The Size of the Sensitization Zone in

304 Stainless Steel Welds

N. S. TSAI and T. W. EAGAR

Factors influencing the size and shape of the sensitization zone in 304 stainless steel welds
have been studied through a statistically designed experiment. The results indicate that the
width of the sensitization zone is in proportion to the magnitude of the heat input, except
when very little fusion occurs. The minimum sensitization size can be obtained with a
broadly distributed heat source traveling at high speed, and the maximum size can be
obtained with low speed and a narrow heat distribution.
Under certain welding conditions, one can obtain welds which are free of sensitization
on the surface, and hence, this process may lead to a new method of preventing
sensitization-induced intergranular corrosion. By depositing surface sensitization-free
welds on either side of a previously sensitized weld, the chromium carbide precipitates
dissolve, and the sensitization on the plate surface is eliminated.

INTRODUCTION new method of preventing sensitization-induced inter-

Sensitization-induced intergranular corrosion in 304 stain-
less steel weldments has become a major problem in recent
years. Factors controlling the sensitization are alloy content,
carbon content, and weld thermal cycles. Among these, the
metallurgical factors are well known,"* and a number of
methods of preventing intergranular corrosion are available:
Employing solution heat treatment
Lowering carbon content
Adding stabilizers
Employing internal cooling of pipes to produce fa-
vorable compressive residual stress on the surface
However, these methods are either costly or difficult to
Wly, particularly to weldments that have already been sen-
sitized. A practical and inexpensive method of reducing
sensitization of these existing welds is desirable. This paper
studies the effects of the welding process parameters on the
location and size of the sensitization zone and presents a
N.S. TSAI and T. W. EAGAR are with the Department of
Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139.
granular corrosion.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
A Box-Behnken experimental design was used with current,
arc length, and travel speed employed as the primary vari-
ables. Single-pass, bead-on-plate welds were made by gas
tungsten arc welding on 30-cm/30-cm/1.3-cm 304 stainless
steel plates using argon shielding gas. The chemical com-
position of the stainless steel is given in Table 1.
The weld cross section was etched in 10 pet oxalic acid
(per ASTM-262 practice A). The location and the size of the
sensitization zone were measured under an optical micro-
scope at 200-times magnification, and the sensitization zone
is defined as the region in which more than 30 pet of the
grain boundary is attacked.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Sensitization occurs in the region which experiences peak
temperatures of 650Â to 900 OC for a number of seconds
during the welding process. Two primary variables deter-
mining the location and width of the sensitization zone are

M~~~~~~~~ FOR ENERGY SYSTEMS I 1984 AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR METALS VOL.. 6 . NO I . JL'NE 1984 33
 Table I. Chemical Composition of the 304 Stainless Steel A I n t h r o u g h plate t h i c k n e s s 4 i r i ~ L ' o n
I n transverse direct lcn

peak temperature distribution and the time spent between

these temperatures. Although there will always be a region
in the heat-affected zone of any weldment that reaches these
temperatures, it is possible to adjust the time at temperature
by appropriate choice of the welding parameters.
The experimental data of the location and the width of the
sensitization zone produced in this study are given in
Table 11. The sensitization width is in proportion to the heat
input per unit length, as shown in Figure 1, except when
little or no melting occurs. It is seen that the width of the
sensitization zone can vary from nil to over one millimeter
at heat inputs of less than 100 J/mm, and hence, the area
of the sensitization can be very large at low heat inputs when 0 300.0 600.0 900.0 1200.0
melting is minimized. This is because much of the thermal Heat input, CJ/rnrn 5
energy is expended in heating the steel to the sensitization Fig. 1 -The sensitization width is in proportion to the heat input per unit
'
range when melting is minimized. length. except when little or no melting occurs.

Table 11. Values of the Welding Process Variables and the Location and Size of the Sensitization Zone

Heat
Weld 1 AL Speed Voltage Input N'iY 1\71 SYP .5YW SIP
No. (AA (rnrn) (rnrn/s) (V) (W/mrn) (mm) (mm) (rnrn) (rnrn) (rnrn)

34 VOL 6. N O 1. J U N E 1984 J . MATERIALS FOR ENERGY SYSTEMS

 No.3
290A
10mm
2mmI s

No. 4 No. 12
142A 131A
1onun §nu
9 m ls

No. 8 No. 1
21 8A 2 90A
5mm lOmm
2mmI s 15mm/ s

Fig. 2-Configurations of the sensitized heat-affected zones

P- <
MATERIALS FOR ENERGY SYSTEMS
X'.
c":
I.
 (c) (d )
Fig. 3 -By depositing high-speed, low-current welds (surface-sensitization-freewelds), the previously sensitized region can be eliminated. (a) The relative
location of the surface-sensitization-freeweld, with respect to the previously sensitized weld; ( b ) the region between the large weld and the small weld; (c) the
sensitization to the left of the large weld, extending all the way up to the surface; ( d ) the sensitization. magnified.

Above 300 J/mm, the width of the sensitized zone is
proportional to the heat input. It will be noted that the
sensitization width is about twice as large in the through-
plate thickness direction as in the transverse direction. This
is due to the finite thickness of the plate, which effectively
reflects the heat from the bottom surface and raises the
temperature in the through-plate thickness direction.
In welding, it is often assumed that the location of the
sensitization zone is determined solely by the peak tem-
perature distribution. This assumption suggests that the
cooling rates are approximately the same at either the inner
or the outer regions of the heat-affected zone. To a first
approximation, this simplification describes the region of
peak temperatures between 650' to 950 OC which produce
sensitization. The study of Solomon3supports the peak tem-
perature as the most important variable influencing the de-
gree of sensitization.
Figure 2 shows the configurations of the sensitized, heat-
affected zones. Those in the right column have been en-
larged four times. It is interesting to note that some welds,
viz., 1, 5, 6, 13, 14, and 15, in Figure 2, have no sensi-
tization in the transverse direction. It seems that under the
conditions of high travel speed and low heat input, one can
produce a surface-sensitization-freeweld. Under these con-
ditions, the simplification that peak temperature alone
controls sensitization breaks down. Under these condi-
tions, the time in the sensitization range is insufficient to
cause sensitization.
The discovery of such surface-sensitization-free welds
leads to an important possible application in preventing
sensitization-induced intergranular corrosion. It is possible
to deposit two surface-sensitization-freewelds on either side
of a previous weld at the location of the sensitized region.
This assumes a knowledge of the location of these sensitized

76 VDI 6 . NO. I . JllNF, 1984 J . MATERIALS FOR ENERGY SYSTEMS

regions. Fortunately, several heat-flow model^^'^ are avail-
able from which to predict the peak temperature distribu-
tions for a given set of welding parameters. The simplified
prediction of the sensitized region, based solely on peak
temperature distribution, can give a position of the sensi-
tized heat-affected zone which is sufficient for purposes of
locating these surface-sensitization-free weld beads. If a
high-speed, low-heat-input pass is deposited near these sen-
sitized regions, it eliminates the sensitization, as demon-
strated in Figure 3.
The heat of the high-speed weld causes the dissolution of
the chromium-carbide precipitates. without producing suf-
ficient time for new surface sensitization to occur. The sen-
sitization in the bulk of the plate will not influence the
corrosion resistance, since it is not in contact with the corro-
sive environment. In some cases, this may be an inexpen-
sive and practical method for repair of field welds that have
been sensitized,
Figure 3(a) indicates the relative location of the surface-
sensitization-free weld with respect to the previously sensi-
tized weld. Note that the small weld is not located exactly
at the sensitization zone of the large weld. The sensitization
to the left of the large weld extends all the way up to the
surface, while the sensitization on the right, where the repair
1. MATERIALS FOR ENERGY SYSTEMS
weld has been made, does not. Figure 3(b) shows the region
between the large and small weld at higher magnification. It
is clear that the sensitization is eliminated near the surface.
Figure 3(c) shows that the sensitization to the left of the
large weld extends all the way up to the surface. Figure 3(d)
shows the magnified sensitization region.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful for support of this work by both the
U.S. Department of Energy (Basic Energy Sciences) under
contract DE-AC02-78ER04799 and the Office of Naval
Research under contract N00014-80-C-0384.
REFERENCES
I . M . G . Fontana and N . D. Greene: Corrosion h g i n e e r i n ~ .p. 61 .
McGraw-Hill. 1978.
2 . 14. H. Uhlig: Corrosion ami Corro.\Iun C't~titrol,p. 305. Wile). New
York. 1971.
3. H. D. Solomon: "Variables Influencin~Weld Sensitization of Austenitic
Stainless Steel." Weldrnmls: P/~~,vIcalMetallurgy- and Failure P / I C I I O I ~ I -
emi, Proceedinp of the Fifth Bollon Landi118Conference. 1979. p. 149.
4. N. S. Tsai and T. W. Eagar: "Temperature Field Produced by a Distrib-
uted Heat Source." Weld. J . . 1983. vol. 62. no. 12. p. 346.
5. N . S. Tsai and T. W. Eagar: "Change ui Weld Pool Shape by Variations
in the Distribution of Heat Source in Arc Welding," Mo~lellitif;n/ Cust-
Processe.~.Henniker. New Hampshire, 1983.
I I I R iind W~ld111g