Stress corrosion properties of 00Cr18Ni10N austenitic stainless steel welded joints

The behaviors of stress corrosion cracking of an austenitic stainless 00Cr18Ni10N parent material and its welded joint in 3.5% NaCl solution were investigated by using the constant load stress corrosion cracking and microscopic analysis methods. The residual strength was measured after 120 h for stress corrosion test to compare the stress corrosion resistance of 00Cr18Ni10N parent material and its welded joint through the loss analysis of strength. The microstructures of the weld zone, heat affected zone and base metal were analyzed by metallographic technique, and fracture morphology of stress corrosion cracking was investigated using scanning electron microscopy. The results show stress corrosion cracking of welded joints is located in the weld zone. A higher stress level 90%σ_0.2, the strength lose of 00Cr18Ni10N parent material is 13.02% lower than that of the welded joints, which show that the stress corrosion resistance of 00Cr18Ni10N parent material is superior to the weld material. The fracture morphology analysis shows that the fracture of 00Cr18Ni10N parent material and its welded joint has the characteristic of intergranular fracture and dimple fracture under the joint action of stress and corrosive solution.