Weldability of High N, High Mn

Austenitic Stainless Steel

Relationships

among N, P, S and ferrite content with

respect to weld appearance and hot
cracking are determined
BY J. A. BROOKS

ABSTRACT. This study demonstrates

that electron beam weldability of high
N, high Mn austenitic stainless steel is
directly related to N content. However, because the nitrogen values reported vary significantly between laboratories, the effect of nitrogen content on the relative weldability is often
disguised.
In studying the relationship between P and S impurities, ferrite content, and hot cracking, it was found
that ferrite is very effective in reducing hot cracking during gas tungsten-arc w e l d i n g . Hull's m o d i f i e d
Schaeffler diagram is found to accurately predict the ferrite content for the
new nitrogen strengthened stainless
steels.
Introduction
In recent years, the yield strengths
of austenitic stainless steels have
been approximately doubled by increasing the nitrogen content. Besides performing as an interstitial
solid solution strengthening agent,
nitrogen has been added to these
steels to replace nickel as an austenite stabilizer. The stabilization prevents transformations to e and '
martensites. The net result is that
these steels now have increased yield
strength, high austenite stability, and
have been shown to have good hydrogen compatibility (Refs. 1, 2). The one
potential d i s a d v a n t a g e associated
with the addition of the nitrogen is that
0.2 to 0.4% nitrogen would be expected to affect weldability. Within at
least two agencies, the AEC and
J. A. BROOKS is a member of the technical staff, Materials Characterization Division, Sandia Laboratories, Livermore,
California 94550.
Paper was presented at the 55th AWS
Annual Meeting held at Houston, Texas,
May 6-10. 1974.

NASA, one of these alloys, 21-6-9* (21

Cr, 6 Ni, 9 Mn, - 0.3 N), has indeed
developed a reputation for being unpredictable in its electron beam welding behavior. During electron beam
welding, eruptions often occur in the
weld that result in excessive weld
splatter, concavity, and porosity.
Large heat-to-heat variations in weld
behavior exist: however, no correlations between heat chemistries and
electron beam weldability have been
established. Weld quality is extremely weld parameter dependent (Refs. 3,
4) and often not reproducible from
one weld to the next.
Another characteristic of 21-6-9
that must be defined is its hot cracking susceptibility. Delta ferrite is
usually, but not always, present in the
weld deposits. Although it seems likely that delta ferrite would be beneficial in reducing hot cracking in this
alloy just as it is in the AISI 300 series
alloys, a positive answer awaits a
determination of the relationship between detrimental impurities such as
phosphorus and sulfur, ferrite c o n tent, and weld cracking. Furthermore, until very recently, diagrams
such as the Schaeffler Diagram were
not available for predicting weld ferrite content from c h e m i c a l c o m position.
The objectives of the study described in this paper include (1) better understanding of observed variations in electron beam welding behavior of 21-6-9, (2) determining the
relationship between the quantity of
ferrite and P + S content with weld
hot cracking, and (3) predicting weld
ferrite content from heat chemistry.
Explanation of the beneficial effect of
ferrite in reducing hot cracking is outside the scope of this study.

'ARMCO Steel Corporation trade name

also referred to as Nitronic 40
WELDING

Material
To cover the entire commercial
allowable range of nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur (Table 1), thirteen
20-lb experimental heats of 21-6-9
type stainless steel were induction
melted. Variations in c h r o m i u m ,
nickel and nitrogen were used to vary
the ferrite content from zero to the
maximum expected to form in this
alloy. The major alloying materials
were 99.9% pure, with additions of
iron carbide, ferrous sulfide. and iron
diphosphide to achieve the desired
carbon, phosphorus and sulfur levels.
To obtain the desired nitrogen content, the samples were melted under
various nitrogen pressures, and/or
c h r o m i u m n i t r i d e was a d d e d .
Nitrogen analysis was determined by
two techniques Keljdahl and inert
gas fusion and the oxygen content
was d e t e r m i n e d by n e u t r o n a c tivation. The chemistries of all exp e r i m e n t a l heats a n d one c o m mercial heat used in the study are
shown in Table 2. As shown, some
elements are outside the commercial
specification. Also shown in Table 2
are four commercial heats of other
nitrogen strengthened alloys used
only for electron beam welding.
All experimental ingots were hot
forged at 1200 C to about 2.5 cm
thick, hot rolled at 980 C to 0.9 cm
thick and 15 cm wide, and cold rolled
15% to a final thickness of about 0.75
cm. All test specimens were then
annealed at 1040 C for 1 h, which
produced a uniform grain size of
about ASTM 5.
All alloys could be separated by inclusion content into two general
groups those below about 0.35 wt%
nitrogen, and those with higher nitrogen levels. The i n c l u s i o n s w e r e
studied using an energy dispersive
x-ray spectrometer associated with a
RESEARCH

SUPPLEMENT!

189-s

scanning electron microscope (SEM)

and a transmission electron microscope (TEM). Both groups of alloys
contained inclusions heavily e n riched in manganese and sulfur
(probably MnS), which is not surprising because of the high sulfur
content of many of the heats. Both
groups also contained inclusions as
large as 10 microns and enriched in
manganese and silicon. These inclusions were tentatively identified as
manganese silicates. The high
n i t r o g e n heats c o n t a i n e d m a n y
smaller inclusions ranging from
several tenths to about 3 microns in
Table 1 Commercial 21-6-9 Composition
Chromium
Nickel
Nitrogen
Manganese
Carbon
Silicon
Phosphorus
Sulfur
Iron

19.00-21.50
5.50-7.50
0.15-0.40
8.00-10.00
0.08 max
1.00 max
0.060 max
0.030 max
Balance

size. Energy dispersive spectroscopy

s h o w e d t h e s e p a r t i c l e s to b e
chromium rich, and TEM diffraction
patterns indicated the particles to be
C r 2 N . E x a m p l e s of t h e m i c r o structures of these two groups of
heats are shown in Fig. 1.
Electron B e a m W e l d i n g
Several possible causes have been
advanced for the welding behavior of
21-6-9. First, it has been suggested
that the poor welding behavior and
heat-to-heat variations are caused by
the presence of manganese rich oxides (Ref. 5) which volatize under the
electron beam and cause eruption of
the weld puddle. Therefore, weldability may be directly related to oxygen content. Second, electron microprobe analysis of both electron beam
and laser welds in 21-6-9 shows that a
10-15 percent loss of manganese occurs during single pass welds, while
no loss occurs during GTA welding
(Ref. 6). Thus, the rapid vaporization
of free manganese in the weld cavity
may be associated with the unstable

Fig. 1 Typical microstructures described in text. (Left) low nitrogen heats (heat 227 .23% N). (Right) high nitrogen heats (heat 225 - .47% N) exhibiting fine Cr2Nparticles. Unetched, same magnification

electron b e a m w e l d i n g behavior.
Third, it has been shown that the solubility of nitrogen in nickel under a
welding arc is about 60 times its solubility in nickel m e l t e d by normal
methods. While the molten nickel
pool is solidifying outside the arc,
nitrogen is vigorously evolved, resulting in weld porosity (Ref. 7). When a
high nitrogen alloy is melted in the
vacuum of an electron beam welding
chamber where again the liquid is
supersaturated, rapid evolution of
nitrogen may occur in a similar
manner with the result that weld defects are formed.
Results
Effects of Mn. To determine the effect of manganese on electron beam
weldability, welding tests were conducted on one heat each of four nitrogen-strengthened austenitic stainless steels with different manganese
contents: 304N (1.73 Mn, 0.25 N), 2213-5 (4.68 Mn, 0.32 N), 21-6-9 (9.58
Mn, 0.34 N), and 18-2 Mn (13.3 Mn,
0.34 N). These four alloys covered a
wide range of manganese; however,
their nitrogen contents were the same
except for the 304N, which had about
0 . 1 % less nitrogen (Table 2).
Autogenous welds were made in 6
m m thick plates using five sets of
welding parameters, all with sharp
focus and 125 c m / m i n welding speed.
The current and voltage were a d justed to produce penetrations from 1
to 6 m m with a 150 KV, 40 mA, welding machine. Surface appearance of
these welds indicated the following
behavior:
1. None of the high n i t r o g e n strengthened alloy heats exhibited
acceptable behavior for every set of
parameters used except for a 304L
control sample.
2. In general, shallow welds (~1
mm) in all alloys exhibited unsatis-

Table 2 Heat Compositions

i

Heat
225
233
227
258
260
257
180
261
254
262
255
263
256
6711*
304N*
22-13-5*
21-6-9*
18-2Mn*

Ni

Cr

5.3
6.72
7.46
7.46
7.58
7.58
7.84
7.60
7.56
7.53
7.53
7.12
7.12
6.7
8.35
12.42
6.65
1.58

18.0
21.0
18.2
18.2
18.8
18.8
19.7
19.7
19.6
19.9
19.9
20.1
20.1
19.5
19.75
21.19
20.42
18.07

'Commercial heats

190-8 I J U N E

1975

Mn
7.67
8.52
8.96
8.96
8.43
8.43
9.13
8.63
8.85
8.70
8.70
8.55
8.55
8.90
1.73
4.68
9.58
13.31

SI

Keljdahl

0.026
0.010
0.060
0.018
0.033
0.041
0.037
0.040
0.044
0.033
0.035
0.025
0.035
0.030
0.030
0.042
0.034
0.098

0.22
0.25
0.24
0.24
0.17
0.17
0.26
0.19
0.27
0.17
0.17
0.19
0.19
0.16
0.39
0.41
0.20
0.72

.008
.009
.031
.030
.021
.026
.017
.029
.029
.024
.024
.034
.033
.007

.008
.007
.048
.063
.038
.035
.023
.075
.073
.037
.036
.073
.071
.013

0.10
0.22
0.23
0.52
0.20
0.47
0.46
0.20
0.53
0.11
0.47
0.17
0.42

Nitrogen
Inert gas
fusion
.12
.27
.26
.22
.54
22
.14
.16
44
.34

Avg.
.11
.24
.24
.52
.21
.47
.50
.21
.53
.12
47
.16
.43
.34
.25
.32
.34
.34

Oxygen, p p m
Neutron
activation
83
185
105
58
244
137
65
224
108
285
70
340
61

factory appearance with the weld

parameters used.
3. At the deeper penetrations (~5
mm), all welds had acceptable surface appearance.
The fact that all these alloys behaved similarly clearly indicated that
manganese alone is not responsible
for the erratic welding behavior. However, since only one heat of each alloy
was examined and only a limited
number of tests were conducted, no
definite conclusions can be reached
as to which of these alloys may be the
most weldable.
Effects of N and O. Specimens of
the e x p e r i m e n t a l heats shown in
Table 2 were tested to determine the
effect of nitrogen and oxygen on elect r o n beam w e l d i n g . Four sets of
parameters were again used for a u togenous welds to determine the relative weldability of these heats. The
weldability of these e x p e r i m e n t a l
heats ranged from virtually unweldable to smooth welding approaching
that of 304 (Fig. 2). Table 3 shows the
excellent correlation between surface appearance and nitrogen content, but no obvious correlation with
oxygen content.

Discussion

pass weld. This is a high rate of nitrogen loss since the metal is molten for
only of the order of 0.1 second. Note
in Table 4 the discrepancy between
the vendor's and laboratory analysis
of t h e n i t r o g e n c o n t e n t s . T h e s e
analytical discrepancies have been
experienced at other laboratories as
well. Therefore, the relative weldability of different commercial heats
was not previously associated directly with the nitrogen analysis because
the analysis often did not reflect actual nitrogen content. (The early
laboratory analysis in Table 4 was
later found to be incorrect.)
The excellent correlation between
high nitrogen content and poor weldability shown in this study can be related to the nature of the cavity
formed during electron beam welding. Both x-ray techniques (Refs. 10,
11) and high speed photography (Ref.
12) have shown the cavity to be very

The nitrogen solubility of 21-6-9

under one atmosphere of nitrogen at
1600 C can be approximated from the
work of Humbert and Elliott (Ref. 8). If
one assumes manganese is about
half as effective as c h r o m i u m in
affecting nitrogen solubility as it is
in pure iron at alloying levels of 5%
(Ref. 9) the predicted nitrogen
solubility under one a t m o s p h e r e
nitrogen at 1600 C is about 0.38%.
The e q u i l i b r i u m nitrogen c o n t e n t
would be several thousand times less
during welding under a 10"
torr
vacuum. Therefore, nitrogen losses
would be expected during the electron beam welding process.
The nitrogen content of the base
metal and electron beam weld fusion
zone found in two commercial heats is
given in Table 4. As shown, a 10-15%
loss in nitrogen occurred in a single

D
B

Table 3 Effect of N and O on

Weld Appearance
Decreasing weld
appearance, heat

Nitrogen,
wt%*

Oxygen,
Ppm

225
262
263
261
233
260
227
256
255
257
254
258

.11
.12
.16
.21
.24
.21
.24
.43
.47
.47
.53
.52

83
285
340
224
185
244
105
61
70
137
108
58

rgn

*-" ^^'w^giM^^^ag^gafcs

B- I

;
A"*>

%m
Heat 253

U 0.21%

Fig. 2 Effect of nitrogen

center

'Average value

on weld quality.

0 ' 224 ppm

Four electron

He3t 227

N 0.2

0 - lOOpprr

beam welds with GTA weld in

CAVITY

CONCAVITY

t3

Fig. 3 Possible mechanism

from right to left

of defect formation

showing

t4

the unstable

behavior

t6
of the weld cavity at different

WELDING

times as the weld

moves

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191-8

Table 5 Typical Dependence of N Loss and Ferrite Number

on GTA Arc Length for 4060 ppm N Base Metal

Table 4 Nitrogen Loss in a Single Pass Electron Beam Weld,

ppm by wt.
Laboratory analysis*
Sample

plate

weld

% loss

Vendor's
analysis.
plate

78
95

2740
2060

2480
1730

9.5
16.0

3400
3100

Arc gap.
mm
.75
1.25
2.80
3.30

N in weld,
ppm by wt
3260
3310
3450
3690

N loss,

20
18
15
9

FN
2.6
2.2

2.0
1.7

Note discrepancy between laboratory and vendor analyses

254

258

256
26I

jS

263

^ ^ * *

P-S-.I02 F.N .=0

N .53

P-S=.093 F.ts .=0

N:.52

/m
^**P-l=
^ t r

.\04
N+

F.f- . - 0

N=.*3

-IT
P-S-.ICM F.f .=5.5
N = .2I

^r

Fig. 4 Typical electron beam weld defects which can be explained by the mechanism illustrated in Fig. 3

Augmented Strain I per cent )

Fig. 5 Spot varestraint results showing

increased cracking with increasing P + S
for high nitrogen, zero ferrite heats
unstable and at times to completely
close or collapse. Weld defects such
as porosity and spiking have been attributed to this behavior (Refs. 10, 11).
Figure 3 illustrates how the erratic 2 1 6-9 electron beam welding behavior
can be related to this phenomenon. A
cavity is formed during welding (A)
but due to its very unstable behavior
starts to collapse (B). At this time a
void is formed (C) [which has been
proposed by Tong et al (Ref. 13) to be
a mechanism for the formation of root
porosity]. However, in the high nitrogen alloys, the degassing of the molten material can cause the void to
rapidly expand, expelling the molten
metal in the cavity (D). This loss of
192-8 I J U N E

1975

- T T T T I P T
i N

fj,

. -I?

Augmented Strain I percent

Fig. 6 Spot varestraint results showing

the effect of nitrogen and ferrite on weld
cracking at 0.1% (P + S)
material can result in excessive weld
splatter, concavity, and general poor
appearance (E). Several such defects which can be formed in this
manner are shown in Fig. 4.
The presence of inclusions must
also be considered as another source
of weld defects. The impingement of
the electron beam on large Cr 2 N particles in the high nitrogen heats can
produce a large quantity of gas resulting in metal expulsion from the weld
cavity. Oxide inclusions, proposed by
Mara (Ref. 5), may also be another
source of defects. However, the data
gathered in Table 3 show oxygen to
be a secondary effect compared to
nitrogen for the range of alloy contents investigated in this study.

G T A W e l d i n g Hot
C r a c k i n g Studies
Experimental Technique
Spot varestraint testing was used to
study the effect of chemistry on hot
cracking. This technique, described
in References 14 and 15, utilizes a
GTA torch to melt a spot in the center
of a 2.54 x 15.24 X 0.64 cm sample.
After a predetermined time, the arc is
extinguished and a ram beneath the
sample is actuated. The ram, holding
an interchangeable radius die block,
rapidly deforms the sample into the
shape of the die. The augmented tangential strain is e ~ t/2R, where t =
specimen thickness and R = die
block radius.

The weld parameters used were

130 A and a 3.3 mm electrode gap. An
argon shield was used during a welding time of eight seconds. The ram,
traveling at 50 cm per second, struck
the specimen approximately 100 ms
after the arc was extinguished. Total
crack length in the weld fusion and
heat-affected zones was measured
under 30X magnification. Ferrite in
the weld deposit was measured using
the magne gage as recommended by
the Welding Research Council (WRC)
(Ref. 16). In all cases, ferrite content is
reported by ferrite number (FN) rather
than percent. (Up to about 7% ferrite,
the FN is approximately equal to the
percent ferrite when measured by the
above technique.)
Hot Cracking Results
The GTA welding behavior, like
electron beam welding, was found to
be very dependent upon the nitrogen
content (Fig. 2). During welding of the
high nitrogen heats (N > 0.4%), evolution of nitrogen occurred which resulted in weld pool eruptions, excessive splatter, and weld irregularity. In
general, this behavior resulted in
significantly more scatter of the varestraint data than observed for lower
nitrogen heats. (The high nitrogen
heats are not within the allowable
commercial 21-6-9 specification.)
When examining the varestraint
data in determining the relative hot
c r a c k i n g susceptibility of several
alloys, it seems that emphasis should
be placed on the critical strain required to first produce cracking. This
value should be more closely related
to the amount of constraint required
in an actual w e l d m e n t to initiate
cracking than the relative amount of
cracking that occurs at a large overtest, such as 5% augmented strain.
Figure 5 shows the effect of the
sum of phosphorus and sulfur ( P +
S) on the hot cracking of the high N
heats with no ferrite. Several observations can be made from Fig. 5:
1. With P + S a 0 . 1 % cracking occurred with no augmented strain.
2. When P + S was reduced from
- 0 . 1 0 % to ^ 0 . 0 6 % c r a c k i n g decreased, and 0.5% strain was needed
to initiate cracking.
3. When P + S was further reduced
from 0.06% to 0.04% the susceptibility to cracking was further reduced.
No cracking occurred at 0.5% aug-

mented strain but significant cracking occurred at 1 % strain.

Figure 6 shows the effect of nitrogen and ferrite on weld cracking at
0 . 1 % P + S levels. The following o b servations can be made:
1. When nitrogen is reduced from
~ 0 . 5 % to ~ 0 . 4 % the amount of cracking is significantly reduced. However,
cracking still resulted in the absence
of ferrite with 0.4% nitrogen and
1.04% P + S and zero augmented
strain.
2. About 5% ferrite, FN = 5.5, is very
effective in reducing hot cracking.
With this quantity of ferrite, 1 % augmented
strain
barely
initiated
cracking.
3. When the FN was increased from
5.5 to 12.0, the cracking resistance
was only slightly improved. Again,
cracking just started to occur at 1 %
augmented strain.
Figure 7 shows the effect of different P + S levels on cracking in the
presence of ferrite, FN = 2.5. Figure 7
indicates that:
1. The increase in P + S from 0.06%
to 0.10% (heats 260 and 261) did not
result in any increase in cracking
when the ferrite was increased from
FN = 1.75 to 5.5.
2. When ferrite was held constant at
FN BS 2, a decrease in P + S from
0.06% to 0.03% had a significant
beneficial effect in that the critical
augmented strain required to cause
cracking increased by about 1 % .
3. Even at low levels of P + S (P + S =
0.02% and FN = 2), cracking resistance was further increased by increasing ferrite and reducing P + S.
At FN = 5.0 and P + S = 0.016%, no
cracking resulted even at 5% augmented strain.

constructed. DeLong el al (Ref. 18)

studied many weld deposits of the
AISI 300 series stainless steels. Using
the same equivalents as Schaeffler
did for his diagram, they improved the
accuracy of Schaeffler's d i a g r a m
through accurate measurements of
the ferrite and by inclusion of a nickel
equivalent for nitrogen of 30. However, in the high nitrogen 308. 308L
and 347 type alloys studied, the maximum nitrogen was still only about
0.12%.
Hull studied the ferrite content of
several different types stainless steels
and determined the chromium and
nickel equivalents of 13 alloying elements (Ref. 20). Nitrogen contents
were varied from 0 - 0.15% and
manganese from 0 - 20%. His study
agrees with an earlier study by Linnert (Ref. 21) which shows that
manganese does not continue to act
as a nickel equivalent at higher levels.

the beneficial effect of ferrite in

eliminating weld cracking has been
recognized for many years. However,
the amount of ferrite needed to maintain the same cracking resistance for
a given impurity content is not well
known. Therefore, from experience, a
ferrite level of 5% is usually c o n sidered desirable. This study has
shown that the quantity of ferrite required to maintain the same cracking
resistance increases as impurity
levels (P and S) increase. The importance of being able to predict the
amount of ferrite formed in the weld
deposit led to the development of the
well known diagrams of Schaeffler
and DeLong (Refs. 17-19). These
diagrams, however, were developed
mainly for the AISI 300 series stainless steels. As shown by this study,
the ability to predict the ferrite c o n tent of the newer high nitrogen, high
manganese alloys is also desirable.
Two diagrams are now available
which consider the austenitizing effect of N: the DeLong diagram and the
recently published Hull's modified
Schaeffler diagram (Ref. 20). The
measured versus calculated values of
ferrite for some of the heats in Table 2
are illustrated for these two diagrams
in Fig. 8. As shown in Fig. 8(A), Hull's
diagram predicts within several percent the amount of ferrite which actually formed. Figure 8(B) shows that
the DeLong diagram severely underestimates the quantity of ferrite that
forms in these alloys. Analysis of the
weld deposit showed that no measurable nitrogen loss occurred in the
welds which the ferrite content for Fig.
8 was determined. Therefore, nitrogen loss was not responsible for the
DeLong's diagram underestimate of
ferrite content.
The limitations of the DeLong
diagram for the high nitrogen, high
manganese alloy can be understood
by examining how the diagram was

Discussion
Ferrite Prediction. The detrimental
effect of phosphorus and sulfur and
22
Ferrite Number

?A

7>>

uT\

11

?6I

-EJ-

P-S-.I04 F.I

15

Augmented Strain (percent )

Fig. 7 Spot varestraint results showing

the effect of different P + S levels on
cracking in the presence of ferrite. Ferrite
numbers 2-5

Heot F . N .

20

IX

256 0.0
227 0.5
260 1.75
233 5.0
261 5.5
225 11.2
263 12.0
262 13.5

Austen te

o
4-

<

cy

ES

**

<r\

o.o

16

21
9n

19
18

/
0.5/

14
12

'

2.j
/

17

^
^

16

/5.0
/|3.5I2.0

10

cr

13

LU

Austen te-t- Delta Ferrite

8
1'

IS

14

i ?,

14

16

22
18
20
Erjuivalent Cr

24

26

28

"5

12

||
IU

C r + 1.21 Mo + .48 Si + 2.27 V + .72 W + 2 . 2 0 Ti

.14 Cb-t- 21 T a + 2 . 4 8 A

Fig. 8 Measured

ferrite number

vs predicted

Austenite & Ferrite

ferrite content

17

IS

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

Cromium E q u i v a l e n t s C r + % M o + 1.5 x % Si + 0.5 x % Cb

of heats used in this study. A Hull Diagram:

WELDING

B DeLong

Diagram

RESEARCH SUPPLEMENT!

193-8

Sffljfll

SC

Fig. 9 Electron Microprobe Computer Imaging showing that low melting grain boundary
films responsible for cracking are highly enriched in Mn and P. S is tied up in discrete MnS
particles. (Heat 256)

Hull shows that after a b o u t 4 % ,

manganese no longer continues to act
as a nickel equivalent, but further
a d d i t i o n s start to act as f e r r i t e
formers. This effect of manganese explains the limitations of the DeLong
d i a g r a m to s e v e r a l
percent
manganese. Since the DeLong diagram was developed for the 300
series alloys, it cannot be expected to
predict ferrite in drastically different
alloy systems. However, the DeLong
diagram shows a stronger austenitizing effect for nitrogen than the Hull
diagram a nickel equivalent of 30
vs 18.4 for that of Hull. This means
that even for alloys which have low
manganese but high nitrogen, the
DeLong diagram may still underestimate the amount of ferrite formed.
Nitrogen Loss. It was found that nitrogen losses can occur during GTA
welding, especially with the high nitrogen heats. Results in Table 5 were
taken from autogenous welds made
at 250 A, 20 c m / m i n welding speed,
and argon shielding with varying arc
lengths. Table 5 shows that as the arc
length was increased, nitrogen loss
during welding decreased. Also, as
expected, as the nitrogen loss increased, the ferrite content in the
194-s I J U N E

1975

weld deposit also increased. It was

also observed that long arc lengths
resulted in much less weld metal
eruptions, especially in the high nitrogen heats. This behavior, and the
effect of arc length on nitrogen loss,
may be related to observations made
by Hull during his studies. He observed that when melting high nitrogen alloys the nitrogen solubility in the
liquid appeared to decrease with increased temperature (Ref. 22). Therefore, lower weld metal temperatures
resulting from long arc lengths are
probably the cause of decreased nitrogen loss and smoother welding behavior. Changes in shielding gas mixtures which increase temperatures of
the arc would also be expected to increase nitrogen evolution. The 3.3
mm electrode gap during spot
varestraint testing was then used for
two reasons: (1) to prevent loss of
nitrogen and changes in ferrite c o n tent of the lower nitrogen heats, and
(2) to reduce nitrogen evolution for
smoother welding behavior of the
high nitrogen heats.
Ferrite-free Welds. It is well known
that both phosphorus and sulfur are
detrimental to weld cracking, especially in the absence of delta ferrite

This c r a c k i n g often results f r o m

segregation of phosphorus and sulfur
to d e n d r i t e b o u n d a r i e s d u r i n g
s o l i d i f i c a t i o n . The low m e l t i n g
phosphide and sulfide grain boundary films formed can separate under
welding stresses leaving c r a c k s .
Therefore, the most important factor
is not the quantity of impurity in the
alloy, but rather the morphology of
the phases formed by the impurity
(Ref. 23). It has been shown by
several investigators (Ref. 24) that as
the M n / S ratio is increased in a given
alloy, cracking caused by sulfur is decreased by forming MnS at the expense of low melting sulfide films.
However, in alloys in which the increased addition of Mn prevents the
formation of ferrite in a weld deposit
otherwise containing several percent
ferrite, manganese may appear detrimental.
The electron m i c r o p r o b e c o m puter imaging technique (Ref. 25)
used to study the partially liquated
region of the weld HAZ of zero ferrite
heats s h o w e d that m a n g a n e s e is
heavily segregated in a continuous
manner along grain boundaries. As
shown in Fig. 9, the sulfur is tied up as
discrete particles of MnS within these
boundaries. This morphology is not
detrimental to hot cracking. However, phosphorus is associated with
the manganese enriched grain boundaries and appears to be present as a
continuous film. Thus, low melting
grain boundary films highly enriched
in manganese and phosphorus a
Mn-P eutectic forms at 960 C (Ref. 24)
are mainly responsible for 21-6-9
hot cracking in the absence of ferrite.
The detrimental effect of nitrogen
on hot cracking of the high nitrogen,
zero ferrite heats is possibly due to
the formation of a nitrogen-rich eutectic. In a similar alloy (17.5 Cr, 13 Ni,
2.8 Mo, .03-.24% N), Janzon (Ref. 27)
found that when the solubility of
nitrogen in austenite is exceeded, the
hot ductility is impaired by the f o r m a tion of a M 6 X-austenite eutectic. He
also found that the amount of eutectic
present in the cast s t r u c t u r e increases as the nitrogen content is
raised, thus decreasing the hot ductility. Omsen and Eliasson (Ref. 28)
also concluded that the M 6 X-austenite
eutectic was r e s p o n s i b l e for the
a b o v e b e h a v i o r . H o w e v e r , no
nitrogen-rich eutectic was directly
observed in this study.
Conclusions
1. Eruptions of the electron beam
weld metal that cause excessive
splatter, concavity and porosity are
directly related to nitrogen content.
2. The electron beam weld quality
of the high nitrogen alloy is extremely
dependent on weld parameters.
3 Roth nitrogen and manganese

a r e l o s t in t h e e l e c t r o n b e a m w e l d i n g
process.
4 . N o c o r r e l a t i o n is o b s e r v e d b e tween either the o x y g e n or m a n ganese content and electron beam
weldability.
5. E x c e s s i v e e r u p t i o n s of t h e G T A
weld pool that cause porosity occur
w h e n t h e n i t r o g e n c o n t e n t of 2 1 - 6 - 9
exceeds a b o u t 0.35%. T h e critical
n i t r o g e n c o n t e n t is s o m e w h a t d e p e n dent on welding parameters, especially arc length.
6. F e r r i t e is e x t r e m e l y i m p o r t a n t in
p r e v e n t i n g h o t c r a c k i n g in 2 1 - 6 - 9 , j u s t
a s it is in t h e 3 0 0 s e r i e s s t a i n l e s s
s t e e l s . T h e q u a n t i t y of f e r r i t e r e q u i r e d for a given cracking resistance
increases with increased
phosp h o r u s a n d sulfur levels.
7. T h e m o r p h o l o g y of t h e p h o s p h i d e s i n d i c a t e s t h a t p h o s p h o r u s is
m o r e d e t r i m e n t a l to h o t c r a c k i n g t h a n
s u l f u r , w h i c h is t i e d u p a s M n S .
8. H u l l ' s m o d i f i c a t i o n
of
the
Schaeffler diagram successfully pred i c t s t h e f e r r i t e r a n g e of t h e h i g h
manganese, high nitrogen stainless
steels.
9. L o s s e s
of n i t r o g e n
during
w e l d i n g results in ferrite q u a n t i t i e s
higher than the predicted values.

Acknowledgments
T h e a u t h o r is g r a t e f u l for the experimental assistance of A. J. Salmi and
the electron microprobe analysis by W. B.
Estill, both of Sandia Laboratories, Livermore.

References
1. T h o m p s o n , A. W., "Ductility Losses in
Austenitic Stainless Steels," Proc. of the
Conference on Hydrogen in Metals, Sept.
1973.
2. V a n d e r v o o r t , R. R., Metals Engineering Quarterly, 12 (1) 1972, 10-16.
3. Hicken, G. K., Sandia Laboratories,
Livermore, CA, unpublished research,
1974.
4. Casey, H., Los Alamos Scientific
Laboratory, Los Alamos, N M , to be p u b lished, 1974.
5. Mara, G., Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, Livermore, CA, unpublished research, 1974.
6. Estill, W. B., Sandia Laboratories,
Livermore, CA, unpublished research,
1974.
7. Krivosheya, V., Automatic
Welding,
USSR, 21 (6) 1968.
8. Humbert, J. C. and Elliott, J. F., AIME
Trans., 218, Dec. 1960, 1076-1087.
9. Pehlke, R. D. and Elliott, J . F., AIME
Trans., 218, Dec. 1960, 1088-1097.
10. Tong, H. and Giedt, W. H., The Rev.
otSci. Instr., 40 (10) Oct. 1969, 1283-1285.
11. McCauley, R. B., Funk, E. R. and
Mara, G. L., A Study of the
Penetration
Mechanism of Electron Beam Welding and
the Spiking Phenomenon, Ohio State University, RF Project 2918, Final Report, Oct.
30, 1971.
12. A r m s t r o n g , R., Lawrence Livermore
Laboratory, Livermore, CA, unpublished
research, 1972.
13. Tong, H. and Giedt, W. H., "A
Dynamic Interpretation of Electron Beam
Welding," Welding Journal, Vol 49 (6) June
1970, Res. Suppl. 259-s to 277-s.
14. G o o d w i n , G. M., PhD T h e s i s ,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, June
1968.
15. Turner, P. W. and Lundin, C. D., "Effect of Iron on the Hot Cracking of Uranium

Weld Metal Part I," Welding Journal, Vol

49 (12) Dec. 1970, Res. Suppl. 579-s to
587-s.
16. D e L o n g , W. T., " C a l i b r a t i o n
Procedure for Instruments to Measure the
Delta Ferrite Content of Austenitic Stainless Steel Weld Metal," Welding
Journal,
Vol 52 (2) Feb. 1973, Res. Suppl. 69-s to
72-s.
17. Schaeffler, A. L., Metals
Progress,
56, Nov. 1949, 680-680B.
18. DeLong, W. T., Ostrom, G. and
Szumachowski, E., "Measurement and
Calculation of Ferrite in Stainless Steel
Weld Metal," Welding Journal, Vol 35 (11)
Nov. 1956, Res. Suppl. 521-s to 528-s.
19. Long, C. and DeLong, W., "The
Ferrite Content of Austenitic Stainless
Steel Weld Metal," Welding Journal, Vol 52
(7) July 1973, Res. Suppl. 281-s to 297-s.
20. Hull, F. C , " D e l t a Ferrite a n d
Martensite Formation in Stainless Steels,"
Welding Journal, Vol 52 (5) May 1973, Res.
Suppl. 193-s to 203-s.
21. Linnert, G. E., Welding
Research
Council Bulletin Series, No. 43, 1958.
22. Hull, G. C , W e s t i n g h o u s e Research Laboratories, Pittsburgh, PA, p r i vate communication, 1974.
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and Leinachuk, E. I., Automatic
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Benthusen, D. E., Proc. of Ninth Annual
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28. Omsen, A. and Eliasson, L., Iron
and Steel Institute, Oct. 1971, 830-833.

WRC Bulletin 204

April 1975
"Friction Welding"
byK. K.Wang
Friction welding h a s emerged a s a reliable process for high-production commercial applications, with significant economic a n d technical a d v a n t a g e s . Professor Wang, in this report
prepared for the Interpretive Reports Committee of the Welding Research Council, provides
a n objective view of operating theory, process characteristics, a d v a n t a g e s a n d limitations.
Of particular interest is his comparison of friction welding with the two principal types of
machines, inertial a n d continuous-drive.
Data are included on the weldability of a variety of similar a n d dissimilar metals a n d
alloys, which show the importance of frictional characteristics a n d high-temperature ductility. There is a n obvious need for further development work on a n u m b e r of i m p o r t a n t metal
combinations h a v i n g m a r g i n a l weldability.
It is the hope of the Interpretive Reports Committee t h a t this document will stimulate
further research a n d development so t h a t this relatively new welding process will achieve its
true potential.
T h e price of the WRC Bulletin 204 is $5.50 for WRC subscribers, a n d $11.00 for non-subscribers. Orders should be sent with p a y m e n t to the Welding Research Council, United Engineering Center, 345 E a s t 47 Street, New York, N.Y. 10017.

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195-s