Duplex Stainless Steels

Duplex steels have heterogeneous microstructures with roughly 50% austenite and 50% ferrite, a
microstructural balance that is achieved by controlling the chemical composition and using special
heat treatments,. The high corrosion resistance of duplex steels ensures significantly more uptime
than carbon steels and conventional stainless steels, while the mechanical strength allows for
lighter constructions, more compact system design and thus reduced welding.

Characteristic of Duplex Stainless Steels

Excellent resistance to stress corrosion cracking
Very high mechanical strength
Excellent resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion
High resistance to general corrosion in a variety of environments
Low thermal expansion
High resistance to erosion corrosion and corrosion fatigue
Good weldability
Lower life cycle cost

Intermetallic Phase in Duplex

In DSS and SDSS, it is recommended to maintain ferrite to austenite

balance. During welding this balance is disturbed due to ferritization at high
temperatures associated with welding process. The high ferrite contents are not
desirable as it makes the material prone to pitting attack. Hence, filler materials
are generally manufactured with higher Ni contents (2-4%) than the base ma-
terial . Sometimes post weld heat treatments (Solution annealing) are also
preferred to retain the phase balance after welding . The heat input and cooling
rate in welding are important as they control ferrite to austenite transformation.
The high heat input promotes precipitation of sigma phase, nitrides and carbides
in heat affected zones . The welding of high thickness parts with low heat input is
avoided as it may form chromium nitrides . The slow cooling forms more
austenite but at the same time, it may cause precipitation of intermetallic
phases. Hence, cooling rate is kept low enough to retain phase balance but high
enough to avoid intermetallic phase formation. From the tabel we can see the
present and the time that intermetalic phase can occur.

Welding Duplex

Duplex S/S has good weldability. When welding duplex S/S some problems can be
encountered during the rapid heating and cooling of the welding cycle, it can be
difficult ensuring the weld metal and heat-affected zone (HAZ) retain the
corrosion resistance, strength, and toughness of the base metal. During welding
of duplex S/S it is necessary to design welding procedures that lead to a
favourable phase balance after welding to avoid precipitation of detrimental
intermetallic phases. If the weld metal cools too rapidly then the austenite has
little time to form so leading to excessive ferrite being retained. This problem is
magnified even more during welding as the weld metal cool relatively rapidly
which can lead to poor mechanical properties and a loss of corrosion resistance.
Early generations of duplex S/S were prone to poor toughness and corrosion
resistance in the HAZ due to the formation of excessive ferrite during welding. To
counter this modern duplex S/S have higher levels of nitrogen then was the case
in the past leading to improved mechanical properties. This and the over alloying
of the electrode consumable with nitrogen should ensure the austenite phase will
form a favourable phase balance in the weld metal and HAZ in the as welded
condition. If this was not the case then a post weld