Materials Science and Engineering A 398 (2005) 275–281

A study of the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of an Inconel 718

sheet welded with electron-beam welding (EBW)
C.A. Huang a,∗ , T.H. Wang a , C.H. Lee b , W.C. Han b
a Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan, Republic of China
b Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, System-Manufacturing Center, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

Received 4 October 2004; accepted 24 March 2005

Abstract

In this paper the heat-affected zones (HAZs) of the Inconel 718 sheets welded with electron-beam welding (EBW) were studied by using
hardness measurement, metallographic etch and electrochemically potentiostatic etch methods. Before EBW, the Inconel 718 sheets were
pretreated in three different conditions: as-received, solution- and precipitation-treatments. The results show that there is an obvious difference
in the dimension of the widths of HAZs evaluated by the methods. The width, ca. 1.5 mm, of the HAZ in solution-pretreated weld can be
estimated based on the variation of its hardness distribution curve. But the HAZs in as-received and precipitation-pretreated welds were
difficult to detect from their hardness distribution curves. After metallographic etching, the HAZs in the welds were very hard to observe with
optical microscope, but those with a width within 100 ␮m in solution- and precipitation-pretreated welds, except in as-received weld, can be
observed with scanning electron microscope (SEM). The HAZ with a width ca. 300 ␮m of each weld can be revealed by using anodically
potentiostatic etching in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution due to different corrosion rates among the HAZ, fusion zone and base metal in the weld. The
above-mentioned behavior of HAZs evaluated by different methods was discussed in detail in this work.
© 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Inconel 718; Heat-affected zone (HAZ); Electron-beam welding (EBW)

1. Introduction
Inconel 718 is one of the most widely used Ni-based super-
alloys due to its superior mechanical property and oxidation
resistance at high temperature. Inconel 718 is, therefore, uti-
lized as the main construction material for gas turbine engine.
Several studies [1–5] have pointed out that some detrimental
defects, such as segregation of niobium, presentation of in-
termetallic laves phase and liquation cracking, could develop
in either fusion zone (FZ) or heat-affected zone (HAZ) of
Inconel 718 after welding. Thus, many studies have focused
on the different microstructures and defects in FZ and HAZ
of the Inconel 718 welds by using various welding meth-
ods [2,4,6,7]. Among these methods, it is accepted that the
electron-beam welding (EBW) is presently the best welding
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: gfehu@mail.cgu.edu.tw (C.A. Huang).
method for Inconel 718 for not significant reducing their me-
chanical properties [8–10].
It is well known that the HAZ in a weld can be found ad-
jacent to the FZ. Due to thermal effect caused by welding,
the microstructure and mechanical properties of the HAZ are
quite different from those of base metal (BM), which is of the
same chemical composition as that of the HAZ. To reveal the
HAZ in a weld, hardness measurement and metallographic
etch are two commonly used methods [11,12]. The former
determines the HAZ by the sharp variation of hardness dis-
tribution curve both from FZ to HAZ and from HAZ to BM.
While the latter reveals the HAZ in a weld through different
etching rates among the microstructures of FZ, HAZ and BM
by immersing the weld in a suitable etchant. The etched mi-
crostructures of FZ, HAZ and BM in a weld can be observed
and measured with optical or scanning-electron microscopes.
Generally, a narrow HAZ of a weld could be obtained by
using EBW, especially for a sheet weld. However, few is re-
ported the convincing existence of the HAZ in an Inconel 718

0921-5093/$ – see front matter © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.msea.2005.03.029
276 C.A. Huang et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 398 (2005) 275–281

Table 1
The chemical composition of Inconel 718
Element Composition (wt.%)
Ni Balance
Fe 19.5
Cr 17.65
Nb 5.14
Mo 2.94
Ti 0.99
Al 0.60
Mn 0.1
Co 0.14
Si 0.15

sheet after EBW with hardness measurement and metallo-

graphic etch. In this study, Inconel 718 sheets were pretreated
in three conditions: as-received, solution- and precipitation-
treatments, before EBW. To determine the HAZs in these
welds, hardness measurement, metallographic and potentio-
static etching methods were used. Detecting and revealing
the HAZs in the welds with above-mentioned methods were
fully discussed.

2. Experimental

Two Inconel 718 sheets with a dimension of
3 mm × 40 mm × 60 mm were autogenously welded
with EBW along their longitudinal sides. The chemical
composition of Inconel 718 is listed in Table 1. Some of
as-received sheets were solution- and precipitation-treated to
obtain different pretreatment microstructures for EBW. The
as-received Inconel 718 specimens were solution-treated
by heating at 950 ◦ C for 1 h and then quenched in water
[13]. Some of solution-treated specimens were further
precipitation-treated by heating at 760 ◦ C for 4 h and then
quenched in water to achieve their maximum hardness. Thus,
three types of pretreated specimens are follows: as-received,
solution- and precipitation-pretreated specimens.
The welding parameters of EBW are listed in Table 2,
in which two welding passes were applied. The first pass is
full-penetration welding and the secondary pass is cosmetic
welding. The cosmetic welding was conducted with lower
heat input and a relatively large electron-beam size to reduce
surface undercut, which resulted from the first pass welding
and would have a detrimental effect on the mechanical prop-
erty of the weld. Before EBW, the welding surfaces of sheets
were mechanically polished and cleaned with acetone-wetted
swab. After EBW, the welds were sectioned and mounted
for HAZ evaluated by hardness measurement, metallographic
and potentiostatic etching methods.
Fig. 1. (a) The preparation of the cylinder specimen with mounting, (b) the
shielding method for electrochemical test and (c) schematic illustration of
electrochemical test cell.
The hardness variation from the center of the FZ across
HAZ and to BM in an Inconel 718 weld was measured with
an indenting load of 300 g by using Matsuzawa Digital Mi-
crohardness Tester (Model MXT-␣7e).
The Tafel-plot experiment was used to study the corrosion
behavior of the FZ, HAZ and BM in an Inconel 718 weld.
The experiment was conducted in the 3.5 wt.% NaCl solu-
tion at 30 ◦ C with a potentiostat/galvanostat (EG&G Model
273A) by which the scanning potential range of the exper-
iment was started from −250 to 250 mV (vs. Ecorr) with a
scan rate of 3 mV/s. The corrosion behavior of a specific por-
tion in the weld, such as the FZ, HAZ and BM, was measured
with a cylinder specimen, in which the weld was mounted in
cylindrical epoxy and the measuring portion was exposed by
shielding the other portions in the weld with 3 M bond (model
4–1000). Schematic construction of the electrochemical test-
ing cell and the preparation of the cylinder specimen used in
this study are presented in Fig. 1. The electrochemical testing
cell was immersed in a water-circulated bath to keep a con-
stant temperature of 30 ± 0.5 ◦ C. Nitrogen gas was purged
into the solution to remove oxygen in the testing solution

Table 2
The welding parameters of EBW
Welding sequence Voltage (kV) Current (mA) Focus depth (mm) Feed (mm/min)
First pass (full penetration) 50 100 3.46 2173
Secondary pass (cosmetic welding) 50 60 3.42 1524
 C.A. Huang et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 398 (2005) 275–281
during the experiment. Before the Tafel-plot experiment, the
working electrode, the cylinder electrode, was immersed in
the 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution for at least 15 min until dynam-
ically stable was established between the working electrode
and the solution.
Potentiostatic etch of the cylinder specimen was per-
formed with the same testing conditions illustrated in the
Tafel-plot experiment except the cylinder specimen was an-
odically polarized in 2 V (vs. Ag/AgClsat. ) for 120 s. After
potentiostatic etch, the cylinder specimen was acoustically
cleaned in acetone, dried with hot air and then examined
with optical microscope.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Microhardness measurement
Because we intend to detect the region of the HAZ in an
Inconel 718 weld with hardness measurement, suitable in-
denting load is required to measure the hardness distribution
of the weld. Large hardness deviation of the testing portion
could be observed by using small indenting load due to mi-
crostructure variation in the portion. Thus, the indented area
must be large enough that the measured hardness of the por-
tion is representative and meaningful. On the other hand, a
large indenting load is possibly hard to differentiate the nar-
row HAZ developed in a sheet welded with EBW.
Fig. 2 shows the values of hardness recorded by ten
times measurements in arbitrary positions on the surface of
solution-treated Inconel 718 specimen by using indenting
loads varied from 50 to 500 g. From the results shown in
Fig. 2, a large deviation of the hardness can be found as the
Fig. 2. The values of hardness recorded for indenting loads varying from
50 to 500 g on solution-treated Inconel 718 substrate; upper site showing
the average indented areas and their diagonal length for their corresponding
indenting loads.
277
indenting load is lower than 100 g, while small hardness vari-
ation is observed by using the loads of 300 and 500 g. It can
be seen clearly that indenting loads lower than 100 g are inap-
propriate to measure the hardness distribution in a weld. As
shown in Fig. 2, the hardness of the solution-treated Inconel
718 specimen can be evaluated from 300 and 500 g testing
loads, and the average hardness is ca. 230 Hv. In this study,
we used the indent load of 300 g to measure the hardness
distribution in the weld after EBW. As seen in the upper site
of Fig. 2, the diagonal length of indented area using 300 g
indenting load was ca. 50 ␮m for the solution-pretreated In-
conel 718 specimen. It must be noted that the width of the
HAZ in a weld must be at least two times larger, or more
than 100 ␮m, than the diagonal indented length; otherwise,
the measured hardness of the HAZ could be disturbed by
adjacent fusion-zone and base metal due to overlapping of
indented area across these regions.
Fig. 3 shows the hardness distribution curves in the welds
measured in a direction from the center of the FZ across HAZ
to BM. Higher hardness of FZ than that of HAZ and BM can
be found in as-received and solution-pretreated welds, but
the lowest hardness of the FZ in the precipitation-pretreated
weld was recorded. In the solution-pretreated weld, a slightly
higher hardness (ca. 40 Hv) can be detected within a dis-
tance of ca. 1.5 mm from the boundary of the FZ to BM than
that of BM. This result implies that the width of the HAZ in
the solution-pretreated weld is about 1.5 mm according to its
hardness distribution curve. On the other hand, the variation
of hardness distribution curve in as-received weld is rela-
tively small when the hardness was measured from FZ/HAZ
interface to BM. In precipitation-pretreated weld, an abrupt
increase of hardness was detected as the hardness measured
from the FZ/HAZ interface to BM. However, the region of
the HAZ in as-received and precipitation pretreated welds
is very difficult to detect through their hardness distribution
curve.
Fig. 3. Hardness distribution curves of as-received, solution- and
precipitation-pretreated welds measured from the center of FZ across HAZ
to BM.
278 C.A. Huang et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 398 (2005) 275–281

Since the width of the HAZ in a weld is closely related

to the thermal effect during welding [14,15], the HAZ width
of the solution-pretreated weld can reach as large as 1.5 mm,
but the HAZs of the as-received and precipitation-pretreated
welds were difficult to evaluate by hardness measurement. It
implied that the hardness of solution-pretreated Inconel 718
is more sensitive to the thermal effect during welding than
the others; especially the thermal effect can significantly af-
fect the hardness difference in the FZ, HAZ and BM in the
solution-pretreated weld. It is well known that the hardness
of the solution-pretreated Inconel 718 specimen increases as
the precipitates, ␥ and ␥ , are present [6]. The ␥ and ␥ pre-
cipitates can be observed in the HAZ of solution-pretreated
specimen, in which the hardness of base metal is relatively
soft. Therefore, the hardness difference between the HAZ
and base metal is noticeable. Development of these precipi-
tates was difficult in as-received and precipitation-pretreated
welds during welding and, therefore, detecting the region of
the HAZs of these welds is difficult with hardness measure-
ment.

3.2. Metallographic study

The sectioned welds were mechanically polished with

0.3 ␮m diamond paste and then immersed in an etchant com-
posed of 95 ml HCl plus 5 ml H2 O2 , which is widely used
for developing the metallographic microstructure of Inconel
718 [13], for a few seconds to reveal their microstructures.
The metallographic micrographs of the as-received, solution-
and precipitation-pretreated welds were shown in Fig. 4. As
shown in Fig. 4, there is no obvious difference in the metal-
lographic micrographs of the different pretreated welds. The
widths of FZs of the welds were ca. 1 mm. It must be noted
that the HAZs in all welds were very hard to observe with
optical microscope even after the metallographic etching. It
implied that there would be no obvious or small difference
in corrosion rates among the FZ and HAZ, or HAZ and BM
as the weld was immersed in the etchant.
The SEM micrographs of the metallographically etched
welds were presented in Fig. 5. Contrary to the micrographs
observed with optical microscope, the HAZs in the solution-
and precipitation-pretreated welds can be seen clearly, but the
HAZ was not seen in the as-received weld (see Fig. 5). From
the SEM micrographs, the widths of the HAZs in above-
mentioned two welds were within 100 ␮m. The images of
HAZs were relatively dark, compared with their adjacent
FZs and BMs, in which high bright image of precipitates can
be found along their grain boundaries. Some ␦-precipitates
with an elongated lath shape can be observed in the BMs,
and intermetallic laves phases, ␴-precipitates, with a nodu-
lar shape in the FZs. High bright image of these precipitates
observed by SEM can be attributed to charge concentration
on the precipitates and their outstand appearance [16]. Since
Fig. 4. Cross-sectional metallographic views for the (a) as-received, (b)
dark image and smooth morphology of the HAZs in the welds
solution-pretreated and (c) precipitation-pretreated welds after EBW (OM
were observed with SEM, the precipitates shown in solution- micrographs).
and precipitation-pretreated BMs were not presented in the
 C.A. Huang et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 398 (2005) 275–281 279

Fig. 5. Cross-sectional micrographic views for the (a) as-received, (b) solution-pretreated and (c) precipitation-pretreated welds of the EBW (SEM micrographs).

HAZs any more. In other words, the precipitates originally
presented in the grain boundaries of HAZs in solution- and
precipitation-pretreated welds dissolved into the substrate
through the thermal effect generated by EBW.
The SEM image of as-received BM was like the image of
HAZ, dark and smooth. Thus, it is difficult to differentiate the
region or even the existence of the HAZ in the as-received
weld with SEM observation. Since ␦-precipitates were pre-
sented along the grain boundaries of BMs in solution- and
precipitation-pretreated welds, but not in as-received weld.
It implies that these precipitates were developed during the
solution pretreatment with the as-received Inconel 718 spec-
imen. Miller et al. [17] have reported that dissolution of ␦-
precipitates in the Inconel 718 substrate could take place at
a temperature higher than 1030 ◦ C. In this study, we per-
formed the solution treatment by heating the as-received In-
conel 718 specimen at 950 ◦ C for 1 h and then quenched into
water [18]. Thus, it can be realized that ␦-phase precipitates
along the grain boundaries when the as-received specimen
was heated at 950 ◦ C and the phases can be observed with
SEM by metallographic etching in the hydrochloric peroxide
etchant.
280 C.A. Huang et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 398 (2005) 275–281
3.3. Electrochemical test and potentiostatic etching
The HAZ in a weld would be observed with optical micro-
scope by using metallographic etching in a suitable etchant
due to different corrosion rates among the FZ, HAZ and BM
of the weld. Therefore, we conducted the Tafel-plot experi-
ment of the FZ, HAZ and BM in each weld in 3.5 wt.% NaCl
solution at 30 ◦ C. The results of Tafel-plot experiment are
presented in Fig. 6(a)–(c). It can be clearly seen that there
Fig. 6. The Tafel-plots of the FZ, HAZ and BM in (a) as-received, (b)
solution-pretreated and (c) precipitation-pretreated welds in the 3.5 wt.%
NaCl solution at 30 ◦ C.
Fig. 7. The anodic polarization curve of as-received weld tested in the
3.5 wt.% NaCl at 30 ◦ C.
is an obvious difference in open-circuit potentials of the FZ,
HAZ and BM in each weld. Different etching rates between
the FZ, HAZ and BM could be expected as the weld was an-
odically polarized. It is predicted that the region of HAZ can
be observed with optical microscope when different etching
rates among the FZ, HAZ and BM in a weld.
Fig. 7 illustrates the anodic polarization behavior of the
as-received weld. Obviously, an apparent anodic dissolution
rate can be detected when the weld was anodically polarized
in a potential higher than 1.4 V. To reveal the etched mor-
phologies of the FZ, HAZ and BM in a weld, the weld was
polarized at 2 V for 120 s in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution. Fig. 8
shows the etched morphologies of three different pretreated
welds. The HAZs of the etched welds, as expected, can be
clearly seen with optical microscope. Furthermore, the widths
of the HAZs were about 300 ␮m and almost three times large
as that observed with SEM. However, the width of HAZ in
solution-treated weld determined by hardness measurement
was much large than that evaluated with the other two meth-
ods.
The HAZ in an Inconel 718 weld observed by SEM is
mainly developed by precipitation of ␦ and ␴ phases in grain
boundaries of the BM and FZ, respectively. The HAZ de-
tected by potentiostatic etching method is based on different
corrosion rates on the FZ, HAZ and BM in a weld. The HAZ
evaluated by hardness measurement is strongly depended on
applied indenting load and hardness variation in the weld.
Although hardness measurement and metallographic etching
are two familiar methods to determine the width of the HAZ
in a weld, different width of the HAZ in a weld could be de-
tected by using dissimilar methods; besides, in some cases the
width or even the existence of the HAZ in an Inconel 718 weld
is difficult to measure by using metallographic etching and
hardness measurement. In this study, the HAZs in all welds
would be clearly observed with optical microscope by using
potentiostatic etching method in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution at
30 ◦ C.
 C.A. Huang et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 398 (2005) 275–281 281

4. Conclusions

Hardness measurement, metallographic and potentiostatic

etching methods were used to determine the region of heat-
affected zones in Inconel 718 welds, which were treated in
as-received, solution- and precipitation-pretreatments before
electron-beam welding (EBW). Experimental results show
that width of the HAZ in a weld is affected by the mea-
surement methods; furthermore, the hardness measurement
is difficult to find the HAZs in as-received and precipitation-
pretreated welds. Due to undistinguishable corrosion rates
among fusion zone, HAZ and base metal, the HAZs in the
Inconel 718 welds cannot be clearly observed with optical
microscope by metallographic etching in the hydrochloric
peroxide etchant. On the other hand, the HAZ in solution-
and precipitation-pretreated but not in as-received welds can
be easily examined with scanning electron microscope. To
observe the HAZs in Inconel welds with optical microscope,
a potentiostatic etching method at 2 V in 3.5 wt.% NaCl so-
lution at 30 ◦ C is recommended.

Acknowledgement

The authors like to thank the National Science Council

of Republic of China for the support of this work under the
contract NSC 91-2623-7-182-002.

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