Journal of Nuclear Materials 515 (2019) 160e169

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Journal of Nuclear Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jnucmat

Evaluation of post-weld heat treatments applied to FeCrAl alloy

weldments*
Jacob Mahaffey a, b, *, Andrew Brittan a, Aaron Guckenberger a, Adrien Couet a,
Kevin G. Field c
a
Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 53706, USA
b
Sandia National Laboratory1, Albuquerque, NM, 87123, USA
c
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The nuclear incident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has created a strong push for
Received 27 June 2018 accident-tolerant fuel cladding to replace current zirconium-based cladding. A current near-term focus
Received in revised form on iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) alloys. Laser-welded FeCrAl samples (C35MN, C37M, and
4 December 2018
C35M10 TC) were subjected to three different post-weld heat treatment regimes: 650
C for 5 h, 850
C
Accepted 16 December 2018
Available online 17 December 2018
for 1 h, and 850
C for 5 h. The samples were then analyzed using optical light microscopy, micro-
hardness indentation, and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive spectroscopy
and electron backscatter diffraction. The base microstructure of C37M and C35M10 TC experienced
significant grain coarsening outside the fusion zone due to the applied post-weld heat treatments,
whereas Nb-rich precipitation in C35MN limited grain growth compared with the other alloys studied.
© 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.

1. Introduction
Severe nuclear accidents such as Three-Mile Island, Chernobyl,
and Fukushima Daiichi have had significant negative impacts on
the nuclear industry, causing huge financial losses, environmental
impacts, and negative health concerns. The most recent of these
accidents, Fukushima Daiichi, brought to light issues with current
*
Notice: This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract
DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US govern-
ment retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowl-
edges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable,
worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript,
or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public
access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE
Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).
* Corresponding author. Current address: Sandia National Laboratory, Albu-
querque, NM, 87123, USA.
E-mail address: jtmahaf@sandia.gov (J. Mahaffey).
1
Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and oper-
ated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly
owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of
Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA-0003525.
This paper describes objective technical results and analysis. Any subjective views
or opinions that might be expressed in the paper do not necessarily represent the
views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government.
light water reactor (LWR) designs deployed by the nuclear power
industry. To improve the safetydand therefore the reputationdof
nuclear power, the nuclear community has identified the need for
reactors designed (or redesigned) with enhanced safety. Of
particular interest is the possibility of retrofitting the large variety
of currently operating plants with technologies that will improve
their inherent safety. One technology that can introduce enhanced
passive safety is accident-tolerant fuels (ATFs), which are currently
in development for LWRs [1].
ATFs refer to fuels, claddings, and fuel assembly design/ma-
terials with improved resistance to design-basis and beyond-
design-basis accidents such as loss-of-coolant or loss-of-power
accidents. One option is the implementation of iron-chromium-
aluminum (FeCrAl) alloys for use as fuel cladding. FeCrAl alloys
have been shown to have superior material properties for normal
reactor operation environment and superior oxidation charac-
teristics in the event of a severe accident compared with current
zirconium-based alloys [2]. However, before FeCrAl alloys can be
used in commercial reactors, investigations must be completed
of their weldability, including the viability of post-weld heat
treatment (PWHT) to increase the performance of weldments
during normal and off-normal operation of the current LWR
fleet.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2018.12.027
0022-3115/© 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.
 J. Mahaffey et al. / Journal of Nuclear Materials 515 (2019) 160e169
PWHT is an attractive, low-cost, method to minimize or elimi-
nate the inhomogeneity of the microstructure and mechanical
properties across the weldments. However, the FeCrAl alloy system
presents several challenges in applying PWHT. For example, several
second-phases are known to form in BCC (body-centered-cubic)
eFe matrix during elevated-temperature heat treatments. Two of
these phases, the s-FeCr phase and the Cr-rich a0 phase, are known
to have negative impacts on the mechanical properties [3]. At
relatively high Cr concentrations, the s-FeCr phase typically pre-
cipitates at temperatures between 600 and 800
C, depending on
composition, and is characterized by a Cr-rich tetragonal crystalline
structure [4]. Time-temperatureeprecipitate (TTP) diagrams for
FeeCr alloys show that the s-FeCr phase precipitates much faster
than other phases. Formation of s-FeCr phase should be avoided
since it causes embrittlement of the material upon cooling [4e7].
Although the s-FeCr could precipitate during heat treatment, the Cr
content of most FeCrAl alloys that are currently under development
for nuclear applications [10] is low enough to avoid the precipita-
tion of the stable s-FeCr phase during production and service
conditions.
Many FeCrAl alloys studied for nuclear applications are also
known to be susceptible to a0 phase formation [8], which has an
equilibrium Cr concentration much lower than the s phase and has
an ideal precipitation temperature of nominally 475
C in the case
of FeeCr binary system [9e11]. The TTP diagrams for a0 indicate
that this phase precipitates much more slowly than s and should
have a less negative effect on mechanical properties until the
exposure time exceeds 100s or even 1000s of hours. But a0 pre-
cipitates out more readily under irradiation (i.e. radiation-
enhanced precipitationdnon-thermal equilibrium conditions),
which has been shown to have a detrimental effect on FeCrAl
properties [8]. Other alloying elements, such as molybdenum (Mo),
can accelerate a0 precipitation; but considering the elevated tem-
peratures (>500
C) and low exposure time during typical PWHT,
this phase is not likely to precipitate [9].
FeCrAl alloys have a highly controlled microstructure in the base
material, but it is known that the weld microstructure is not as well
controlled and could represent a local point of failure, especially
under irradiation and loading. The base material microstructure
includes a fine grain structure and a network of dislocations and
precipitate dispersions. Microstructure control is key to optimizing
the radiation tolerance of both the base material and the weldment
[12]. Welding of FeCrAl alloys leads to a loss of the controlled
microstructure in the fusion zone and an alteration in the heat-
affected zone (HAZ). These effects may lead to grain growth,
dissolution of precipitating phases, and overall weakening and
embrittlement of the alloy.
Welds of FeCrAl are usually characterized by large grain sizes
within the weld metal compared with the finer grains in the base
material, as well as a noticeable HAZ between the two on either
side of the weld bead, which is defined by a transition region [2].
This undesirable change in microstructure causes a drop in me-
chanical properties in both the fusion zone and the HAZ, with
reduction of ultimate yield stress as high as 30% and of total elon-
gation as high as 80% compared to the base materials properties
[13]. Altering microstructural and chemical properties during
short-term thermal aging to recover some of the initial properties
or at minimum homogenize the properties is therefore an impor-
tant goal when a given PWHT is applied to the alloys. These heat
treatments may help restore material properties affected by the
laser welding that has been reported on previously [10].
Previous studies have established the weldability of FeCrAl al-
loys using several different welding techniques, including gas
tungsten arc welding [14,15], gas metal arc welding [14], laser beam
welding [13,16e19], electron beam welding, and pressure
161
resistance welding [20,21]. These studies have shown the effect of
composition on the weldability of the material (i.e., cracking sus-
ceptibility) and general trends of weld performance. The samples
analyzed in this experiment were joined by laser welding, which is
one of the most precise methods of fusion welding, trailing only
electron beam welding in power density [22]. This technique allows
for a very tight weld pool, high penetration, fast travel speed, and
low total heat input to the metal. These properties allow for a very
small HAZ, resulting in a very accurate and high-quality weld [22].
Details on autogenous, bead-on-plate laser welding on FeCrAl al-
loys has previously been reported [13]. Although the small weld
pool minimizes the total volume melteddand therefore micro-
structurally reconfigureddit does have drawbacks. The most im-
pactful of these drawbacks is that the weld pool cools relatively
quickly, increasing the susceptibility to cracking due to the thermal
stresses resulting from large thermal gradients between the weld
pool and the base metal during the welding process.
Welding of FeCrAl alloys with Al contents greater than 6 wt. %
have been shown to be prone to hydrogen embrittlement because
the Al forms intermetallic phases during which it liberates
hydrogen from water vapor present in the welding process [13,14].
Compositions with good initial weldability have shown significant
softening within the fusion zone, leading to localized failures
within the weldments so that PWHT may be needed to recover
some of the initial mechanical properties [13,16]. In this study,
several PWHTs are examined to determine their ability to reduce
embrittlement in high-Al FeCrAl alloys and normalize the me-
chanical properties within the base material, HAZ, and fusion zone
of FeCrAl weldments. The alloys selected are those currently under
investigation by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) as candi-
date ATF fuel claddings [2].
2. Experimental procedure
The candidate alloys used were those studied as part of a larger
program focused on the weldability and radiation tolerance of
FeCrAl alloys [2,13,23,24]. The three alloys of interest were C35MN,
C37M, and C35M10 TC, where C37M represented a typical wrought
FeCrAl microstructure while C35MN and C35M10 TC have second-
ary phase additions to increase the strength and weldability of
wrought FeCrAl alloys. The identical heats, processing conditions,
and weldments were used between this study and that of Gussev
et al. [13]. Weldments were produced using laser-beam welding
with a 7 ms pulse length, 7 pulses/s, and a 2.12 m/s welding speed
to produce full penetration welds within the thin-plate feedstock.
Samples for PWHT were extracted from the weldments using
electric discharge machining (EDM) to produce small-scale
(~7.25 mm  2.75 mm  0.75 mm) for testing.
Temperature and time conditions for PWHT were found by
considering the initial composition and microstructure. Table 1
provides the compositions of the candidate FeCrAl claddings used
in this study. The alloys represent the lean-Cr (<15%) solution for
oxidation-resistant FeCrAl cladding. Indeed, lean-Cr variants are of
interest because of the reduced formation of the embrittling Cr-rich
a0 phase under irradiation [10,11]. PWHT was performed using a
Lindberg Model 51442 heavy-duty furnace under atmospheric
Table 1
Composition of the three FeCrAl alloys used for heat treatment characterization.
Fe Cr Al Y Mo Si Nb C Ti
C35M10TC 78.82 12.95 5.14 0.01 1.96 0.2 <.01 0.18 0.71
C35MN 78.7 13 5.11 0.044 1.99 0.18 0.96 0.0003 e
C37M 77.49 13.01 7.22 0.081 1.99 0.18 <.01 <.0003 <0.01
162 J. Mahaffey et al. / Journal of Nuclear Materials 515 (2019) 160e169
conditions. Heat treatments of the FeCrAl alloys were conducted at
650
C for 5 h, 850
C for 1 h, and 850
C for 5 h; those conditions
were selected to mimic PWHT procedures for current commercial
FeCrAl alloys such as Kanthal APMT (30 min at 875
C) [25]. Sam-
ples were removed from the furnace and left to air-cool.
PWHT samples were mounted and prepared using standard
metallographic procedures. Polished samples were analyzed using
micro-hardness indentation with a BUEHLER Micromet II micro-
hardness tester equipped with a Vickers hardness diamond
indenter. The load force was 25 gf with a dwell time of 10 seconds.
Indents were spaced approximately 100 mm apart. These indents
were then analyzed using light microscopy. Samples were also
examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in conjunc-
tion with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) using a field
emission source. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) was used
to calculate average grain sizes. EBSD data were processed using the
open-source MTEX software in Matlab® [26]. Filters for grain size
and confidence were applied to remove any erroneous measure-
ments during the EBSD data collection stage, and the areas that
were filtered out were left white in the EBSD images. Filtering was
found to typically remove areas of the microstructure which were
heavily deformed (non-recrystallized) and hence the presented
results are biased towards recrystallized grain sizes. A smoothing
function was then applied to round out edges before grain size
measurements were obtained.
3. Results
3.1. C35MN
Alloy C35MN is characterized by its higher niobium (Nb) con-
centration compared with the other alloys (see 1), which inhibits
grain growth through precipitation of a Nb-rich Laves phase [13].
SEM back-scattered electron (BSE) images showing the weld and
base microstructure for as-received and PWHT samples are shown
Fig. 1. SEM micrographs of the fusion zone and base microstructure for alloy C35MN for as-received, 650
C 5 h heat treatment, and 850
C 1 h heat treatment states.
in Fig. 1. The Laves phase precipitates along grain boundaries during
both initial cooling during fabrication and heat treatment, affected
the microstructure by retarding grain growth during subsequent
heat treatments [10].
The laser weld can be observed as a typical v-shaped region of
larger grains that grew toward the source of the heat input during
the welding process. This coarsened grain region is bordered by the
transition region (HAZ), which leads into the original fine-grained
microstructure. Each weld was approximately 1 mm thick in the
middle of the sample. Micro-hardness measurements, given in
Fig. 2, show characteristic softening of the weld in the as-welded
sample relative to the base material.
The hardness in the base metal dropped under both PWHT
conditions studied (Fig. 2). The reduction in hardness compared to
the as-welded samples corresponds to recrystallization and grain
growth observed in the base metal after applying PWHT at both
650 and 850
C (Fig. 3). Indeed, grain size has been directly linked
to the mechanical performance of FeCrAl alloys [27]. Table 2
shows that grain growth in the C35MN base material was very
limited compared with that in the C37M and C35M10 TC samples,
with grain growth roughly a single order of magnitude greater
after both PWHT conditions than in the as-received base material.
This relatively small grain growth is likely due to the grain
boundary pinning nature of the Nb-rich Laves phase dispersions
that are dispersed intra- and intergranularly within the
microstructure.
Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 show the SEM-BSE images with elemental
mapping of Nb and Mo acquired by SEM-EDS before and after heat
treatment at 850
C for 1 h, respectively. Coarsening of Nb/Mo-rich
precipitates was observed within the base metal after the PWHT.
While some precipitates are scattered across the heat affected zone
before PWHT, clear additional intergranular precipitation of Nb/Mo
rich precipitates is observed after heat treatment at 850
C for 1 h.
Finally, although precipitates have completely dissolved in the
fusion line before PWHT, intergranular nucleation and growth of
 J. Mahaffey et al. / Journal of Nuclear Materials 515 (2019) 160e169 163

Fig. 2. Vickers hardness values for alloy C35MN for the as-received, 650
C 5 h heat treatment, and 850
C 1 h heat treatment states. Solid lines represent measured data, and shaded
regions represent the calculated error in the measurement.

Fig. 3. EBSD of C35MN (left), C37M (middle) and C35M10 TC (right) base material in as-received state (top) and after PWHT at 650
C/5 h (middle) and 850
C/1 h (bottom).

Nb/Mo rich precipitates occurred after PWHT. The two peaks in
hardness observed inside the weld metal after PWHT at 650
C for
5 h (Fig. 2) was likely due to measurement near the grain bound-
aries where Laves-phase precipitation had occurred. The increased
hardness was not observed after PWHT at 850
C for 1 h because the
associated increased grain size reduced the likely-hood of this
effect.
3.2. C37M
The C37M alloy contains 7 wt % Al, the highest Al concentration
of all the three alloys. Unlike C35MN, this alloy does not contain Nb,
which was responsible for the Laves-phaseelimiting grain growth
in C35MN during PWHT. The lack of grain boundary pinning of
microstructural features in C37M resulted in relatively large grains
164 J. Mahaffey et al. / Journal of Nuclear Materials 515 (2019) 160e169

Table 2
Grain measurements based on EBSD analysis for each condition of each alloy analyzed in this study.

C35MN C37M C35M10 TC

As- Received 650
C 5 h 850
C 1 h As- Received 650
C 5 h 850
C 1 h As- Received 850
C 1 h 850
C 5 h

Area [mm ]
2
0.12 1.0 2.0 0.32 79 587 0.97 190 224
Stdev [mm2] 0.12 0.9 2.5 0.46 85 556 1.0 115 178
Area Increase NA 8.3 16.7 NA 250 1800 NA 200 230
Diameter [mm] 0.39 1.11 1.59 0.64 10 27 1.1 16 17
Stdev [mm] 0.39 1.07 1.79 0.77 10 26.6 1.1 12 15
Max Area [mm2] 0.9 11 17 5 861 3932 6.1 915 1488
Min Area [mm2] 0.02 0.34 0.23 0.07 17 79 0.16 87 87

Fig. 4. EDS mapping of NbeMo rich precipitates in base material (top), in the heat affected zone (middle) and the fusion zone (bottom) for the as-received C35MN alloy.

in both the as-received and the PWHT states compared to those of is largest. It is concluded that the limited degree of grain boundary
C35MN, which can be seen in the microstructures presented in pinning precipitates compared to the C35MN alloy allows for rapid
Figs. 3 and 6. Note that cracks are observed in the fusion zone (see grain growth during PWHT in C37M. Table 2 indicated that the
Fig. 6). Indeed, the higher Al content promotes weld cracking and it PWHT resulted in the maximum grain size two to three orders of
is suspected that the impurity uptake from cover gas (such as magnitude larger than the as-received sample in C37M.
hydrogen and water) in the sample promote hot cracking during
solidification of the fusion zone, as shown in Ref. [14]. The lower Al
3.3. C35M10TC
content in C35MN and C35M10 TC prevented cracking under
welding. Thus, the cracks are the direct result of welding and not of
C35M10 TC has a more complex microstructure due to the
PWHT. The grain size associated with the as-received base metal in
dispersion of TiC within the alloy matrix. The purpose of the added
the C37M samples was much larger than the grain size in the
TiC is to increase the solubility of hydrogen in the solid metal, which
C35MN samples (Table 2). Fig. 3 and Table 2 show significant grain
decreases the susceptibility to hydrogen cracking during welding
growth in the base material of the samples that underwent PWHT.
[15]. Although this alloy contains no Nb for Laves-phase formation
The larger grain size is directly linked to a reduction in the hardness
(similar to C37M), the TiC dispersion was believed to have a similar
of the base material. The result is a uniform hardness profile,
grain refinement effect to the Laves-phase in the C35MN alloy in the
observed in Fig. 7, which does not change inside the weld as a result
as-received samples [28]. The microstructures of the C35M10 TC
of PWHT. The uniform hardness values for C37M are similar to
alloy in the as-received state and after PWHT are shown in Figs. 3 and
values for C35MN inside the weld where the grain size in that alloy
8. Image contrast in Fig. 8 varies slightly from other SEM-based
 J. Mahaffey et al. / Journal of Nuclear Materials 515 (2019) 160e169 165

Fig. 5. EDS mapping of NbeMo rich precipitates in base material (top), in the heat affected zone (middle) and in the fusion line (bottom) for alloy C35MN heat treated at 850
C for
1 h.

Fig. 6. SEM micrographs of the fusion zone and base microstructure for alloy C37M for the as-received, 650
C 5 h heat treatment, and 850
C 1 h heat treatment states.
166 J. Mahaffey et al. / Journal of Nuclear Materials 515 (2019) 160e169
Fig. 7. Vickers hardness values for alloy C37M for as-received, 650
C 5 h heat treat-
ment, and 850
C 1 h heat treatment states.
images due to variances in sample preparation. PWHT of C35M10 TC
caused severe grain coarsening, as seen in Table 2, with grains
increasing in size by roughly two orders of magnitude. This is similar
to the grain growth observed for C37M during similar PWHTs. Slight
softening of the base material is observed after heat treatment
(Fig. 9). The softening of this alloy probably was caused by the in-
crease in grain size and to a lesser degree recrystallization of the
deformed grains within the base metal microstructure. Heat treat-
ment of C35M10 TC also resulted in additional TiC precipitation in-
side the welded region, which can be observed in Fig. 10. It is
interesting to notice that fine TiC precipitates are observed in the
fusion line before PWHT (see Figs. 10 and 12), indicating that some
carbides have precipitated upon cooling of the fusion line. Never-
theless, the titanium concentration was very diffuse in the as-
received welded sample and became much more prominent after
PWHT. TiC dispersions were observed in the base material both
before and after heat treatment (Fig. 11). The transition from large
intra-granular TiC precipitates in the base metal to the finely
dispersed intergranular TiC precipitates in the fusion line across the
heat affected zone is observed in Fig. 12 before PWHT.
Fig. 8. SEM micrographs of the fusion zone and base microstructure for alloy C35M10 TC for the as-received, 850
C 1 h heat treatment, and 850
C 5 h heat treatment states.
Fig. 9. Vickers hardness values for alloy C35M10 TC for as-received, 650
C 5 h heat
treatment, and 850
C 1 h heat treatment states.
4. Discussion
Several PWHTs were performed on three different FeCrAl alloys
in an attempt to study the microstructures and the mechanical
properties of the weldments. No hardening was observed in the
samples that underwent PWHT. On the other hand, coarsening of
grains, observed through EBSD, was significant regardless of PWHT
conditions. The grain coarsening typically corresponded to the
softening of the base material that some alloys experienced, with
the exception of the fusion zone of C35MN aged at 650
C for 5 h.
Softening after PWHT suggests that the investigated conditions and
alloys were not susceptible to deleterious precipitation of either the
s-FeCr phase or the Cr-rich a0 phase. Indeed, these low-Cr alloys
(approx. 13 wt.%) fall outside of the sigma phase boundary under
these PWHT. It is also known that Al can modify this boundary as
well to accommodate higher Cr contents without the ability to
precipitate sigma phase [29]. Thermodynamics calculations also
predicted that there is no sigma phase precipitation above 500
C in
these alloys (alpha prime is predicted to precipitate but only below
 J. Mahaffey et al. / Journal of Nuclear Materials 515 (2019) 160e169 167

Fig. 10. EDS titanium mapping for the fusion zone in C35M10 TC weldments in the as-received, 850
C 1 h heat treatment, and 850
C 5 h heat treatment states.

Fig. 11. EDS titanium mapping for the base metal of C35M10 TC in as-received, 850
C 1 heat treatment and 850
C 5 h heat treatment states.

500
C) [10]. Thus, it appears reasonable to conclude that the given
PWHT conditions did not cause sigma phase precipitation.
The determination of which alloy to use in conjunction with
which heat treatment will, therefore, be contingent on the opti-
mization of the stress relief versus grain growth and recrystalliza-
tion that occurs during heat treatment.
In analyzing these alloys, it is possible to identify heat treat-
ments that failed this initial analysis and should not be pursued.
For the C35MN alloy, grain growth was relatively limited, with
EBSD indicating that treatment at 650
C/5 h and 850
C/1 h
resulted in increased grain sizes by factors of 10 and 20, respec-
tively, in the base material. As shown in Fig. 3, the recrystallized
grain size at PWHT 850
C/1 h is larger than that of PWHT 650
C/
5 h, indicating a more significant grain recovery of the base metal
for the former. In addition, the fraction of identified (i.e. recrys-
tallized) grains for PWHT 850
C/1 h is larger than that of PWHT
650
C/5 h, which is another evidence of the larger grain recovery
for this sample. This recrystallization dependence on heat-
treatment for C35MN alloy is in accordance with previous re-
sults [10]. Note also that the hardness profile was nearly uniform
after aging at 850
C, indicating that the inhomogeneous cross-
weld properties could be minimized. Thus, if stress was applied
on the weld, the occurrence of stress localization in the HAZ would
be unlikely. Consequently, this material is less susceptible to
degradation phenomena such as stress corrosion cracking, which
significantly depends on localized stress intensity and hardening
[30]. In that regard, PWHT 850
C/1 h is more promising, although
the overall mechanical properties are slightly lower than for
PWHT 650
C/5 h. Consequently, it appears that 850
C PWHT for
1 h is likely the best PWHT regime investigated in this study for
C35MN and further macroscopic properties testing are recom-
mended to confirm these observations. In addition, a refinement
of the PWHT parameters search is recommended based on these
preliminary findings.
168 J. Mahaffey et al. / Journal of Nuclear Materials 515 (2019) 160e169
Fig. 12. SEM micrograph across from the bulk metal (left) to the fusion line (right)
across the heat affected zone before PWHT is applied.
For the C37M alloy, grain growth was more significant, with the
650
C/5 h and 850
C/1 h heat treatments resulting in grain growth
in the base material by factors of 250 and 1800, respectively. The
hardness profiles of C37M appeared to be unaffected by the heat
treatments. The lack of effect of PWHT on the hardness of C37M is
likely due to the degree of recrystallization in the C37M alloy
compared to that of the C35MN and C35M10 TC alloys. Gussev et al.
showed that the C37M base material exhibited a nearly fully
recovered microstructure while C35MN and C35M10 TC did not in
the base material [13]. PWHT in C37M only lead to grain growth
which had limited affect on the hardness compared to the recovery
observed within the other two alloys. It is therefore advised that
the heat treatment for C37M be geared toward relieving residual
stresses, as there was no other microstructural advantage of
elevated-temperature heat treatment.
C35M10 TC was heat treated at 850
C for 1 h and 850
C for 5 h,
resulting in grain growth in the base material by factors of 200 and
230, respectively as well as recovery. This result appears to indicate
that most of the grain growth occurred in the first hour of heat
treatment at 850
C. Additionally, longer heat treatment caused the
TiC precipitates to increase in size within the weld, removing ti-
tanium gradually from solid solution. However, this difference was
not sufficiently pronounced to indicate that additional benefit was
acquired from the prolonged heat treatment. Therefore, 850
C/1 h
heat treatment gives the best results among the studied PWHT.
Optimized PWHT condition a should be assessed based on these
preliminary findings to evaluate the macroscale effects of PWHT on
the weld of C35M10 TC.
5. Conclusions
PWHTs were applied to three candidate FeCrAl alloys for ATF
cladding applications after autogenous bead-on-plate laser-based
welding. The aim of the PWHT was to improve the microstructure
and mechanical properties of the weldments. Based on the results,
the following conclusions can be drawn for the three alloys:
 C35MN
o PWHT caused limited grain growth and recovery due to the
pinning nature of Nb-rich Laves phase precipitates, which
reduced any observed softening compared with other candi-
date alloys.
o Among the studied PWHTs, 850
C for 1 h showed the best
evidence that it improved the properties of weldments pro-
duced out of C35MN.
 C37M
o A coarse grain structure in the base metal, compared with the
other candidate FeCrAl alloys, existed as a result of the lack of
Nb/TiC-precipitates.
o Limited grain boundary pinning sites led to grain size in-
creases on the order of 2e3 orders of magnitude after PWHT.
Grain coarsening, preexisting coarse grain structure which
was nearly fully recrystallized, led to uniform hardness dis-
tributions across weldments for all observed samples.
o The PWHT studied had limited positive effects on the prop-
erties of C37M.
 C35M10 TC
o PWHT at 850
C resulted in renucleation and growth of TiC
along grain boundaries inside the weld but softening of base
material was nonetheless observed as a result of significant
coarsening of grains.
o Among the studied PWHTs, 850
C for 1 h showed the best
evidence that it improved the properties of the weldments
produced out of C35M10 TC.
Data availability
The raw data required to reproduce these findings are available
to download from [Mendeley Data]. The processed data required to
reproduce these findings are available to download from [Mende-
ley Data].
Acknowledgments
This research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy,
Office of Nuclear Energy, for the Nuclear Energy Enabling Tech-
nologies (NEET) program for the Reactor Materials effort, and by
the University of WisconsineMadison under the guidance of A.
Couet. We thank Mohamed Elbakhshwan and Michael Moorehead
for their help in acquiring some of the micrographs. This manu-
script was authored in part by UT-Battelle, LLC, under Contract No.
DE-AC05- 00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy. The au-
thors thank M. N. Gussev (ORNL) and Y. Yamamoto (ORNL) for
fruitful discussion of the results and D. Counce (ORNL) for valuable
help in manuscript preparation.
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