small Sample
Carbon Steel - DIC
700
Carbon Steel - Small Sample
600
True Stress [MPa]

500 3mm
400
300
200
100
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
True Strain

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 Conclusions to Date
Microstructure:
• Inconel Small Grains, Weld Big Grains

Hardness:
• Inconel decreases from OD to ID – residual stresses
• Hardness varies across sample, through the weld

Large Tensile Tests:

• ID fails first, Middle second, OD last
• Trends: Amount of strain at failure directly related to weld width
• DIC: Obtain local material properties (stress vs. strain curve)

Miniature Tensile Tests:

• Confirms material properties seen in DIC
• Expands stress vs. strain curve for Inconel

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 Future Work
EDS – Compositional Changes

• EDS results obtained

across the weld

• Variations still to be
analyzed

Blue: Iron
Purple: Nickel
Green: Chromium
 Future Work
Fracture
• Crack Propagation in 4-Point Bending
– Crack Growth Path
– Crack Interactions
– Deformation Field at Crack Tip with DIC
• Model Deformation and Fracture using FEA