Journal of Materials Processing Tech.

274 (2019) 116280

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Materials Processing Tech.

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmatprotec

Dissimilar metal welding of P91 steel-AISI 316L SS with Incoloy 800 and T
Inconel 600 interlayers by using activated TIG welding process and its effect
on the microstructure and mechanical properties
Anup Kulkarnia, , D.K. Dwivedia, M. Vasudevanb
⁎

a
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, 247667, India
b
Advanced Welding Processes and Modelling Section, Materials Technology Division, Metallurgy and Materials Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research,
Kalpakkam, 603102, India

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Associate Editor: U. Reisgen This study investigates dissimilar metal weldments between P91 steel and AISI 316 L austenitic stainless steel
Keywords: fabricated by activated TIG welding (A-TIG) with and without the use of interlayers of Incoloy 800 and Inconel
Dissimilar metal joints 600. Through thickness penetration in 8 mm thick plates was achieved in a single pass A-TIG welding using a
A-TIG welding pre-coated mixture of metallic oxides. Hot cracking was eliminated in A-TIG weld joints in contrast to con-
Interlayer ventional TIG weld joints without flux. Fully martensitic structure was observed in the weld metal developed
Carbon migration without the use of interlayer. Microstructural modifications were achieved with the use of interlayers. The
TEM weldment with Incoloy 800 interlayer exhibited martensitic-austenitic structure whereas fully austenitic struc-
EPMA
ture was observed with Inconel 600 interlayer. Interlayers improved impact toughness and ductility of the weld
WDS
joints without significant loss of tensile strength. The effect of interlayers on carbon migration after aging
treatment (620 °C/500 h) was evaluated with the help of thermodynamic simulations and it was observed that
the use of interlayers reduced the severity of carbon migration.

1. Introduction
Dissimilar metal weld (DMW) joints between ferritic-martensitic
steels and austenitic stainless steels are commonly utilized in steam
generators of thermal and nuclear power plants. Austenitic stainless
steels (AISI 304/316) are employed on the high temperature side such
as final stages of superheaters and reheaters where good oxidation re-
sistance and excellent creep strength are required, as described by
Tseng and Hsu (2011). On the lower temperature side such as primary
boilers and heat exchangers, less expensive ferritic steels (2.25Cr-1Mo
steel/9Cr-1Mo steel) are preferred owing to their good creep strength.
Brentrup and DuPont (2013) reported that there can be thousands of
ferritic-austenitic DMWs in a typical power plant.
DMWs between P91 steel-AISI 316 L stainless steel (SS) are gen-
erally fabricated by Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding process.
However, conventional TIG welding has shortfalls such as limited
thickness penetration capacity in a single pass, tedious joint preparation
procedure, and it also requires a large number of passes; which in turn
reduce its productivity as reported by Vidyarthy et al. (2016). These
weld joints are typically made with austenitic stainless steel fillers (16-
8-2) or nickel based fillers (Inconel 82/182) to deal with a mismatch in
mechanical, physical and metallurgical properties of dissimilar metals
to be welded. However, Sireesha et al. (2000) reported that both In-
conel 82/182 and 16-8-2 consumables are susceptible to hot cracking;
therefore, careful control of welding parameters is required. Ad-
ditionally, ferritic-austenitic DMW joints fail ahead of their design life
due to various heterogeneities in physical properties and micro-
structure. DuPont (2012) discussed the causes of premature failures of
transition joints which mainly are thermal stresses due to the coefficient
of thermal expansion mismatch, carbon migration, and formation of
oxidation notches.
Carbon migration across ferritic steel-weld zone interface is known
to be a major factor which reduces weld service life. During prolonged
exposure at high temperatures, e.g., post weld heat treatments or high
temperature service, interstitial diffusion of carbon atoms takes place
from ferritic steel side to the weld zone. From thermodynamics point of
view, as discussed by Sudha et al. (2002), the partitioning of carbon is
caused by differences in chemical potential of carbon, i.e., carbon ac-
tivity on either side of the base metal-weld zone interface. The chemical
potential gradient in base metal and weld zone occurs due to

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: anup.mme2015@iitr.ac.in (A. Kulkarni).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2019.116280
Received 4 January 2019; Received in revised form 23 June 2019; Accepted 30 June 2019
Available online 02 July 2019
0924-0136/ © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
A. Kulkarni, et al.
differences in contents of both carbon and carbide forming elements
such as chromium, molybdenum, and silicon, etc. According to Huang
and Wang (1998), diffusion of carbon leads to the formation of carbon
denuded soft region in ferritic steel side which is weak in terms of creep
strength; and carbon enriched region having high hardness and high
creep strength in the weld zone. Therefore, the formation of two ad-
jacent regions with such physical and chemical heterogeneities across a
narrow distance (less than 250 μm) triggers the failures from carbon
depleted zones. The major approaches to retard the rate of carbon
migration have been reported in the literature are- a) reduction in
carbon diffusivity of the weld zone (Rathod et al., 2017) and b) de-
creasing the driving force, i.e., carbon activity gradient across the in-
terface (Brentrup and DuPont, 2013).
Reduction in carbon diffusivity can be attained by changing the
microstructure to the closely packed austenitic structure as carbon
diffuses much slower in austenite phase than ferrite phase.
Additionally, high nickel content in the weld metal is recommended as
the carbon diffusion rate in such alloys is slow. Therefore, approaches
like buttering on the ferritic side with nickel based fillers or use of weld
metals with high nickel content are used to reduce diffusion coefficient.
Another approach of reducing carbon migration is reducing the che-
mical potential gradient by a gradual change in the composition of
carbide forming elements. A gradual change in the concentration of
alloying elements by functionally graded materials (FGMs) could also
reduce the extent of carbon migration according to Brentrup et al.
(2012). However, Brentrup and DuPont (2013) found that applicability
of FGMs is limited due to manufacturing related issues such as un-
availability of metals in powder form and inability to control metal
deposition rates.
From the recent study, Vidyarthy et al. (2017) observed that Acti-
vated Tungsten Inert Gas (A-TIG) welding of P91 steel-AISI 316 L SS
resulted in the gradual change of chemical composition from ferritic to
austenitic side. Ramkumar et al. (2015b) also observed that weld zone
of A-TIG welded Inconel 718-AISI 416 dissimilar couple yields chemical
composition which is intermediate to that of two base metals which in
turn results in a smooth transition in elemental distribution. Kulkarni
et al. (2018) studied carbon migration phenomenon in dissimilar P22
steel-P91 steel combination. It was reported that A-TIG weld joint re-
duces the severity of carbon migration due to reduced carbon activity
gradient across the interface as compared to the conventional multi
pass weld joints. A-TIG welding is a variant of autogenous TIG welding
in which a layer of flux is coated over the plate surface prior to the
welding. On melting and evaporation of flux, surfactants are induced in
the weld pool which alters the weld pool motions and ultimately im-
prove depth of penetration. Vasudevan (2017) reported that austenitic
stainless steel plates of thickness up to 12 mm can be joined in a single
pass with A-TIG welding. Sakthivel et al. (2011) reported that A-TIG
weld joints of AISI 316 L N SS exhibited better creep strength than multi
pass TIG weld joints. Ramkumar et al. (2015a) also reported over-
matching joint strength and decent impact toughness in A-TIG welded
super duplex-austenitic stainless steel combination. Moreover, as com-
pared to multi-pass TIG welding, significant cost reductions have been
observed during the fabrication of ferritic-austenitic DMW joints by A-
TIG welding as assessed by Sharma and Dwivedi (2019a). Massive en-
hancement in depth of penetration coupled with excellent mechanical
properties of the weld joint makes A-TIG welding process promising.
Table 1
Chemical composition of the base metals and interlayers.
Element (%wt.) Cr Mo Ni C Mn
P91 steel 8.33 0.94 0.33 0.10
AISI 316 L SS 16.33 2.17 10.03 0.03
Incoloy 800 22.68 0.27 30.80 0.09
Inconel 600 16.35 0.21 71.88 0.12
2
Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 274 (2019) 116280
However, A-TIG welding of transition metal joints used in power
plants has not been studied thoroughly. A-TIG welded DMW between
P91 steel and AISI 316 L SS developed by Vidyarthy et al. (2017) has
been reported to exhibit excellent strength. However, the joint showed
low impact toughness due to hard and brittle martensitic structure in
the weld zone. Similar observations were made in A-TIG welding of P92
steel and AISI 304H stainless steel by Sharma and Dwivedi (2019b).
Moreover, the martensitic structure makes the weld joint susceptible to
cold cracking because of its low solubility of hydrogen as discussed by
Kurt et al. (2009). Additionally, being autogenous in nature, A-TIG
welded dissimilar metal weld zone does not allow many alternations of
microstructure. Hence, in order to make A-TIG welding of transition
joints more lucrative and effective, further modifications of the weld
metal microstructure can be helpful to get an optimum combination of
mechanical properties and metallurgical stability.
Microstructural modifications in a single pass autogenous welding
have been previously attempted by plasma arc welding with the use of
metallic interlayers sandwiched between the substrates to be welded.
Kurt et al. (2009) used AISI 316 L SS interlayer in order to improve the
impact strength of the weld joint between AISI 420 martensitic stainless
steel. A similar attempt was made by Teker (2013) to improve the
mechanical properties of AISI 430. However, these studies had not re-
vealed weld joints with through thickness penetration in a single pass
welding even at higher heat inputs. Therefore there is a need to develop
a process that can produce a weld joint with full thickness (8 mm) pe-
netration in a single pass with a desirable microstructure.
In this work, an attempt has been made to make alterations in the
microstructure of A-TIG welded DMW joint between 8 mm thick plates
of P91 steel and AISI 316 L SS by introducing the ferrous based (Incoloy
800) and nickel based (Inconel 600) interlayers. The effect of these
interlayers on metallurgical and mechanical properties of DMW joint
has been studied. Carbon diffusion phenomenon has been simulated
with the help of Thermo-Calc/DICTRA software package and results
were validated experimentally through electron probe micro-analysis
(EPMA) and wavelength dispersive spectroscopy (WDS).
2. Experimental details
The base metals employed in this study were Modified 9Cr-Mo steel
(P91 steel) and AISI 316 L stainless steel, whereas Incoloy 800 and
Inconel 600 were used as interlayers. The chemical compositions of
these alloys obtained using optical emission spectroscopy (OES) are
given in Table 1. P91 steel and AISI 316 L SS plates of size
120 × 50 × 8 mm were welded with and without interlayers of Incoloy
800 and Inconel 600 of size 120 × 1.5 × 8 mm (Fig. 1).
Prior to welding, the plates were coated with an in-house prepared
flux (a mixture of metallic oxides). The activated flux composition used
in the study was a mixture of oxides which comprised 30% SiO2+35%
TiO2+25% MoO3+10% CuO. These constituents were initially mixed
together. The newly formulated flux mixture was mixed with acetone to
form a paste-like solution. For one gram of flux mixture, 5–6 ml acetone
was added. The flux was coated on the plate surfaces using a paint-
brush. The density of the applied coating was ensured between 4–5 mg/
cm2. The same activated flux mixture was used for performing all the A-
TIG weld joints.
Single pass autogenous welding was performed with thoriated
Si Nb Fe Creq Nieq
0.37 0.20 0.10 Balance 9.62 3.52
1.32 0.21 0.25 Balance 18.94 11.60
1.06 0.25 0.39 Balance 23.52 34.03
1.02 0.27 0.02 Balance 16.97 76.00
A. Kulkarni, et al. Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 274 (2019) 116280

Fig. 1. Schematic of the joint preparation and characterization studies.

tungsten electrode at welding current of 230 A, voltage of 15–16 V and solution of 10% HCl+90% methanol with graphite as a cathode. The
speed of 80 mm/min with direct current electrode negative (DCEN) extracted powder was washed with acetone and dried. Later, the
power source. A constant arc length of 3 mm was maintained during powder particles were separated by the sonication method. The parti-
welding. The heat input during welding was found to be 2.58 kJ/mm cles were collected on a carbon-coated copper grid and TEM analysis
(considering efficiency = 70%, it was found to be 1.80 kJ/mm). In this was performed. Due to experimental difficulties during measurement of
study, thoriated tungsten electrode of diameter 2.9 mm with electrode low carbon content in a narrow region, simulations were performed
tip angle of 60° was used. with Thermo-Calc software (DICTRA Console Mode) with TCFE9
After welding, the transverse sections of the welded samples were (thermodynamic) and MOBFE4 (mobile) databases. A 1-D block of
prepared by following a standard sample preparation procedure which 2000 μm was set by assuming fusion boundary to be half-way into the
involved cutting, polishing with emery papers followed by cloth pol- block where compositional profiles were given as input. A homo-
ishing with alumina powder. The specimens were etched with Villela’s genization model was selected which simulates the carbon diffusion
reagent and Aqua Regia for visualizing martensitic and austenitic mi- through a multi-phase mixture.
crostructure respectively. The specimens were analysed under an op-
tical microscope (Make-Leica) and field emission scanning electron
3. Results and discussion
microscope (FE-SEM) (Make-Carls Zeiss Ultra plus and FEI Quanta
200). X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was performed using Bruker X-
3.1. Weld bead geometry
ray diffractometer with a cobalt target at a scanning rate of 1°/min.
Electron probe micro-analysis (EPMA) (Make-Cameca SX100) and wa-
Autogenous welding without application of flux resulted in shallow
velength dispersive spectroscopy (WDS) (Make- JEOL JSM-7600 F)
and wide weld bead which is attributed to the centrifugal motion of
were performed to study the distribution of alloying elements. ISO
molten metal in the weld pool. In DMW joint developed without an
16592 standard was used for quantitative analysis of carbon which
interlayer, the depth of penetration and bead width achieved were
proposes a linear relationship between carbon content and intensity of
2.66 mm and 12.61 mm respectively (Fig. 2(a)). With the addition of
carbon peak (Kα) obtained from WDS spectra. The mechanical char-
Incoloy 800 and Inconel 600 interlayer, the depth of penetration ob-
acteristics of the weld joints were evaluated through microhardness,
tained was 3.21 mm and 4.11 mm respectively (Fig. 2(b–c)). However,
tensile test and impact toughness testing. Microhardness was evaluated
weld beads with interlayers exhibited solidification cracks. The pre-
along the transverse cross-section of the specimens with 200 g load and
sence of cracks could be attributed to high heat input, restraint forces,
dwell time of 10 s. Tensile test on the universal testing machine (Make-
and the presence of austenite in the microstructure. Dawes (1992)
Instron 5980) and Charpy V-notch impact toughness test were per-
discussed solidification cracks in partially penetrated weld joints as a
formed on the sub-size samples of 5 mm thickness by following ASTM
result of higher restraint forces coming from cold solid material below
A370 standard. Two replica specimens were examined during each test
the weld zone, which impedes weld shrinkage and causes cracking.
and the average was considered for the final analysis.
Farrokhi et al. (2018) stated that tensile residual stresses as high as
The effect of interlayers on carbon migration at the P91 steel-weld
yield stress of the material could be developed in partially penetrated
interface after aging treatment at 620 °C for 500 h was observed. The
butt weld joints.
carbides precipitated in the carbon enriched zone were studied using
There was an improvement in the depth of penetration in the A-TIG
with carbon extraction replica method. Polished samples were etched
weld joints, i.e., with application of flux (Fig. 2(d–f)). The improvement
first with Villela’s reagent in order to expose carbides to the surface.
in the depth of penetration is attributed to the changes in the thermo-
The etched samples were masked with aluminium tape such that only
capillary motion of the weld pool, i.e., Marangoni convection.
P91 steel-weld zone interface is exposed. A thin carbon film was then
Arunkumar et al. (2012) stated that the use of oxide flux in A-TIG
sputtered over the specimens using a carbon coater (Make-Quorum
welding induces oxygen into the molten weld pool due to the decom-
Q150 T). The coated specimens were again etched with Villela’s reagent
position of oxides at high temperature. Cai et al. (2016) elucidated that
to dissolve the matrix at the interface. After washing in water-methanol
oxygen being a surface active element in molten steel changes the
solution, the carbon film was floated on distilled water. These replicas
temperature gradient of surface tension from negative to positive which
were collected on copper grids of 300 mesh size and were analysed
in turn causes centripetal molten metal flow, i.e., from edges to the
under a transmission electron microscope (TEM) (Make-FEI Tecnai
centre of the weld pool, and improves depth of penetration. Through
G220). To analyze secondary phases present in the weld zone made with
thickness penetration in 8 mm thick plates was achieved in a single pass
Inconel 600 interlayer, the electrochemical dissolution of the austenite
A-TIG weld joints with complete mixing of two base metals and the
phase was performed. The specimens were anodically dissolved in a
interlayers (Fig. 2(d–f)). The weld joints were found to be free from

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A. Kulkarni, et al. Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 274 (2019) 116280

Fig. 2. Macrographs of DMW joints a) Without interlayer (without flux), b) With Incoloy 800 interlayer (without flux), c) With Inconel 600 interlayer (without flux),
d) Without interlayer (with flux), e) With Incoloy 800 interlayer (with flux), and f) With Inconel 600 interlayer (with flux).

porosity or cracks. The reduced cracking tendency in A-TIG welded

joints was attributed to the lower restraint forces during solidification.
Ganesh et al. (2016) concluded from experiments and finite element
simulations that tensile residual stresses and angular distortion in A-TIG
weld joints are lower than conventional TIG weld joints, which lowers
the hot cracking susceptibility.

3.2. Metallography

3.2.1. Base metal microstructure

The as-received P91 steel was in normalized and tempered condi-
tion. P91 steel base metal (Fig. 3(a)) showed a tempered martensitic
structure with precipitates having coarse (205 ± 35 nm) and fine
(41 ± 14 nm) grain size. Pandey et al. (2019) reported that coarse
precipitates are Cr-rich carbides of M23C6 (M: Fe, Cr, Mo) type and fine
precipitates are of V, Nb-rich carbonitrides of MX (X:C, N) type. The as-
received AISI 316 L SS base metal was in cold rolled and annealed
condition which consisted of equiaxed grains of austenite with grain
size 54 ± 9 μm along with annealing twins (Fig. 3(b)).

3.2.2. Effect of interlayers on weld zone composition and microstructure

The results of chemical composition analysis done through optical
emission spectroscopy of the fusion zones of A-TIG weld joints fabri-
cated with and without the addition of interlayers are tabulated in
Table 2. The weld joint made without interlayer showed 11.97% Cr,
4.13% Ni, 1.42% Mo, and 0.90% Mn in the ferrous base. The addition of
Incoloy 800 interlayer increased the amount of Cr and Ni in the weld
zone. A slight decrease in Mo content was also observed. A-TIG welded
joint with the insertion of nickel based Inconel 600 interlayer showed a
major increase in nickel content as compared to welding without in-
terlayer. Additionally, there was a slight increase in chromium and
Fig. 3. Micrographs of as-received base metals (a) P91 steel and (b) AISI 316 L
carbon content of the weld zones.
SS.
Chromium equivalent (Creq=%Cr+%Mo+1.5%Si+0.5%Nb) and
Nickel equivalent (Nieq =%Ni+30%C + 0.5%Mn) were calculated for
the weld zones and base metals from chemical composition analysis martensitic (M) and martensitic-ferritic (M + F) region. There was a
(Tables 1 and 2). The corresponding points (as per Creq and Nieq) were minor increase in Creq and a large increase in Nieq with the insertion of
plotted on the Schaeffler diagram (Fig. 4). The point corresponding to interlayers. Therefore, the points corresponding to weld zones after
the weld joint without interlayer fell on the interface of the boundary of interlayer additions were shifted upwards on the Schaeffler diagram.

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A. Kulkarni, et al. Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 274 (2019) 116280

Table 2
Chemical composition of weld zones with and without interlayers.
Element (%wt.) Cr Mo Ni C Mn Si Creq Nieq Fe

Without interlayer 11.97 1.42 4.13 0.065 0.90 0.20 13.7 6.6 Bal.
With Incoloy 800 interlayer 13.35 1.24 7.52 0.075 0.59 0.20 14.9 10.1 Bal.
With Inconel 600 interlayer 12.91 1.39 14.10 0.080 0.98 0.22 14.7 17.0 Bal.

The point representing the weld zone developed using Incoloy 800 in-
terlayer was located in austenitic-martensitic (A + M) region, whereas
the point for the weld zone with Inconel 600 interlayer addition was
observed in fully austenitic (A) zone due to a significant increase in
nickel equivalent.
Optical and SEM micrographs confirmed the Schaeffler diagram
representation of different weld zones. The A-TIG weld zone without
interlayer revealed fully untempered martensitic microstructure
(Fig. 5(a)). Microstructure revealed prior austenitic grain boundaries
(PAGBs), and lath martensitic structure with lath packets. With the
addition of Incoloy 800 interlayer, the microstructure was modified as a
dark matrix phase along with a lightly etched secondary phase were
evident in the fusion zone (Fig. 6(a)). SEM-EDS analysis of the sec-
ondary phase revealed an increase in the amount of alloying elements
as compared to the overall weld zone due to the partitioning effect
(Fig. 6(b–c)). Due to the higher amount of austenitic stabilizing ele-
ments such as nickel and manganese in the weld metal, austenite does
not fully transform to martensite during the cooling cycle of welding.
This untransformed austenite is intermingled with untempered mar-
tensitic structure at room temperature. Therefore, a finely dispersed
bright coloured austenite phase was detected in the dark coloured
martensitic matrix. Similarly, in the weld joint fabricated with the in-
sertion of Inconel 600 interlayer, a high amount of nickel coming from
the interlayer stabilized austenite in the fusion zone during
solidification. Therefore, the weld zone with Inconel 600 interlayer
exhibited a fully austenitic structure (Fig. 7(a)). Microstructure pre-
dominantly consisted of columnar dendrites of primary dendritic arm
spacing of 19.45 ± 3.75 μm and secondary dendritic arm spacing of
7.31 ± 1.39 μm, and equiaxed dendrites of size 11.4 ± 2.3 μm in the
central region. Additionally, fine cuboidal shaped precipitates were
observed in the microstructure (Fig. 7(b&c)). These compounds were
enriched in niobium which could be NbC as observed through TEM-EDS
analysis (Fig. 7(e)). The presence of NbC precipitates was confirmed
through Selected Area Diffraction (SAD) pattern which revealed a face
centred cubic structure with zone axis [00 1̄] (Fig. 7(f)).
3.2.3. XRD analysis
XRD analysis of fusion zones was performed. The weld zone of the
weld joint fabricated without interlayer showed peaks of only mar-
tensite phase (Fig. 8(a)). XRD analysis of weld joint developed using
Incoloy 800 interlayer showed additional peaks of austenite along with
martensitic peaks (Fig. 8(b)). This confirmed the duplex martensitic-
austenitic structure. The XRD pattern of weld zone produced using In-
conel 600 interlayer exhibited only austenitic peaks without any evi-
dence of peaks of martensite (Fig. 8(c)). This confirmed the existence of
a fully austenitic structure in the weld zone with Inconel 600 interlayer.
The retained austenite in the weld zone made with the addition of
Incoloy 800 interlayer weldment was quantified through XRD pattern

Fig. 4. Schaeffler diagram representation of different weld zones made with and without addition of interlayers.

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A. Kulkarni, et al. Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 274 (2019) 116280

Fig. 5. a) Optical and SEM (inset) micrograph and b) SEM-EDS analysis of weld
zone made without interlayer.
by following ASTM E975-13 standard (ASTM E975-13, 2013). Ac-
cording to the standard, the volume fraction of austenite (V ) in ferrite/
martensite matrix (V ) is given by Eq. (1)-
interlayers. On P91 steel side, the region adjacent to the weld zone
experiences peak temperatures much above the upper critical tem-
perature of base metal. This facilitated dissolution of precipitates cou-
pled with grain growth. Consequently, a coarse grain heat affected zone
(CGHAZ) having untempered martensitic structure was formed with
average grain size 35 ± 3 μm (Fig. 9(a)). Further away from the weld
zone towards the base metal, the peak temperatures get lowered.
Therefore grain growth gets inhibited due to pinning action of in-
completely dissolved carbides which in turn lead to formation of the
fine grain heat affected zone (FGHAZ) comprising martensitic matrix
(size˜7 ± 2.6 μm) (Fig. 9(b)). In the zone sandwiched between FGHAZ
and base metal, the peak temperature experienced is in between upper
and lower critical temperature. This region is known as inter-critical
heat affected zone (ICHAZ) (Fig. 9(c)). On subsequent cooling, un-
transformed ferrite and austenitic transformation phases are formed in
this inter-critical region.
On AISI 316 L SS side, due to the lower thermal conductivity of base
metal and absence of low temperature allotropic transformations, a
narrow heat affected zone was detected. In this zone, grain growth was
observed in addition to the increase in delta ferrite stringers.
Additionally, a distinct zone known as unmixed zone (UMZ), was
identified which is sandwiched between the weld zone and austenitic
stainless steel base metal. This zone exhibited dual phase ferritic-aus-
tenitic structure (Fig. 9(d)). According to Sireesha et al. (2000), the
unmixed zone is a small layer of the base metal which undergoes
melting and solidification without mixing with the weld zone. The UMZ
exhibited a higher amount of delta ferrite than AISI 316 L SS base metal
due to high temperature retention of delta ferrite during solidification
of the unmixed layer.
3.3. Effect of interlayers on Mechanical properties

3.3.1. Microhardness
1 q I
q j=1 R
V =
1 p I 1 q I
Microhardness was measured along the transverse cross-section of
+ the weldments (Fig. 10). P91 steel base metal which exhibited tempered
p j=1 R q j =1 R (1)
martensitic structure showed hardness of 276 ± 8 Hv. The hardness of
Here I and I are the integrated intensities of the corresponding peaks AISI 316 L SS base metal was found to be 212 ± 8 Hv.
of austenite and martensite respectively, and R and R are the para- Weld zone without interlayer exhibited very hard martensitic
meters derived from interplanar spacing, Bragg angle (θ), crystal structure (442 ± 14 Hv). The addition of interlayers reduced the
structure and composition of the phase. The volume fraction of auste- hardness of the weld zone. With the inclusion of Incoloy 800 interlayer,
nite calculated from XRD pattern was found to be 30.45% which was the hardness of the weld zone was reduced to 294 ± 13 Hv. This re-
found to be well in line with the calculated volume fraction from the duction in hardness is attributed to the presence of both hard marten-
image analysis (˜26%). sitic matrix and soft austenitic secondary phase. Additionally, parti-
tioning of carbon into retained austenite; as carbon being an austenite
3.2.4. Heat affected zone microstructure former could have reduced carbon levels in martensitic matrix. This in
Heat affected zones (HAZ) of similar microstructural features were turn reduced the overall hardness of the weld zone. The hardness of the
observed in A-TIG weld joints with and without the addition of weld zone reduced to half with the addition of Inconel 600 interlayer

Fig. 6. a) Optical and SEM (inset) micrograph and b) SEM- EDS analysis of weld zone made with Incoloy 800 interlayer.

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A. Kulkarni, et al. Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 274 (2019) 116280

Fig. 7. Microstructure of the weld zone in the DMW made with Inconel 600 interlayer a–b) Optical and SEM micrograph of weld zone, c) TEM micrograph of Nb-rich
precipitate, d) SEM-EDS analysis of weld zone, e–f) TEM-EDS analysis and SAED pattern of Nb-rich precipitates.

Fig. 10. Microhardness variation across the transverse cross-section of the

Fig. 8. XRD patterns of weld zones a) without interlayer, b) with Incoloy 800
interlayer and c) with Inconel 600 Interlayer.
(218 ± 8 Hv) as compared to weld joint without interlayer. This large
reduction in hardness value as compared to the hardness of the weld
zone without interlayer was a result of the fully austenitic structure and
absence of martensite. A slight reduction in the central region (199 Hv)
can be attributed to the equiaxed dendritic structure.
There was no major change in hardness of heat affected zones in all
the cases. Coarse grain heat affected zone (CGHAZ) on P91 steel side
exhibited the highest hardness (453 ± 23 Hv) in the welded structure
due to the formation of high carbon martensite. Moving towards the
weldment.
P91 steel base metal, average hardness of fine grain and inter-critical
HAZ was found to be 413 ± 23 Hv. On the AISI 316 L SS side, unmixed
zone exhibited slightly higher hardness (237 ± 3 Hv) than austenitic
stainless steel base metal due to a higher amount of delta ferrite.
3.3.2. Tensile strength and ductility
The results of tensile tests were found to be consistent with the
microhardness test. Fig. 11(a) shows stress-strain curves obtained
during the tensile tests of base metals and weld joints. In the weld joint
made without the addition of interlayer, failure took place from the

Fig. 9. Micrographs showing a) P91 steel side CGHAZ, b) P91 steel side FGHAZ, c) P91 steel side ICHAZ and d) AISI 316 L SS side HAZ.

7
A. Kulkarni, et al.
Fig. 11. a) Stress-strain curves obtained during tensile tests of weld joints, b) photograph of tensile test specimen of weldment without interlayer, c) photograph of
tensile test specimen of weldment with Incoloy 800 interlayer and d) photograph of tensile test specimen of weldment with Inconel 600 interlayer.
AISI 316 L SS base metal side. The joint showed ultimate tensile
strength (UTS) and percentage elongation of 665 MPa and 29% re-
spectively. The insertion of Incoloy 800 interlayer resulted in an in-
crease in ductility (41.42%) and a slight reduction in strength
(616 MPa), although failure was still observed from AISI 316 L SS base
metal. The weldment with the addition of Inconel 600 interlayer
showed a further rise in ductility (44.22%) as compared to the other
two weldments. However, the ultimate tensile strength of value was
reduced slightly to 603 MPa. The obtained UTS value was found to be
close to that of AISI 316 L SS base metal (610 MPa). Therefore, the
tensile test specimen fractured from the weld zone with a decent joint
efficiency of 98%.
For weldment without an interlayer, FE-SEM fractograph showed
the quasi-cleavage mode of fracture (Fig. 12(a)). The dimples and
cleavage facets on the fracture surface exhibited 41.81% and 30.30% of
area fraction respectively. The failure mode changed to the ductile
mode of fracture through microvoid coalescence in the weld joints
developed using interlayers as suggested by fractographs (Fig. 12(b–c)).
The area fraction of dimple and tear ridges was found to be 66% and
34% respectively in case of weld joint developed with Incoloy 800 in-
terlayer (Fig. 12(b)). Similarly, the fractograph from weldment made
using Inconel 600 interlayer confirmed ductile fracture behavior with
dimple area fraction of 65% (Fig.12(c)).
Weld joint without the addition of interlayer, a hard and brittle
weld zone formed adjacent to the soft stainless steel base metal is ex-
pected to increase stress concentration at the AISI 316 L-weld zone in-
terface. Therefore, failure took place from the interface without much
elongation of the weld zone (Fig. 11(b)). On the other hand, weld joint
Fig. 12. Micrographs of fractured surfaces of tensile tested specimens of the weld joints made a) without interlayer, b) with Incoloy 800 interlayer, and c) with
Inconel 600 interlayer.
8
Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 274 (2019) 116280
with Incoloy 800 interlayer has retained austenite in the weld fusion
zone, which is a softer phase than the martensitic matrix and this re-
tained austenite facilitated elongation of weld zone (Fig. 11(c)). The
austenitic phase increases ductility and in combination with a mar-
tensitic matrix provides strength to the weld metal. Kaçar and Baylan
(2004) also reported that a dual phase structure comprising austenite in
hard ferritic matrix provides an excellent combination of ductility and
tensile strength. With the insertion of Inconel 600 interlayer, ductility
of the joint was further improved due to the presence of a fully auste-
nitic structure. Moreover, the existence of NbC in the structure provided
precipitation strengthening to the weld zone. Monteiro et al. (2017)
also recommended the addition of niobium to austenitic stainless steel
weld metals in order to strengthen the weld joints. However, solute
segregation in the inter-dendritic arms during solidification results in
microscopic heterogeneity of alloying elements in the dendritic struc-
ture. This weakened the fusion zone developed using Inconel 600 in-
terlayer and led to failure from the weld zone (Fig. 11(d).
3.3.3. Impact toughness
Charpy V-notch impact test specimens extracted from the weldment
without interlayer failed in brittle mode with the toughness of 33 J. The
addition of interlayers improved the impact toughness of the weld joint.
Impact toughness of weldments with Incoloy 800 and Inconel 600 in-
terlayers was observed to be 93 J and 98 J respectively (Table 3). Im-
pact toughness of the weldments made with interlayers satisfied the
requirement of toughness values as per EN 1599:1997 which re-
commends average toughness of a weldment to be 47 J with a minimum
single value of 38 J (Kulkarni et al., 2018).
A. Kulkarni, et al. Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 274 (2019) 116280

Table 3
Mechanical properties of the weld joints.
Specimen YS (MPa) UTS (MPa) % Elongation Failure Location Impact toughness (J)

P91 steel base metal 725 829 16.74 – 80

AISI 316 L SS base metal 325 610 77.43 – 110
Without interlayer 350 665 29.28 AISI 316 L SS 33
With Incoloy 800 interlayer 320 616 41.42 AISI 316 L SS 93
With Inconel 600 interlayer 305 603 44.22 Weld zone 98

Fig. 13. Fractographs of fractured specimens of impact toughness test a) without interlayer, b) with Incoloy 800 interlayer, and c) with Inconel 600 interlayer.

For the weld joint without an interlayer, the micrograph of a frac-

tured surface of impact toughness test specimen showed cleavage facets
which suggested brittle fracture behavior (Fig. 13(a)). The weldments
made with interlayers were not completely ruptured but rather de-
formed which shows improved energy absorption capacity of these
weldments i.e. ductile behavior (Fig. 13(b–c)). The area fraction of
dimple and tear ridges were found to be 69% and 31% respectively in
case of weld joints developed using Incoloy 800 interlayer while that
for weldment with Inconel 600 interlayer was found to be 55% and
45% respectively.
The brittle failure mode for the weld joint without interlayers was
due to the presence of hard and brittle martensitic structure in the weld
zone. The presence of austenite in the microstructure with the use of
interlayers increased the energy absorption capacity.
Fig. 14. Micrograph near the fracture location after toughness test for weld-
3.3.4. Stability of retained austenite ment with Incoloy 800 interlayer.
The mechanical stability of retained austenite present in the weld-
ment made with Incoloy 800 interlayer was assessed with Md30 (°C)
value (Eq. (2)). Liu et al. (2018) stated that Md30 is a temperature at interlayer was found to be −337 °C which suggested very high me-
which half of the retained austenite transforms to martensite through chanical stability of fully austenitic structure against martensitic
cold deformation at a logarithmic strain of 0.30. According to Herrera transformation.
et al. (2011), a low value of Md30 indicates high austenitic stability.

Md30 = 551 462( C+ N) 9.2 Si 8.1 Mn 29( Ni+ Cu) 13.7 Cr 3.4. Effect of interlayers on carbon migration

18.5Mo
Due to the partitioning of alloying elements during solidification,
the accurate estimation of carbon percentage in different phases of weld
microstructure is difficult. Bilmes et al. (2001) approximated carbon
content in the austenite through lattice parameter measurements (Eq.
(3)). From XRD pattern, the lattice parameter of retained austenite
((a 0) ) was found to be 3.591. The weight percentage of carbon was
found to be 0.57%.
(a 0) = 3.572 + 0.033 × wt.%C
The Md30 value for retained austenite was calculated to be −193 °C
which suggested very high austenitic stability in dual phase structure.
For validation, micrograph was taken immediately adjacent to the
fracture location of impact toughness test specimen which displayed
both deformed martensite and austenitic grains (Fig. 14). This con-
firmed very high mechanical stability of austenite even under intense
strain fields. Similarly, Md30 value for weld zone with Inconel 600
(2)
3.4.1. Micrographs and hardness
Diffusion of carbon was observed across the P91 steel-weld zone
interface after aging treatment in all the weld joints at 620 °C for 500 h.
For the weldment without an interlayer, a dark etched zone was ob-
served in the micrograph (Fig. 15(a)). This zone is a carbon enriched
zone (CEZ) which exhibited hardness value of 392 ± 13 Hv. The width
of CEZ was found to be 32 ± 2 μm. The adjacent carbon denuded zone
(CDZ) showed hardness of 317 ± 10 Hv.
The extent of carbon migration was reduced for weldment with the
(3)
addition of Incoloy 800 interlayer as the width of CEZ was found to be
29 ± 3 μm (Fig. 15(b)). The average hardness values of CEZ and CDZ
were found to be 418 ± 5 Hv and 327 ± 7 Hv respectively.
The severity of carbon migration was further lowered with the use
of Inconel 600 interlayer as the accumulation of carbon was observed
over a very narrow region of width 15 ± 1 μm (Fig. 15(c)). CEZ and
CDZ exhibited hardness values of 437 ± 10 Hv and 352 ± 5 Hv re-
spectively. High hardness values of CDZ suggested a lower loss of

9
A. Kulkarni, et al.
Fig. 15. P91 steel-Weld zone interface for weldments a) without interlayer, b) with Incoloy 800 interlayer, and c) with Inconel 600 interlayer.
Fig. 16. Experimental and simulated carbon distribution across P91 steel-weld zone interface a) Without interlayer (WDS), b) With Incoloy 800 interlayer (WDS), c)
With Inconel 600 interlayer (WDS), d) Without interlayer (DICTRA), e) With Incoloy 800 interlayer (DICTRA), and f) With Inconel 600 interlayer (DICTRA).
carbon from martensitic matrix of P91 steel with the additions of in-
terlayers as compared to welding without interlayer.
3.4.2. Wavelength dispersive spectroscopy (WDS) analysis and simulated
studies
The results of experimental (WDS) and simulated (DICTRA) carbon
distribution across P91 steel-weld zone in Fig. 16(a–f). WDS analysis
showed carbon enrichment over a width of 45 μm for weldment without
interlayer (Fig. 16(a)). The experimentally observed carbon contents in
CEZ and CDZ were found to be 0.161% and 0.055%. The simulated
studies showed carbon minima of 5 × 10−5% in P91 steel and carbon
maxima of 0.19% in the weld zone (Fig. 16(d)).
The region of carbon enrichment was reduced to a distance 35 μm
with the inclusion of Incoloy 800 interlayer (Fig. 16(b)). From WDS
analysis, the maximum and minimum carbon contents were found to be
0.163% and 0.058% respectively. The predicted highest and lowest
carbon percentage from DICTRA in the CEZ and CDZ were 0.21% and
0.004% respectively (Fig. 16(e)).
For the weld joint with Incoloy 600 interlayer, the CEZ become
narrower than weld joint without interlayer. WDS analysis showed
carbon accumulation across 25 μm width (Fig. 16(c)). The experimental
and simulated maximum carbon content in CEZ was found to be 0.19%
and 0.25% respectively. On the other hand, experimental and simulated
carbon contents in carbon denuded zone were found to be 0.08% and
0.07% respectively (Fig. 16(f)).
The above observations confirmed the beneficial effect of inter-
layers in mitigating the diffusion of carbon. Additionally, the experi-
mental results were found to be reasonably consistent with the simu-
lation model. The reduction in the severity of carbon migration with the
use of interlayers is discussed further with the help of chemical po-
tential and diffusion coefficients in each case in the following section
(Fig. 17).
10
Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 274 (2019) 116280
3.4.3. Chemical potential and diffusion coefficients
Carbon migration across ferritic steel-weld zone interface is gov-
erned by chemical potential gradient and diffusivity coefficient.
According to Sudha et al. (2002), the driving force for diffusion of
carbon is chemical potential or activity of carbon which is governed not
only by carbon but also by carbide forming substitutional elements. The
carbon activity (ac) for NC number of atoms of carbon is given Eq. (4)-
a c = Nc (exp(NA A
C + NB CB……+ Nn n
C)) (4)
where A and B are substitutional elements having NA and NB number of
atoms respectively. The terms CA and CB denote Wagner interaction
coefficients between the substitutional element and carbon in the ma-
trix phase. Negative values of the interaction coefficient mean there is
an attraction between the atoms of carbon and substitutional elements,
and they tend to form compounds. CCr and CMo are found to be negative,
hence higher Cr and Mo contents in steels tend to decrease in carbon
activity. Carbon diffusion follows the error function of Fick’s second law
(Eq. (5) (Kulkarni et al., 2018)-
C (x , t ) C1± |x|
= erf
C2± C1± 2 D ±t (5)
where C(x,t) denotes carbon content at distance x from weld interface
at time t; the sign ± represents right and left-hand sides of the inter-
face; C1 is carbon concentration at P91 steel-weld zone interface
(x = 0); C2 represents carbon concentration at extreme ends (x=∞),
i.e., P91 steel base metal (C2 = 0.10%) and weld zone (C2+), and D is
the diffusion coefficient (m2/s).
Table 4 shows chemical potentials and diffusion coefficients of
carbon in weld joints in aged condition (620 °C/500 h) obtained using
DICTRA. It was evident that the driving force for diffusion, i.e., the
chemical potential of carbon, was not significantly affected by the use
A. Kulkarni, et al. Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 274 (2019) 116280

Fig. 17. EPMA analysis of P91 steel-weld zone interface after aging treatment at 620 °C/500 h for weld joints a) without interlayer, b) with Incoloy 800 interlayer and
c) with Inconel 600 interlayer.

Table 4 interlayers. Austenite being a close packed face centred cubic structure,
Carbon diffusion parameters for different weldments. does not allow easy migration of interstitial atoms.
Specimen Diffusion Carbon activity Chemical potential
coefficient (m2/s) of carbon (J/mol)
3.4.4. Analysis of carbides in carbon enriched zone (CEZ)
P91 steel base metal 1.2 × 10−11 2.83 × 10−4 −60 × 103 The elemental distribution across the P91 steel-weld zone interface
Without interlayer 1.1 × 10−11 8.04 × 10−5 −70 × 103 was performed with EPMA after aging treatment of 620 °C/500 h. There
With Incoloy 800 9.7 × 10−12 6.35 × 10−5 −71 × 103 were no major fluctuations in chemical compositions observed on the
interlayer extreme sides of P91 steel and weld zone. However, an increase in Cr
With Inconel 600 1.6 × 10−14 5.20 × 10−5 −73 × 103
interlayer
and Mo content and decrease in Fe content was evident at the interface.
However, there was no major change Ni and Mn content at the inter-
face. This local rise in Cr and Mo at the interface suggested the for-
of interlayers. This is attributed to a slight increase in Cr content and an mation of Cr and Mo rich precipitates due to the accumulation of
overall increase of carbon with the addition of interlayers. However, carbon in the carbon enriched zone (CEZ). These precipitates were
the reduction in diffusion coefficients was clearly noticeable in weld- found to be M23C6 type carbides.
ments with interlayers. The reduced diffusivity is due to the presence of For the weld joint without an interlayer, carbon activity gradient
austenite in the microstructures of weldments made by adding coupled with high diffusivity coefficient of the weld zone causes ex-
cessive loss of carbon from P91 steel. The TEM micrograph of CEZ

Fig. 18. a) TEM micrograph, b) SAD pattern, c) EDS and d) carbide size distribution for CEZ of weldment without interlayer.

11
A. Kulkarni, et al. Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 274 (2019) 116280

Fig. 19. a) TEM micrograph, b) SAD pattern, c) EDS and d) carbide size distribution for CEZ of weldment with addition of Incoloy 800 interlayer.

revealed globular and ovoidal shaped precipitates (Fig. 18(a)). Through
the selected area diffraction (SAD) pattern, the formation of M23C6 type
carbides having face centred cubic (FCC) structure was confirmed
(Fig.18(b)). TEM-EDS analysis of extraction replicas of CEZ showed
precipitates of size 253 ± 77 nm and Cr/Fe ratio of 1.74 (Fig.18(c–d)).
With the use of Incoloy 800 interlayer, the reduction in the severity
of carbon migration was evident compared to welding without inter-
layer (Fig. 16). This was owed to the reduced carbon diffusivity of the
weld zone and the presence of dense precipitates at the interface
(Fig. 19(a)). Increase of nickel content and presence of martensitic-
austenitic structure reduced the diffusivity coefficient. On the other
hand, higher carbon content in the weld zone reduces driving force for
nucleation of M23C6 carbides in the CEZ which in turn resulted in a
dense population of cylindrical and globular shaped carbides having
size 301 ± 63 nm and Cr/Fe ratio 3.72 in CEZ (Fig. 19(b–d)). This
dense population of Cr rich carbides across the diffusion route inhibited
further diffusion of carbon atoms to the weld zone as discussed by
Sudha et al. (2002).
The reduction in carbon diffusion with the addition of Inconel 600
interlayer was attributed to the presence of austenitic structure in weld
zone having lower carbon diffusivity than martensite which is present
in case of weld joint produced without interlayer. As a result, carbon
atoms cannot migrate easily in the weld zone due to the closely packed
austenitic structure. However, due to the high solubility of carbon in
the austenitic structure, the carbon content was found to be accumu-
lated in a narrow region (Fig. 16 (c&f)). Mas et al.(2016) also claimed
that the presence of austenitic weld zone leads to carbon enrichment in
a small region. From TEM-EDS analysis, it was confirmed that CEZ
exhibited cylindrical shaped M23C6 carbides with Cr/Fe ratio 2.15 and
average size 385 ± 98 nm (Fig. 20(a–d)).
3.4.5. Effect of martensitic layer
Despite a significant reduction in carbon diffusivity coefficient in
the weldment produced with Inconel 600 interlayer (1.6 × 10−14 m2/
s) as compared to weld joint produced without interlayer (1.1 × 10-11
m2/s), diffusion of carbon was still observed. This was attributed to the
presence of a narrow martensitic layer of width 10 μm at the P91 steel-
weld interface (Fig. 21(a)). This zone is known as a partially mixed zone
(PMZ). Dupont (2012) showed that a continuous variation of alloying
elements from P91 steel towards the austenitic weld zone resulted in
different martensitic start temperatures (Ms) across at the interface
which is given by Eq. (6).
Ms (°C) = 540 497 C 6.3 Mn 36.3 Ni 10.8 Cr 46.6Mo (6)
The variation of alloying elements and Ms temperature are shown in
Fig. 21(b–c). Therefore, a distinct layer of variable composition is ob-
served on subsequent cooling. During the mass transport of carbon
driven by a chemical potential gradient from P91 steel side to the weld
zone during aging, most of the carbon gets precipitated in the form of
carbides, however, some of it remained in the solid solution of mar-
tensitic structure. This martensitic layer acts as a sink to carbon and
dissolved carbon is further available for diffusion towards the austenitic
weld zone as revealed by Mas et al. (2016). Therefore, CEZ was found to
be extended in the austenitic weld zone; however, its growth seized due
to very low diffusivity of the austenitic matrix.
4. Conclusions
In the current work, DMW joints of P91 steel-AISI 316 L SS were
developed with and without the use of interlayers of Incoloy 800 and
Inconel 600. Following conclusions were made from this work-

12
A. Kulkarni, et al.
Fig. 20. a) TEM micrograph, b) SAD pattern, c) EDS and d) carbide size distribution for CEZ of weldment with addition of Inconel 600 interlayer.
Fig. 21. a) SEM micrograph showing martensitic layer, b) EDS analysis, and c) Ms Temperature variation at P91 steel-weld zone interface for weld joint developed
using Inconel 600 interlayer.
(1) DMW joint between 8 mm thick plates of P91 steel and AISI 316 L
SS was successfully developed by A-TIG welding with through
thickness penetration in a single pass with complete mixing of in-
terlayers and base metals. Hot cracking was mitigated in A-TIG
weld joints developed using interlayers.
(2) Compositional modifications were achieved in A-TIG welding with
the use of interlayers. There was an increase in chromium and
nickel equivalents with the use of interlayers. An untempered
martensitic structure was obtained in the weld zone without in-
terlayer. Use of Incoloy 800 interlayer yielded martensitic-auste-
nitic structure in the weld zone, whereas weldment with Inconel
600 interlayer resulted in a fully austenitic structure.
(3) DMW joints in welding without interlayer and with Incoloy 800
interlayer showed overmatching tensile strength as joints failed
from AISI 316 L SS base metal side during the tensile test. The joint
made with Inconel 600 interlayer failed from the weld zone and
showed a joint efficiency of 98%.
(4) Improvement in toughness and ductility was achieved with the use
13
Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 274 (2019) 116280
of interlayers. Impact toughness of the weld zones developed
without an interlayer, with Incoloy 800 interlayer and with Inconel
600 interlayer was found to be 33 J, 93 J and 98 J respectively.
(5) The severity of carbon migration was reduced with the use of
austenitic interlayers due to reduced diffusivity coefficients.
(6) Incoloy 800 interlayer can be recommended for DMW joint between
P91 steel-AISI 316 L SS as the weld joint exhibited overmatching
strength, excellent ductility and impact toughness, and it reduces
the severity of carbon migration.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Board of Research in Nuclear
Sciences (BRNS), Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India
for funding the research project entitled “Dissimilar steel welding by
activated flux GTAW” under the scheme sponsored research project
sanction No.36(2)/14/70/2014-BRNS/10416. The authors would also
like to thank SAIF, IIT Bombay for providing SEM-WDS facility.
A. Kulkarni, et al. Journal of Materials Processing Tech. 274 (2019) 116280

Appendix A. Supplementary data the post weld heat treatment. Mater. Sci. Eng. A 722, 182–196. https://doi.org/10.
1016/j.msea.2018.03.035.
Mas, F., Tassin, C., Valle, N., Robaut, F., Charlot, F., Yescas, M., Roch, F., Todeschini, P.,
Supplementary material related to this article can be found, in the Bréchet, Y., 2016. Metallurgical characterization of coupled carbon diffusion and
online version, at doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2019. precipitation in dissimilar steel welds. J. Mater. Sci. 51, 4864–4879. https://doi.org/
116280. 10.1007/s10853-016-9792-z.
Monteiro, S.N., Nascimento, L.F.C., Lima, É.P., Luz, F.Sda, Lima, E.S., Braga, Fde O.,
2017. Strengthening of stainless steel weldment by high temperature precipitation. J.
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