Study of Hydrogen Cracking and PWHT of Dissimilar Materials for Elevated Temperature Application

s. On construction sites many challenges and premature failures are being encountered in welded joints of creep strength-enhanced ferritic (CSEF) steels. The primary reason of these premature failures is found to be the dissimilar material joints, having strength mismatch, or improper heat treatment that is mandatorily carried out to achieve the required weld hardness. This study aims at determining the impact of post welding heat treatment (PWHT) on dissimilar alloy steels joints, between ASTM A335 Gr. P-22 and ASTM A335 Gr. P-91 steels, welded by gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) using ER 90S-B9 filler wire. The PWHT, at 745°C for 1hr., was applied to attain the required hardness. The effect of PWHT was investigated on the weld metal and the heat affected zones (HAZ) by hardness testing. Due to the martensitic microstructure, the hardness values of HAZ of P91 steel are over 350 HV. However, the hardness value of the P22 HAZ less than 350 HV. P91 HAZ has a higher hardness value than P22 HAZ because of its higher hardenability and due to phase transformation from martensite to ferrite. The interaction between the too high hardness microstructure with hydrogen can result in the hydrogen induced cracking (HIC) initiation in the HAZ. Therefore, the PWHT is needed to reduce this high hardness HAZ.