Low temperature thermal aging of austenitic stainless steel welds: Kinetics and effects on mechanical properties

Austenitic stainless steel welds in components used in light water reactors are susceptible to thermal aging embrittlement at reactor operating temperature of around 300 °C after a long service life. In this study, low temperature aging embrittlement of types 304L and 316L stainless steel welds with 10% ferrite was investigated on the basis of changes in mechanical properties and microstructure after aging up to 20,000 h at 335, 365 and 400 °C. Spinodal decomposition and G-phase precipitation in the ferrite was observed after aging which lead to embrittlement in the material. In contrast to the small effect on tensile properties, the impact toughness was significantly degraded after aging. Charpy impact test of the aged samples showed decrease in upper-shelf and lower-shelf energy and increase in ductile brittle transition temperature. Large increase in the microhardness of ferrite phase was observed with no change in austenite hardness. The embrittlement in 316L weld was higher compared to 304L weld for similar aging condition. The kinetics of aging embrittlement was established based on Arrhenius relationship. A constant activation energy was determined for 304L weld in the temperature range 335–400 °C, however, 316L weld showed different activation energy values in each temperature range.