ABSTRACT
Welding of duplex stainless steels is a critical operation, due to the thermal cycling to which the material is subjected, which can favor the precipitation of deleterious phases. The purpose of this research is to analyze the influence of welding energy on susceptibility to sigma phase formation in SAF2205 duplex steel. The SAF2205 sheets were welded by the GMAW welding process, varying the welding energy by 0.5 kJ/mm, 1.0 kJ/mm, 1.5 kJ/mm. The material was analyzed by optical microscopy, XRD and Vickers microhardness. The analysis of the microstructure of the plates showed that the higher the thermal input used in the welding, the greater the amount of austenite and the larger the size of the austenitic and ferritic grains. By means of the microhardness profile it was verified that the reduction of the hardness in the ZTA occurs. Through the XRD, the presence of sigma phase was determined in the weld regions for samples welded with welding energy of 1.0 kJ/mm and 1.5 kJ/mm. It was concluded that in the GMAW welding processes of SAF2205 duplex stainless steels with a 4 mm thick thermal input close to 0.5 kJ/mm when the objective is to avoid the formation of sigma phase and approximately equal to 1.5 kJ/mm when the objective is to maintain percentage of the phases in the ZTA and ZF next to the metal.
Keywords
Duplex stainless steel; GMAW; Heat input; Phase sigma
