Weld overlay cladding of high strength low alloy steel with austenitic stainless steel – Structure and properties

The present work aims at studying structure–property correlations in a weld overlay clad high strength low alloy steel with austenitic stainless steel of American Institute for Steel and Iron (AISI) 347 grade. Optical microscopy studies revealed that the interface between the two steels was nearly flat. The base plate had ferrite plus bainite microstructure adjacent to the interface and tempered bainite/martensite structure away from the interface. Grain coarsening and decarburization were observed near the interface. The stainless steel exhibited austenite dendritic structure. Tensile strength, notch-tensile strength and charpy impact energy of the base plate were found to be higher than those for the interface. The microhardness was observed to be maximum on the clad layer near interface. The shear bond strength of the weld overlay-interface was higher than the shear strength of the base plate. Fractography was carried out using scanning electron microscope on tensile, notch-tensile and shear bond test specimens of the interface as well as shear test specimens of the base plate. It revealed the presence of predominantly dimpled rupture. Charpy impact specimens of the interface failed in mixed mode while impact specimens of the base plate failed in ductile mode. Electron probe microanalysis across the bond interface indicated linear change in concentrations of Cr, Ni, Mn, Cu, Mo, Nb and Si between the levels appropriate to the clad layer and base metal.