Abstract
Many pressure vessels for the hot H$\sub$2//H$\sub$2/S service are made of 2+1/4Cr-1Mo steel with austenitic stainless steel overlay to combat agressive corrosion due to hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen dissolves in to materials during operation, and sometimes gives rise to unfore-seeable damages. Appropriate precautions must, therefore, be taken to avoid the hydrogen induced damages in the design, fabrication and operation stage of such reactor vessels. Recently, hydrogeninduced cracking (or Disbonding) was found at the interface between base metal and stainless weld overlay of a desulfurizing reactor. Since the stainless steel overlay weld metal is subjected to thermal and internal-pressure loads in reactor operation, it is desirable for the overlay weld metal to have high strength and ductility from the stand point of structural safety. In section III of ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Post-Weld Heat Treatment(PWHT) of more than one hour per inch at over 1100.deg. F(593.deg. C) is required for the weld joints of low alloy pressure vessel steels. This heat treatment to relieve stresses in the welded joint during construction of the pressure vessel is considered to cause sensitization of the overlay weld metal. The present study was carried out to make clear the diffusion of carbon migration by PWHT in dissimilar metal welded joint. The main conclusion reached from this study are as follows: 1) The theoretical analysis for diffusion of carbon in stainless steel overlay weld metal does not agree with Fick's 2nd law but the general law of molecular diffusion phenomenon by thermodynamic chemical potential. 2) In the stainless steel overlay welded joint, the PWHT at 720.deg. C for 10 hours causes a diffusion of carbon atoms from ferritic steel into austenitic steel according to the theoretical analysis for carbon migration and its experiment. 3) In case of PWHT at 720.deg. C for 10 hours, the micro-hardness of stainless steel weld metal in bonded zone increase very highly in the carburized layer with remarkable hardening than that of weld metal.
