Effect of post weld thermal aging (PWTA) sensitization on micro-hardness and corrosion behavior of AISI 304 weld joints

Abstract

Abstract In present study, investigationhas been carried outto determine the effect of different post welding thermal aging techniques on Micro-hardness and corrosion behavior of the SS-304 weld joints. The corrosion behavior is investigated in terms of the degree of sensitization.The linear weld joints are fabricated using gas tungsten arc welding using double V groove edges with an overall heat input of 5.496KJ/mm. The post weld thermal aging is carried out by heating to the 650°Ctemperature for 30 and 120 minutes of soaking duration and then normalizing it.The DLEPRtechniqueis exploited to evaluate sensitization. The results revealed that Micro-hardness studies conclude that Micro-hardness values decrease due to sensitization conditions. The corrosion studies showed that thermally aged welds for shorter duration result into lesser DOS values than the thermally aged welds for longer duration which results into higher DOS value.