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Welding of nickel-based alloy 617 using modified dip arc processes

Article  in  Welding in the World, Le Soudage Dans Le Monde · May 2013

DOI: 10.1007/s40194-013-0034-6

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Weld World (2013) 57:323–333
DOI 10.1007/s40194-013-0034-6

RESEARCH PAPER

Welding of nickel-based alloy 617 using modified dip

arc processes
Carolin Fink & Manuela Zinke

Received: 3 October 2012 / Accepted: 11 February 2013 / Published online: 27 February 2013
# International Institute of Welding 2013

Abstract The widespread application of nickel-based al- 1 Introduction

loys as structural materials in chemical, nuclear and power
generation industries is often limited due to weldability Nickel-based alloys are frequently used for safety-relevant
issues. Technological and metallurgical problems such as applications in chemical, nuclear and power generation in-
lack of fusion or hot cracking require specific welding dustries. However, it is well known, that their fully austen-
guidelines as well as knowledge of the welding metallurgy itic welds may contain hot cracking to a certain extent in the
to produce welds that fulfill high quality requirements. Due weld metal and the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of the base
to the lower heat input modified dip arc welding is a poten- material. The cracks often occur in a microscopic size and
tial alternative joining technique for hot crack sensitive are therefore almost impossible to detect using established
nickel-based alloys. This paper contributes to the applica- methods of non-destructive testing. According to DIN EN
tion of modified dip arc processes for butt welding of alloy ISO 5817:2007, microcracks are permitted at the lowest
617 (2.4663). The influence of reduced heat input on mi- quality level depending on the material. The acceptability
crostructural and mechanical properties were investigated. of microcracking in welds of nickel-based alloys is therefore
Particular attention was given to the occurrence of hot widely discussed, because at present the effect of
cracking in the weld metal and base metal HAZ (heat- microcracks on the material behavior in various service
affected zone) using light optical microscopy, EDS analysis conditions is not fully understood.
and electron probe microanalysis. The results indicate that Besides the chemical composition of the base and
the modified dip arc processes provide excellent weld qual- filler material as well as the degree of restraint when
ity and economic efficiency. However, microstructural ob- welding, the heat input of the welding process has an
servations showed that hot cracking in the form of important effect on the occurrence of hot cracking. A
microcracks could not be completely avoided. The modified common way of welding nickel-based alloys is using
dip arc welded joints exhibited good tensile strength and conventional arc welding processes such as manual met-
impact toughness. The mechanical properties are compara- al arc (MMA) welding, gas tungsten arc (GTA) welding
ble to commonly GMA (gas metal arc) pulsed arc welding and pulsed arc welding. Despite the lower heat input,
and are not influenced by the microcracks. standard dip arc welding, also referred to as short cir-
cuit or short arc transfer, is not applicable for nickel-
Keywords (IIW Thesaurus): Nickel alloys . Dip transfer . based alloys because of a high spatter tendency and
Hot cracking . Microcracks poor wettability. However, modified dip arc processes
offer a significantly reduced heat input when compared
to conventional gas metal arc (GMA) welding plus a
Doc. IIW-2351, recommended for publication by Commission II “Arc
Welding and Filler Metals”. virtually spatter-free welding process. These advantages
are already used for cladding of nickel-based filler ma-
C. Fink (*) : M. Zinke
terials [1] and make the modified dip arc welding a
Institute of Materials and Joining Technology, Otto-von-Guericke
University of Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany potential alternative joining technique for components
e-mail: [email protected] of nickel-based alloys.
324 Weld World (2013) 57:323–333

Table 1 The chemical composition (wt.%) of base metal and filler metal used in this study

Materials Mat. no. Ni Cr Fe C Mn Si Mo Co Al Ti Cu Other

617 2.4663 Bal. 22.3 1.2 0.06 0.09 0.15 8.7 11.6 1.1 0.4 0.03 B: 0.002
SNi6617 2.4627 Bal. 22.3 0.8 0.05 0.06 0.05 8.9 11.0 1.3 0.3 0.02 n/a

2 Experimental procedures groove butt joint configuration with 35° bevel angle. The root
opening was 2 mm. The weld geometry is shown in Fig. 2.
2.1 Materials The root pass was performed manually using the GTA
welding process. Table 2 shows chosen welding parameters.
The base material used in this work was hot-rolled nickel- Afterwards, each plate was attached on a heavy ferritic steel
based alloy617 in the solution annealed (1,100 °C, 32 min) block by GMA welding in order to induce high residual
and water quenched condition in the form of 12-mm-thick stresses which result in a high hot cracking potential in weld
plates. The filler metal SNi6617 (2.4627) was of matching metal and base metal HAZ (see Fig. 2). Restrained by that
composition and was 1.0 mm in diameter. The chemical fixture, the welds were completed with different types of
composition of the base and filler metal are given in Table 1. GMA welding techniques resulting in different levels of heat
Alloy 617 is a candidate structural material for next input for each welding process. As representatives of mod-
generation high temperature nuclear reactor with its superior ified dip arc welding, the cold metal transfer (CMT) and the
properties of high temperature strength and creep resistance. pulse-mix process were used in this study and compared to
It is currently widely studied in terms of its weldability and the commonly pulsed arc welding. The key attribute of the
the occurrence of microcracks in welds of alloy 617 has CMT process is that the motion of the wire is directly
frequently been reported [2–6]. incorporated in process control. The forwards wire feed
The typical microstructure of the alloy617 base metal in direction is reversed instantly backwards as the short circuit
the as-delivered condition is shown in Fig. 1. The micro- occurs between wire electrode and the weld pool. The wire
structure consisted of an austenitic matrix with intergranular retraction assists the droplet detachment and thus a current-
and intragranular precipitates. Previous published work [7, free metal transfer. The pulse-mix process is a variable
8] showed that the smaller particles are Cr-rich (M23C6) and combination of the CMT and the pulsed arc welding pro-
Mo-rich (M6C) carbides or a combination of both, while the cess. It allows a specific control of the heat input by the ratio
larger, bright particles are Ti(C, N). Figure 1 also illustrates of the alternating two types of metal transfer (Fig. 3). The
the extremely heterogeneous grain size of the base metal of welding parameters and the heat input for each weld in the
alloy 617. The microstructure is characterized by a particu- form of the calculated effective energy input per unit length
larly fine-grained structure (approx. 10 to 30 μm) associated (Eq. 1) are given in Table 3. The modified dip arc welded
with segregated carbide stringers and a significantly coarser joints were produced with a considerably lower energy input
grain size (up to 110 μm) in carbide-free areas. per unit length than with pulsed arc welding. All welding
was done with a shielding gas of 30 % helium, 2 % hydro-
2.2 Welding gen, 550 ppm carbon dioxide and a balance of argon.
Interpass temperature was measured by a contact thermom-
The base metal plates were cut and machined to the size of 250× eter and did not exceed 100 °C. In addition, the thermal
150×12 mm. The specimens were machined to make a single V cycles during multi-pass welding were recorded by three

Fig. 1 Optical micrographs of

the microstructure of alloy 617
base metal in as-received
condition with intergranular and
intragranular Cr- or Mo-rich
carbides (M23C6, M6C) and Ti-
rich carbonitrides Ti(C,N)

400 µm 50 µm
Weld World (2013) 57:323–333 325

Fig. 2 Joint profile and welding set-up (dimensions in mm)

thermocouples attached at a distance of 5 mm from the 2.4 LBT testing

groove preparation (Fig. 2).
The presence of cracks in the welds was also evaluated
V  I  60 using the longitudinal bend test (LBT), which is a self-
E¼ ð1Þ
vw  1; 000 restraint hot cracking test and is standardized in DINEN
ISO17641-2:2005. The LBT tests were carried out for quan-
where E is the energy input per unit length (kJ/cm), V is the tification of microcracks (microfissures) in terms of number,
voltage (V), I is the current (A) and vw is the welding speed size and location related to heat input by the use of different
(cm/min). GMA welding processes. Cracking takes place during the
The surface of the completed welds was inspected by dye production of the actual weld, it already exists in the spec-
penetrant testing. One set of welds was subjected to metal- imens, which are taken from the welds and is only made
lographic evaluation of weld cross-sections, hardness mea- visible by the longitudinal bend test.
surement and additional longitudinal bend testing (LBT), Special care was taken in preparing the longitudinal bend
whereas the other was studied by tensile testing, bend test- specimens. In accordance to DINENISO17641-2:2005 the
ing and impact testing. specimens (dimension 80×40×5 mm) were taken in each case
in the longitudinal weld seam direction with the test surface on
2.3 Metallographic examination planes parallel to the plate surface at a level of −1 mm relative
to the flush plate plane (see Fig. 4). The area of examination
For metallographic examinations, specimens from the trans- was marked with a length of 30 mm. At least two longitudinal
verse cross-section of the welds were excised from several bend specimens were extracted from each weld along the total
positions along the total length of the welded joints. Weld welded joint.
cross-sections were examined for the presence of cracks and The longitudinal bend surface was bended with a
further defects (lack of fusion, porosity). At least four spec- mandrel diameter 20 mm up to a bend angle of 120°
imens were extracted from each of the welds. The cross- with the surface grounded (to 1,200 grit) and etched
sections were prepared using standard metallographic tech- (light by Adler etchant). The examination was executed
niques, electrolytically etched in a solution based on H2SO4 using a stereo microscope at 25-fold magnification. The
and HCl and examined for microstructural features and bead total crack length LMF was determined by measuring the
sequence using a light optical microscope and scanning microfissures in the area of examination and adding up
electron microscope (SEM). To determine the chemical the individual values for all detected cracks with a
composition of microstructural phases, X-ray energy length ≥0.1 mm.
dispersive spectroscopy (XEDS) and electron probe mi- For all longitudinal bend specimens the microfissure
croanalysis (EPMA) were used. sensitivity indicator (MSI) was used for quantifying the
weld metal sensitivity to the formation of microcracks.
Table 2 Welding parameters for GTA root pass The MSI is calculated as the total length of microcracks
per unit of surface and is determined as follows:
Current (A) Voltage (V) Welding speed (cm/min) E (kJ/cm)
LMF
112 9.4 9.5 7.1 MSI ¼ ð2Þ
w  l0
326 Weld World (2013) 57:323–333

Fig. 3 Current and voltage profiles of the CMT (left) und pulse-mix process (right)

where MSI denotes microfissure sensitivity indicator; LMF is Hardness measurements were performed across the welds
the total crack length of all detected microfissures, ≥0.1 mm; to obtain the hardness profiles in the weld metal, HAZ, and
w is the width of the specimen (before bending), 40 mm; and the base metal. Vickers hardness values were measured
l0 is the length of the test area (before bending), 30 mm. under a load of 9.81 N(HV1).
All mechanical testing was performed on at least two
2.5 Mechanical testing specimens per condition to increase the results of the degree
of precision.
Tensile tests were carried out on transverse weld specimens
at room temperature with a nominal extension rate of
10 mm/min. The tensile test specimens were prepared 3 Results and discussion
according to DINENISO4136:2011. The specimens were
flat with a thickness of 12 mm and had a reduced area 3.1 Metallographic evaluation
section width of 25 mm and a 120-mm length.
Bend testing was done with 10-mm-thick transverse side Both modified dip arc processes were characterized by high
bend test specimens (SBB) and 12-mm-thick transverse face process stability when welding under optimized welding
bend test specimens (TFBB). The diameter of the former conditions. Due to the digitally controlled process a virtually
was 30 and 50 mm, respectively. In both cases the bending spatter-free metal transfer was obtained and resulted in
angle was 180°. All of the testing was done in accordance excellent weld surface appearance superior to those com-
with DINENISO5173:2012. monly seen in GMA welding (Fig. 5). Furthermore, the
The Charpy impact test according to DINENISO148- thermocouple temperature data showed that the reduced
1:2011 was conducted on the welds at room temperature energy input per unit length of the CMT and pulse-mix
with the standard 55×10×10 mm specimens. The speci- process resulted in a higher cooling rate after each pass.
mens were machined perpendicular to the welding direction Consequently the manufacturing time for the multi-layer
with the notch in the center of the weld metal. butt welds was up to 30–50 % lower when using CMT

Table 3 Optimized parameters for GMA welding

GMA welding No. of passes Welding parameters Eper pass Etotal

process (kJ/cm) (kJ/cm)
Welding speed Wire feed Current (A) Voltage (V)
(cm/min) (m/min)

CMT 14 70 7.8–11.3 159–187 19.5–24.4 2.7–3.9 45.7

Pulse-mix 14 70 8.5–11.2 156–199 21.6–27.9 2.9–4.7 52.9
Pulsed arc 13 45–65 7.8–8.4 147–196 30.4–32.5 4.6–7.8 69.4
Weld World (2013) 57:323–333 327

Fig. 4 Longitudinal bend

specimen (dimensions in mm)

and pulse-mix welding as compared to pulsed arc welding process. Due to the lower heat input of the modified dip arc
(Fig. 6). processes, the CMT and pulse-mix welded joints exhibited a
A macroscopic view of the polished and etched weld smaller HAZ as compared to pulsed arc welding.
cross-sections is shown in Fig. 7 illustrating a reliable fusion In all produced welded joints, surface cracks in the top
to the groove face and among the individual weld beads for layer weld metal were observed by dye penetrant testing.
all welded joints. However, the fusion to the groove face of The cracks had a length of about 1.5 mm or less and
the low heat input welded joints is slightly less than that of occurred adjacent to the bead fusion lines running perpen-
the pulsed arc welded joint. The bead sequence in the dicular to the weld seam direction, i.e., in the weld metal
bottom area of these joints had to be changed to reliably HAZ of the last pass (Fig. 9a). The surface cracking in the
avoid lack of fusion. Using the CMT and pulse-mix process, top layer weld metal is attributed to the high restraint when
the first layer was made off two stringer beads instead of welding. There was no significant difference between the
only one stringer bead as with pulsed arc welding. Never- modified dip arc welded joints and the pulsed arc welds in
theless, for all used GMA welding processes, a precise terms of number, size or location of the surface cracking.
positioning of the wire was necessary to avoid lack-of- The metallographic evaluation of weld cross-sections
fusion defects particularly when welding the first layer. revealed non-surface cracking in all produced welded joints.
For all produced welded joints, the fusion zone microstruc- However, there were only a few microcracks observed, a
ture is completely austenitic with a fine dendritic structure and total number of 1–4 for all cross-sections of each welded
contains small particles dispersed in the matrix. The higher joint. The characteristic zones of hot cracking found in the
cooling rates when using modified dip arc welding resulted in multi-layer butt welds of alloy 617 are schematically shown
a slightly finer microstructure of the weld metal. The HAZ of in Fig. 9. Besides the described surface cracks in the top
all welds was characterized by carbide dissolution. No grain layer, microcracks occurred in two distinctive zones of the
growth occurred. An overview of the HAZ of the CMT and welded joints.
pulsed arc weld is shown in Fig. 8. It can be seen that the All weld metals exhibited some microcracks in the upper
intergranular and intragranular carbides of the base metal half of the weld cross-sections. The cracks ranged from
microstructure were dissolved by the heat input of the welding

Fig. 5 Weld surface appearance of CMT (top) and pulse-mix (bottom) Fig. 6 Reduction of manufacturing time for multi-layer butt welds of
welded joints alloy 617 using CMT and pulse-mix process
328 Weld World (2013) 57:323–333

Fig. 7 Optical macrographs of

polished and etched sections of
the CMT (a), pulse-mix (b) and
pulsed arc (c) welded joints

~0.025 to 1 mm in length and occurred almost exclusively The weld metal liquation cracks were observed more close-
just below the top layer in underlying weld beads which ly by EPMA and EDS analysis, which indicated a significant
constitute the HAZ of subsequent passes. Examples are shown enrichment of molybdenum in the interdendritic regions of
in Fig. 10 illustrating that the microcracks formed along weld alloy 617 weld metal. The SEM micrograph in Fig. 11 clearly
metal grain boundaries adjacent to the bead fusion line. Based illustrates the interdendritic crack path. The EDS spectrum at
on their location, they can therefore be regarded as cracks in the crack tip (B, C) and the dendrite core (A) shows that a
reheated weld metal and were classified as weld metal liqua- higher concentration of molybdenum was present in the li-
tion cracks. This type of microcracking has frequently been quation cracking region. A strong partitioning of molybdenum
reported in multi-layer welds of alloy 617 and other nickel- to the terminal interdendritic liquid of alloy 617 weld metal
based alloys [2, 9–11]. However, some of the cracking may has already been reported by [12].
also be of a ductility-dip origin, because both type of cracking Another type of cracking, which was found in the pro-
may occur in the reheated weld metal of nickel-based welds duced welded joints occurred in the HAZ of the base metal
and are difficult to differentiate [10]. immediately adjacent to the weld fusion line. The
The metallographic examination of the weld cross- microcracks formed intergranular along liquated base metal
sections showed that the low heat input by the use of the grain boundaries as illustrated in Fig. 12. It was evident that
modified dip arc welding processes did not lead to an the HAZ liquation cracks appeared where the coarse carbide
avoidance of weld metal liquation cracking. Because of stringers of the base metal microstructure (see Section 2.1)
the small amount of cracks found in cross-sections no quan- cross the fusion line of the weld. The local melting temper-
titative difference in microcracking was determined when ature of the grain boundaries is suppressed by the dissolu-
compared to pulsed arc welding. tion of carbides and sufficient strain can promote cracking.

Fig. 8 Close view of the heat

affected zone of the CMT (left)
and pulsed arc (right) welded
joint
Weld World (2013) 57:323–333 329

Fig. 9 Schematic illustration of cracks in the multi-layer welded joints of alloy 617. a Surface cracks in the top layer weld metal at bead fusion
lines. b Microcracks in reheated weld metal in the upper layers. c Liquation cracks in the base metal HAZ

Fig. 10 Weld metal liquation

cracking in multi-layer pulse-
mix welded joint of alloy 617

Fig. 11 EDS results of

interdendritic area at a crack tip
in pulsed arc weld metal of
alloy 617
330 Weld World (2013) 57:323–333

Fig. 12 Liquation cracking in

the base metal HAZ of the
pulsed arc welded joint of alloy
617

Liquation cracking in the base metal HAZ has frequently the determined MSI values vary in a wide range for all
been observed in arc welded joints of alloy 617 [2–4, 13]. In tested welded joints.
the present study, HAZ liquation cracks were only found in LBT testing judged the pulsed arc welded joint as being
the weld cross-sections of the pulsed arc and pulse-mix most crack resistant and revealed an immense variation
welded joints. Additionally, LBT testing, however, revealed among individual results. A possible reason for this is seen
that this type of cracks also occurred in the lowest heat input in the extraction of the specimens from the welds. The
weld, made by CMT welding. longitudinal bend specimens were machined 1 mm below
the plate surface for all welded joints. However, the cross-
sections of the welds (Fig. 7) show that, despite the bend
3.2 LBT tests specimen extraction was always at the same position
through the thickness of the plates, the more reinforced
Results from LBT testing are presented in Table 4 and weld beads of the modified dip arc processes resulted in
Fig. 13. Before bending in the polished and etched condi- a test surface located in a different layer of the welded
tion, no microcracks were found on the specimens. In those joints as for the pulsed arc weld. The test surfaces of
cases where microcracks did exist, they were only made the CMT and pulse-mix welded specimens were largely
visible by the bending process. Figure 13 shows the bended located just among the top layer, which is the area
specimens with black markings around the microcracks. It where the most microcracks in the reheated weld metal
can be seen that the examination of the longitudinal bend were observed by metallographic examination of the
specimens revealed a lot of differences in terms of number weld cross-sections (see Section 3.1). Because of the
and location of the observed microcracks not only between less reinforcement when pulsed arc welding the test
the different welding processes used but also between spec- surface of these specimens is located in a lower level
imens taken from one welded joint. of the weld, which was according to the metallographic
Microcracks occurred predominantly at or near the bead examination less susceptible to cracking.
fusion lines in the weld metal or in the base metal HAZ The LBT tests indicated the existence of microcracks in
adjacent to the weld. In one pulsed arc specimen no cracks all produced welded joints. Because of the shape of the
were detected. There was more microcracking observed in specimens a much bigger area of the welds can be reliably
the LBT specimens produced with the CMT and pulse-mix tested for microcracking than by metallographic examina-
process than in the pulsed arc welded specimens. However, tion of weld cross-sections. The LBT test however appeared

Table 4 Results of longitudinal

bend tests. Determination of GMA welding Total heat input No. of Total LMF (mm) Area of examination MSI
microfissure sensitivity indicator process (kJ/cm) specimen (mm2) (10−3 mm−1)
(MSI)
CMT 41.4 1 3.84 70 54.86
2 0.39 70 5.57
3 1.21 70 17.29
Pulse-mix 47.3 1 2.65 70 37.86
2 0.74 70 10.57
Pulsed arc 71.6 1 0.11 70 1.57
2 0 70 0
3 1.12 70 16.00
Weld World (2013) 57:323–333 331

CMT
pulse-mix

no third
specimen
pulsed arc

Fig. 13 Microcracks in longitudinal bend specimens (red dotted line fusion line)

not to be suitable to determine a quantitative difference in 3.3 Mechanical properties

the occurrence of microcracks in the modified dip arc
welded joints as compared to the pulsed arc welds due to a The results of the tensile tests conducted on the produced
different bead sequence. welded joints are listed in Table 5. It can be seen that all

Table 5 Tensile properties and Charpy V-notch impact energy of the GMA welded joints at room temperature

GMA welding Total heat input Tensile properties Impact

process (kJ/cm) energy (J)
Yield strength Ultimate tensile Total elongation, Location
Rp0.2 (MPa) strength Rm (MPa) A (%) of failure

CMT 45.7 342±0 761±2 61±2 Weld metal 179±6

Pulse-mix 52.9 372±0 759±3 59±6 Base metal/weld metal 170±7
Pulsed arc 69.4 329±46 764±2 52±1 Base metal/weld metal 179±2
332 Weld World (2013) 57:323–333

Fig. 14 Hardness profiles

across of the CMT, pulse-mix
and pulsed arc welded joints

welded joints exhibited comparable tensile properties. Both length the CMT and pulse-mix welded joints exhibited a
CMT specimens ruptured in the weld metal, whereas the good fusion to the groove face. Lack-of-fusion defects
failure of the pulse-mix and pulsed arc specimens occurred could be reliably avoided by adjusting the bead sequence.
in each case in the base and the weld metal. This is attributed 2. The lower heat input of the modified dip arc processes
to the very comparable tensile properties of the used alloy 617 did not prevent microcracking in the multi-layer welds
filler metal and the solution annealed base metal. The results of alloy 617. All produced welded joints exhibited
of the tensile tests therefore confirm the suitable tensile prop- cracks in characteristic regions of the weld seam. The
erties of the produced low heat input welded joints. crack path is located predominantly at or near bead
Table 5 also shows the results of the Charpy impact test. fusion lines in the weld metal or in the base metal
It can be seen that there is no influence on the toughness of HAZ adjacent to the weld. Weld metal liquation crack-
the weld metal related to the heat input. The values of the ing formed interdendritic with a significant enrichment
modified dip arc welded joints are much higher than the of Mo at the crack tip. HAZ liquation cracking of the
filler material manufacturers’ requirements (100 J) and base metal is connected with the carbide stringers of the
equivalent to that of the pulsed arc specimens. All fracture base metal microstructure.
surfaces showed a fully ductile fracture. 3. The modified dip arc welded joints exhibited acceptable
Side bend and transverse face bend testing was tensile properties and impact toughness equivalent to
performed in order to identify ductility and micro-defects pulsed arc welding. The mechanical properties were not
of the welds. All of the bended surfaces of each weld passed influenced by the presence of the observed microcracks.
without remarks, no cracks occurred on the surfaces. Thus,
the detected microcracks in the cross-sections of all welded
Acknowledgements These tests were funded by the Federal Ministry of
joints (see Fig. 9) did not lead to premature cracking of the Economics and Technology (BMWi) assisted by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft
bended surfaces. The relative low fusion to the groove face industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen (AiF—industrial research consor-
of the modified dip arc welded joints (see Section 3.1) had tium) “Otto von Guericke” e.V. (IGF-No. 16.316 B/DVS-No. 01.069) and
supported by the DVS Forschungsvereinigung Schweißen und verwandte
also no influence on the results of the bend tests.
Verfahren e.V. (DVS — German Research Association on Welding and
The hardness profiles across the weld fusion line of the Allied Processes). The authors gratefully acknowledge the support.
CMT, pulse-mix and pulsed arc welded joints are shown in
Fig. 14. The results indicated that the hardness in the HAZ
and weld metal obtained with the modified dip arc processes
was equivalent to that of the pulsed arc welds. References

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