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Effect of Boron Content on Hot Ductility and Hot Cracking

Susceptibility in 316L Austenitic Stainless Steel
for Welding Components
G. Tran Van, D. Carron, P. Le Masson, V. Robin, A. Andrieu, and J. Stodolna

(Submitted November 10, 2017; in revised form June 14, 2018)

Liquation cracking may occur in the heat-affected zone during welding. Two factors influence this phe-
nomenon: the tensile stresses generated during welding and the potential loss of ductility due to the presence
of a liquid film at grain boundaries depending on their chemical composition. Gleeble hot ductility tests
have been used to study the combined effect of boron content and holding time on ductility drop in the
liquation temperature range of a 316L type austenitic stainless steel. It is shown that high boron contents
and short holding times promote the loss of ductility in this temperature range. Secondary ion mass
spectrometry has been used to correlate mechanical results to boron distribution either at grain boundaries
or in the bulk. Other welding tests have been performed to confirm the influence of boron content on hot
cracking sensitivity of AISI 316L stainless steels. Results indicate that cracks appear on all specimens but at
different strain levels. The higher the boron content is, the more the specimen exhibits tendency to hot
cracking.

cient strains are present. In nickel-based superalloys, this

Keywords boron, hot cracking, liquation, stainless steel, welding
intergranular microfissuring phenomenon is associated with
constitutional liquation of precipitates at grain boundaries (Ref
5, 8, 9) or grain boundary segregation of melting point
depressant elements as boron (Ref 4, 6, 7). As reported in the
literature, HAZ liquation cracking can also occur during
1. Introduction welding of 18Cr-10Ni austenitic stainless steels due to the
presence of intergranular austenite/(FeCr)2B eutectic phase
Many welded components of pressurized water reactors are with a low melting point of 1180 C (Ref 10, 11). During
made of austenitic stainless steels. During welding of these welding, the temperature in the HAZ can reach the melting
materials, hot cracking can be encountered due to solidification temperature of this eutectic phase, which leads to the presence
cracking and/or liquation cracking. The influence of harmful of a liquid phase at the grain boundaries. If the thermal stresses
elements such as sulfur, phosphorus, boron, silicon, niobium due to welding and self-restraint are sufficiently high, liquation
and titanium on fully austenitic stainless steel cracking intergranular cracks may appear in the HAZ close to the fusion
sensitivity is well documented (Ref 1-3). With a very low zone. To avoid the problem of HAZ liquation cracking, the
solubility in austenite at high temperature and its tendency to specification of nuclear fabrication French code RCC-M
form low-melting eutectics with iron and nickel, boron has a requires the boron content to be less than or equal to 18 ppm
particularly unfavorable influence on hot cracking resistance of for all of the austenitic stainless steels. However, for the steel of
austenitic stainless steel (Ref 1, 3) and nickel-based superalloys the type 321, the literature shows that there is no cracking if the
(Ref 4-7). Even at very low contents, boron favors the boron content is less than 35 ppm (Ref 10, 11). To rule on the
phenomenon of heat-affected zone (HAZ) liquation cracking acceptability of these boron-alloyed products, it is essential to
which occurs when both intergranular liquid films and suffi- better characterize their hot cracking behavior with respect to
the boron content. In this work, Gleeble hot ductility testing
and Varestraint and PVR welding test were done to analyze the
This article is an invited submission to JMEP selected from effect of boron content on hot cracking susceptibility in type
presentations at the Symposium ‘‘Joining,’’ belonging to the Topic 316L austenitic stainless steel.
‘‘Processing’’ at the European Congress and Exhibition on Advanced
Materials and Processes (EUROMAT 2017), held September 17–22,
2017, in Thessaloniki, Greece, and has been expanded from the
original presentation. 2. Experimental
G. Tran Van, Univ. Bretagne Sud, UMR CNRS 6027, IRDL, rue de
Saint-Maudé, 56100 Lorient, France; and EDF – R&D, 6 Quai Watier, Seven AISI type 316L austenitic stainless steels were used
78400 Chatou, France; D. Carron and P. LeMasson, Univ. Bretagne in this study. Their chemical composition is shown in Table 1.
Sud, UMR CNRS 6027, IRDL, rue de Saint-Maudé, 56100 Lorient, Three of them, designated by the letters A, B and C, were
France; V. Robin, EDF – R&D, 6 Quai Watier, 78400 Chatou, France; industrially manufactured and have a boron content of 2 ± 1,
and A. Andrieu and J. Stodolna, EDF – R&D, Site des Renardières, 19 ± 2 and 31 ± 2 ppm, respectively. Four of them, desig-
77818 Moret sur Loing, France. Contact e-mail: giai.tran-van@
univ-ubs.fr. nated by the letters D, E, F and G, were experimental alloys

Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance

Table 1 Chemical compositions of the 316L stainless steels (wt.% except for boron content)
Steel B, ppm C Mn Si P S Cr Ni Mo Co Cu Al N

A 2 ± 1 0.020 1.40 0.510 0.040 0.026 16.90 10.20 2.0 0.340 0.410 < 0.004 0.074
B 19 ± 2 0.014 1.40 0.400 0.030 0.029 16.70 10.10 2.0 0.130 0.480 0.010 0.042
C 31 ± 2 0.018 1.58 0.513 0.027 0.001 16.95 10.05 2.06 0.084 0.105 … 0.048
D 20 ± 2 0.019 1.56 0.540 0.031 0.0015 16.97 10.07 2.06 0.087 0.106 0.033 0.043
E 35 ± 3 0.017 1.54 0.550 0.026 0.0014 16.87 10.04 2.06 0.082 0.108 0.033 0.051
F 44 ± 4 0.016 1.59 0.540 0.027 0.0011 17.25 10.03 2.05 0.080 0.106 0.043 0.052
G 50 ± 4 0.016 1.61 0.540 0.027 0.0017 17.03 10.08 2.06 0.082 0.107 0.035 0.050

with identical composition than alloy C except for the boron 3. Results and Discussion
content which was 20 ± 2, 35 ± 3, 44 ± 4 and 50 ± 4 ppm,
respectively. Cast ingots of these alloys were prepared by 3.1 Hot Ductility
UGITECH (Ugine, France) using vacuum induction melting
and hot-rolled to 11-mm-thick plates at 1250 C. Experimental 3.1.1 Gleeble Hot Ductility Testing and HAZ Liquation
alloys were solution heat-treated at 1050 C for 50 min and Cracking Susceptibility. On-heating and on-cooling Gleeble
water-quenched according to the common industrial process. tests can be used to evaluate HAZ liquation cracking suscep-
Measurements of boron content were taken by inductively tibility (Ref 12, 13). The on-heating test consists of heating the
coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). specimen until a predetermined temperature, of holding at this
A Gleeble 3500 thermo-mechanical simulator was used to temperature during a certain time and of fracturing the
achieve hot ductility tests in vacuum. Test specimens, of 6 mm specimen by applying a tensile load with a constant stroke
in diameter and with a 16-mm free span between water-cooled rate. When the testing temperature is raised, ductility may
grips, were heated according to a predetermined thermal cycle increase slightly then suddenly drop until it reaches almost zero
and fractured at temperatures between 1150 and 1350 C by at the nil ductility temperature (NDT). If low-melting point
applying a tensile load with a stroke rate of 50 mm/s. After the eutectics are present as grain boundary precipitates or if
test, fracture surfaces are examined using a scanning electron segregation of impurities to grain boundaries reducing the
microscope JEOL JSM 6460-LV and ductility is determined in melting temperature of the boundaries relative to the surround-
terms of the reduction in area by comparing final and initial ing matrix has occurred, the increase in temperature leads the
section area of the broken specimen. On-heating and on- grain boundary to melt and the sudden drop in ductility occurs
cooling tests were done. For on-heating tests, the heating rate at lower temperature. In this case, the ductility drop temperature
was 100 C/s and the influence of isothermal holding time is representative of the metallurgical degradation associated
before applying the tensile load at testing temperature was with grain boundary melting and NDT can then be considered
studied with holding time varying between 0.1 and 3 s. For on- as the temperature where a thin continuous liquid film coats the
cooling tests, the heating rate was also 100 C/s and two peak grain boundary surfaces. As the testing temperature is
temperatures of 1330 and 1360 C were considered. Once the increased, the nil strength temperature (NST) is reached where
peak temperature was reached, the specimen was subsequently the amount of liquid is high enough that the boundaries are
cooled at 80 C/s before to be fractured after a holding time of unable to accommodate any stress. On-cooling ductility tests
0.2 s at testing temperature. For alloy F, the influence of the are achieved typically with peak temperature between NDT and
holding time on boron distribution was also characterized by NST, and the ductility recovery temperature (DRT) is deter-
secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) analysis. Prior to mined when the alloy regains measurable ductility due to a
SIMS analysis, two thermal treatments identical to on-heating sufficient solidification of the liquid formed during the heating
hot ductility thermal cycles with 0.1 and 2.5 s holding time at cycle. Various criteria exist to interpret hot ductility tests for
1220 C, respectively, but with a cooling rate of the order of assessing HAZ liquation cracking susceptibility, the tempera-
300 C/s, were done in a LINSEIS quenching dilatometer ture range of NST–DRT being the most widely utilized. Lin
(RITA). As-received and heat-treated F-alloy samples were et al. (Ref 13), having noticed that this criterion may not be
electrolytically etched in 10% oxalic acid. SIMS analysis was representative of HAZ liquation cracking that occurs close to
then performed on a CAMECA IMS5F ion microscope using the fusion boundary, had rather suggested a methodology to
primary ion beam of O2+ (15-kV acceleration voltage, 1-lA quantify a thermal-crack susceptible region (CSR) in the HAZ
beam current). The negative secondary ions emitted from the where liquation may occur. On-heating and on-cooling CSR
surface were BO2 . Varestraint and PVR tests were carried out can be determined using the temperature range between NDT
on the materials D, E, F and G with 20, 35, 44 and 50 ppm of and the liquidus temperature and the temperature range between
boron content, respectively. The dimensions of the Varestraint on-cooling peak temperature and DRT, respectively.
specimens were 200 9 60 9 7 mm. The dimensions of PVR 3.1.2 On-Heating Hot Ductility Tests. As explained
specimens were 300 9 40 9 3 mm. The welding parameters previously, the ductility drop with temperature highlighted by
of Varestraint and PVR tests, achieved with a single-pass TIG on-heating tests is relevant information to evaluate HAZ
welding, were kept constant and are shown in Table 2. liquation cracking susceptibility. In Fig. 1, the results of the
A part of the welding surface of F-specimen containing on-heating tests achieved with the seven materials with a
cracks was electrolytically etched using 10% oxalic acid to holding time of 1.0 s at the testing temperature are compared. A
reveal the microstructure of grains, and then observed at the noticeable difference exists between ductility evolution with
binocular.

Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance

Table 2 TIG welding parameters of the Varestraint and PVR tests
Parameters of Varestraint tests Parameters of PVR tests

Current 200 A Current 81 A

Voltage 13 V Voltage 8.4 V
Travel speed 2,33 mm/s Travel speed 2.00 mm/s
Shielding gas Argon Shielding gas Argon
Strain level (47 mm die block radius) 7% Maximal stroke rate 20 mm/min

Fig. 1 Results of the on-heating tests with a holding time of 1.0 s

(A = 2, B = 19, C = 31, D = 20, E = 35, F = 44, G = 50 ppm of
boron, respectively)

Fig. 3 Results of the on-heating tests on two materials (a) F (44 ppm
B) and (b) G (50 ppm B) with holding time from 0.1 to 3.0 s

boron level lower or equal to 35 ppm, ductility drop temper-

Fig. 2 Dependence of the ductility drop temperature with respect to ature has an almost constant value around 1320 C. This
boron content (on-heating tests with holding time 1.0 s) temperature decreases abruptly if the boron content exceeds this
value and then levels out around 1180 C for the alloys with 44
temperature for high (F, G), low and medium boron-level (A to and 50 ppm boron content.
E) alloys. To better highlight this behavior, the ductility drop It is known that in austenitic stainless steel, because of the
temperature was determined as the temperature where ductility low solubility of boron in Fe-Cr-Ni alloys and the formation of
decreases to 75% which corresponds to a reduction of one half boride-austenite low-melting eutectics at grain boundaries,
of the diameter of the specimen. Figure 2 shows the depen- boron has a detrimental effect on liquation susceptibility and
dence of this temperature as a function of the boron content. At thus lowers the ductility drop temperature even at low content

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(Ref 11, 14). Furthermore, due to non-equilibrium intergranular between the amount of boron segregated at grain boundaries
boron segregation occurring during the heat treatment cooling and the susceptibility to HAZ cracking once again because of
stage prior to welding, thin boron-enriched zone formation the lower melting point of boron-enriched grain boundaries. In
around grain boundary surface can also take place as shown in very low boron-level type 321 and 316 stainless steels that do
type 316L stainless steel (Ref 15). As demonstrated for an not experiment liquation cracking phenomena on welding, the
Inconel alloy (Ref 7), it is also suggested a direct correlation ductility drop temperature is over 1300 C. Between 35 and
45 pm of boron, this temperature falls suddenly under 1280 C.
At higher boron level, when intergranular boride eutectics were
clearly identified, this temperature is around 1200 C (Ref 11).
The dependence of the ductility drop temperature with respect

Fig. 4 SEM fractograph of Gleeble on-heating F-specimen tested at Fig. 5 SEM fractograph of Gleeble on-heating F-specimen tested at
1180 C with holding time of 0.1 s: (a) low, (b) intermediate and (c) 1220 C with holding time of 0.1 s: (a) low, (b) intermediate and (c)
high magnification high magnification

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to boron content for the seven alloys tested in this study is thus material has no risk of HAZ liquation cracking. The transition
consistent with the literature. When the holding time at the zone is between 35 and 44 ppm. The temperature range where
testing temperature is 1.0 s, grain boundary melting must take liquation may occur—i.e., ‘‘liquation zone’’ in Fig. 1—was
place for boron level over 44 ppm with a ductility drop defined between 1150 and 1280 C.
temperature around 1200 C that is close to the boride-austenite The literature (Ref 10) shows that increasing the holding
eutectic melting temperature. When intergranular boron enrich- time at on-heating testing temperature may reduce the risk of
ment is insufficient to promote grain boundary melting, i.e.,
when boron content is here under 35 ppm, the ductility drop
temperature is over 1300 C and it is considered that the

Fig. 6 SEM fractograph of Gleeble on-heating G-specimen tested Fig. 7 SEM fractograph of Gleeble on-heating G-specimen tested
at 1200 C with holding time of 0.5 s: (a) low, (b) intermediate and at 1200 C with holding time of 3 s: (a) low, (b) intermediate and
(c) high magnification (c) high magnification

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ductility drop into the liquation zone for type 321 stainless It can be seen in Fig. 3 that the ductility drop temperature
steels containing high boron content. Compared to welding, it increases with the increase in holding time for all of these two
is similar to an increase in the magnitude of the heat input (Ref materials. This increase is abrupt with a holding time threshold
16) since the higher the weld heat input, the longer time the between 1.5 and 2.0 s. The ductility drop temperature for a
HAZ material spent at peak temperature. Therefore, to confirm holding time of 2.0 s is actually much higher than that observed
this effect, different welding representative holding times with 1.5 s. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation of
between 0.1 and 3 s were considered for tests achieved on the fracture surface of the F-specimens with 0.1 s holding time
materials F (44 ppm) and G (50 ppm) that present the highest confirms ductile failure in specimen tested at 1180 C (Fig. 4)
risk of HAZ liquation cracking. and brittle intergranular failure in specimen tested at 1220 C
(Fig. 5) that is consistent with a decrease in ductility with the
testing temperature from 90 to 20%, respectively. For compar-
ison, the fractograph of G-specimens tested at 1200 C with 0.5
(brittle failure mode, Fig. 6) and 3 s (ductile failure mode,
Fig. 7) are consistent with an increase in ductility with holding
time from 22 to 96%, respectively.
To better understand the influence of the holding time at
microstructural scale, thermal treatments with holding times 0.1
and 2.5 s at 1220 C and the same thermal cycles than
corresponding hot ductility tests were realised using a quench-
ing dilatometer on material F. After the holding time, these
samples were cooled to room temperature at 300 C/s in an
attempt to freeze the microscopic structure and their boron
distribution was characterized by SIMS analysis. Figure 8

Fig. 8 Results of SIMS analysis of the material F: (a) as-received, Fig. 9 (a) Definition of an equivalent holding time for the on-
(b) heat treatment at 1220 C with 0.1 s of holding time and (c) heat cooling test, (b) Comparison of the results of the on-heating tests
treatment at 1220 C with 2.5 s of holding time and the on-cooling tests

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Fig. 10 Macrographs of welding surface of Varestraint specimens: (a) D = 20, (b) E = 35, (c) F = 44, (d) G = 50 ppm of boron, respectively

shows the results of SIMS analysis of the material F in the as- appear the most often in HAZ during cooling because the
received state and after two different heat treatments. stresses are in tension at this stage of the welding cycle. Gleeble
In the as-received material, large intergranular borides that on-cooling tests were thus achieved to complement on-heating
concentrate boron together with some boron segregation at grain tests. It consists of heating the sample to a peak temperature
boundaries are observed. After heat treatment at 1220 C, the then cooling it to the test temperature and finally rapidly
boron concentration decreases but segregation still remains at the applying a tensile load without holding time to break the
grain boundaries with no clear differences between the samples sample (Fig. 9). Chosen peak temperatures are Tm = 1330 C
with 0.1 and 2.5 s holding time. However, one can note that and Tm = 1360 C. In order to be able to compare with the
intragranular precipitates that are nearly absent after a holding results of the on-heating tests, time duration over the testing
time of 0.1 s seem more present after a holding time of 2.5 s. temperature on heating was added with those on cooling that
Since the SIMS analysis is not a quantitative analysis, the boron defined an equivalent holding time (Fig. 9a). On-heating and
concentration at grain boundaries of these two samples may on-cooling tests achieved at the same testing temperature and
nevertheless be different. Furthermore, even at a cooling rate of for the same holding/equivalent time are compared in Fig. 9(b).
300 C/s, non-equilibrium grain boundary segregation may occur Coherence between the on-heating and on-cooling results thus
(Ref 15). It is thus difficult to draw a conclusion on the appears. During this equivalent time, in agreement with the
microstructural origin of the increase in ductility drop temperature literature, it is actually considered that boride eutectics stay
with holding time. However, it can be hypothesized that there is liquid if temperature is over 1200 C. Thus, neglecting the
some boron diffusion from grain boundaries toward the austenitic variation of boron diffusion coefficient with the temperature,
matrix even during short holding times and that it becomes the same boron diffusion from grain boundaries toward the
sufficient to prevent grain boundary melting after a few seconds. austenitic matrix must occur during the holding time for on-
3.1.3 On-Cooling Hot Ductility Tests. Influence of heating test or during the high-temperature excursion for on-
boron content and holding time on ductility drop temperature cooling tests. Indeed, for the low-temperature tests achieved
was highlighted by the heating tests. However, liquation cracks under 1260 C, the time duration is long and there is no risk of

Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance

 Fig. 13 Position of the first cracks for D, E, F and G materials in
the PVR specimens. D = 20, E = 35, F = 44, G = 50 ppm of boron,
respectively

3.2.1 Varestraint Tests. Varestraint test consists of mak-

ing a weld line and then bending quickly the sheet when the
welding passes the point of contact between the specimen and
the mandrel torch (Ref 13, 17, 18). Welding continues while the
bending is applied. The strain is parallel to the welding
direction. The welding surface is then examined. The extent of
cracking observed is an indication of the sensitivity to hot
cracking. Figure 10 shows the macrographs of welded sheets of
D, E, F and G materials with 20, 35, 44 and 50 ppm of boron
content, respectively. Most of the cracks appearing in these
macrographs are solidification cracks occurring into the fusion
zone. A SEM image of one of these solidification cracks in F
material is shown in Fig. 11(a). Few cracks, which are hardly
Fig. 11 SEM image of welding surface of F Varestraint specimen: visible on the macrographs, are located near the fusion
(a) solidification crack located close to the center of the fusion zone boundary. Cracking along grain boundaries is visible on SEM
and (b) grain boundary crack located near the fusion boundary images of these latter (Fig. 11b) which is coherent with
liquation cracking phenomenon.
Observation of specimen surface shows that the higher the
boron content is, the more the cracks are. Even if grain
boundary cracks are in the minority, high cracking sensibility of
high boron content F and G stainless steels is confirmed. Few
cracks appeared for E-specimen with 35 ppm of boron but with
a deformation level of 7%, which is much higher than the real
welding conditions for which strain level caused by thermal
expansion is smaller than 2%.
3.2.2 PVR Tests. PVR test consists of making a fusion
line using bead-on-plate TIG welding with argon shielding
while the specimen is tensile loaded (Ref 18, 19). The welding
Fig. 12 Schematic illustration of the PVR test torch moves with a constant speed, while the strain rate
increases from 0 to a maximal value with a constant
acceleration (Fig. 12). PVR tests were achieved on materials
cracking. For the high-temperature tests, the time duration D, E, F and G.
becomes shorter, ductility falls down and the risk of cracking The location of the first crack and those where the densities
increases. of cracks are 3 cracks/10 mm and 9 cracks/10 mm, respec-
tively, were determined. Figure 13 shows the results obtained
3.2 Welding Tests for each material.
The higher the boron content is, the earlier the cracks
Hot ductility testing permits to determine the sensibility of appear. Therefore, the boron element has a negative effect on
the material to the HAZ liquation cracking but does not take the cracking, even at a low content of 20 ppm (material D).
into account the thermal stress induced by welding operation. However, as for Varestraint tests, the direct surface observation
In order to approach as closely as possible the real welding did not allow to reveal grain boundary cracks. Thus, a part of
conditions, Varestraint and PVR tests were achieved. the welded surface of the F-specimen containing cracks was

Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance

 Fig. 15 Images (a) at welding surface of PVR specimen F and
(b) at depth of 0.5 mm

sion electron microscopy or x-ray microanalysis could be

carried out to provide some evidence of liquated borides
particles that would support this assumption. Metallographic
examination was then repeated but at a depth of 0.5 mm, but no
cracks were revealed (Fig. 15) highlighting the superficial
character of cracking.

4. Conclusions
Fig. 14 Observation of a part of the welding surface of the PVR
specimen F: (a) before chemical attack and (b, c) after electrolytic
etching
• The ductility drop temperature transition in type 316L
steel occurs for boron content between 35 and 44 ppm.
electrolytically etched to reveal the grain microstructure. This is in agreement with the results of the literature.
Figure 14 shows the results of this observation before and • The holding time at on-heating testing temperature in-
after the etching. creases the ductility drop temperature, so decreases the
The cracks appear in the HAZ and are along grain risk of HAZ liquation cracking. SIMS analysis is consis-
boundaries, which is consistent with HAZ liquation cracking. tent with the hypothesis of boron diffusion from grain
As for Varestraint testing results, further analysis by transmis- boundaries toward the austenitic matrix. Even short hold-

Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance

 ing times would be sufficient to prevent grain boundary 4. X. Huang, M.C. Chaturvedi, N.L. Richards, and J. Jackman, The Effect
melting. of Grain Boundary Segregation of Boron in Cast Alloy 718 on HAZ
Microfissuring—A SIMS Analysis, Acta Mater., 1997, 45(8), p 3095–
• An equivalent time defined as the time duration over the 3107
testing temperature on heating added with those on cool- 5. R.K. Sidhu, O.A. Ojo, and M.C. Chaturvedi, Microstructural Response
ing is considered to conduct on-cooling tests. Coherence of Directionally Solidified René 80 Superalloy To Gas-Tungsten ARC
between the on-cooling and on-heating results is found. Welding, Metall. Mater. Trans., 2009, 40A, p 150–162
For the low-temperature tests achieved under 1260 C, the 6. H. Guo, M.C. Chaturvedi, and N.L. Richards, Effect of Boron
Concentration and Grain Size on Weld Heat Affected Zone Microfis-
time duration is long and there is no risk of cracking. For suring in Inconel 718 Base Superalloys, Sci. Technol. Weld. Join.,
the high-temperature tests, the time duration becomes 2013, 4(4), p 257–264
shorter, ductility falls down and the risk of cracking in- 7. W. Chen, M.C. Chatuverdi, and N.L. Richards, Effect of Boron
creases. Segregation at Grain Boundaries on Heat-Affected Zone Cracking in
• The Varestraint and PVR tests show that boron does have Wrought Inconel 718, Metall. Mater. Trans. A, 2001, 32A, p 931–939
a negative impact on the hot cracking susceptibility: The 8. O.A. Ojo and M.C. Chatuverdi, Liquation Microfissuring in the Weld
Heat-Affected Zone of an Overaged Precipitation-Hardened Nickel-
higher the boron content, the more susceptible to hot Base Superalloy, Metall. Mater. Trans., 2007, 38A, p 356–369
cracking the steel is. Near the fusion zone boundary, 9. G. Li, X. Lu, X. Zhu, J. Huang, L. Liu, and Y. Wu, The Segregation
cracking along grain boundaries is visible on SEM images and Liquation Crackings in the HAZ of Multipass Laser-Welded Joints
which is coherent with liquation cracking phenomenon. for Nuclear Power Plants, J. Mater. Eng. Perform., 2017, 26(8), p
• The PVR test results are consistent with ductility test re- 4083–4091
10. G. Zacharie, Influence du bore sur la résistance à la fissuration à chaud
sults, and they highlight the effect of boron content on the dans les zones affectées par le soudage et sur la tenue au fluage des
grain boundary crack susceptibility. The results of the aciers 18–10Ti. Ph.D. dissertation. Université de Paris-Sud, 1978
PVR test will be used to determine a criterion for HAZ 11. J.R. Donati, D. Guttmann, and G. Zacharie, Influence de la teneur en
liquation cracking, taking into account the boron content bore sur la fissuration à chaud dÕaciers 18–10, Revue de Metallurgie
and the stress level. (Paris), 1974, 71(12), p 917–930
• The type 316L austenitic stainless steel do not highlight 12. G. Srinivasan, M. Divya, C.R. Das, S.K. Albert, A.K. Bhadurri, S.
Lauf, S. Tubenrauch, and A. Klenk, Weldability Studies on Borated
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tion, real welding tests could be carried out to confirm 13. W. Lin, J.C. Lippold, and W.A. Baeslack, An Evaluation of Heat
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Acknowledgment dÕélaboration. 25eme. Colloque de Métallurgie-Progrès Récents dans
lÔElaboration des Métaux et Alliage, Conséquences sur leur Propriétés
The Gleeble 3500 machine of Université Bretagne Sud was co- dÕEmploi, Saclay, 23–25 Juin, 1982
financed by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The 15. L. Karlsson, H. Nordén, and H. Odelius, Non-equilibrium Grain
Boundary Segregation of Boron in Austenitic Stainless Steel - I. Large
authors are grateful to A. Magueresse (Université Bretagne Sud)
Scale Segregation Behavior, Acta Metall., 1988, 36(1), p 1–12
for the SEM images and to G. Tirand (Areva NP) for the realization 16. L.O. Osoba, Z. Gao, and O.A. Ojo, Physical and Numerical
of the PVR tests. Simulations Study of Heat Input Dependence of HAZ Cracking in
Nickel Base Superalloy IN 718, J. Metall. Eng., 2013, 2(3), p 88–93
17. C.D. Lundin et al., Hot Ductility and Hot Cracking Behaviour of
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