Journal of Alloys and Compounds 390 (2005) 88–93

Microstructure and hardness studies of the electron beam welded

zone of Hastelloy C-276
M. Ahmada,∗ , J.I. Akhtera , M. Akhtara , M. Iqbala , E. Ahmeda , M.A. Choudhryb
a Physics Research Division, Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, P.O. Nilore, Islamabad, Pakistan
b Department of Physics, Islamia University, Bahawalpur, Pakistan

Received 9 July 2004; received in revised form 23 August 2004; accepted 24 August 2004

Abstract

Electron beam welding (EBW) technique is becoming popular in nuclear, chemical and aerospace industries due to its high penetration
depth and fast cooling rate. Samples of Hastelloy C-276 have been welded by electron beam (EB). A scanning electron microscope (SEM)
having the attachment of an energy dispersive system (EDS) has been employed to study the resulting microstructure and micro-eutectic
phases. The microstructure of the molten zone (MZ) is found to be of fine lamellar type. The hardness of the MZ is found to be 35% higher
compared to as-received alloy. The micro-eutectoids are rich in Mo and W. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the MZ show shifting of peaks
towards higher angle compared to the diffraction pattern of the as-received alloy. Broadening of the peaks is also observed in the diffraction
pattern of the MZ. Formation of the m-phase was observed in the MZ after a tempering treatment at 950 ◦ C.
© 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: X-ray diffraction; Precipitation; Scanning electron microscopy; Electron beam welding; Micro-eutectoids; Molten zone; Hastelloy C-276

1. Introduction equilibrium phases is generally detrimental from the weld hot

Hastelloy C-276 is a Ni-base superalloy. It is widely used
in chemical, aerospace and nuclear industries because of its
high corrosion resistance and high strength at elevated tem-
perature. Welding is a very important process which is used
for the manufacturing of various parts and goods. Arc weld-
ing technique is commonly used for the manufacturing of
parts. However, solidification during arc welding is a non-
equilibrium process. The microstructure of the fusion zone
(FZ) is generally not that predicted by applying the equilib-
rium phase diagram. The formation of a relatively large vol-
ume fraction of non-equilibrium phases has been reported
as being useful for weldability [1] in some cases, such as
in the Al–Mg system. However, the formation of these non-
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +92 51 9290231 7x4305;
fax: +92 51 9290275.
E-mail addresses: maqomer@yahoo.com,
akhterji@pinstech.org.pk (M. Ahmad).
cracking viewpoint.
Precipitation of intermetallic compounds p, m and carbides
have been observed in commercial grade C-276 by many re-
searchers [2–4] at different ageing conditions. Leonard [5]
has shown that the p-phase can precipitate in the Hastelloy C-
276 within a few minutes of heat treatment at 875 ◦ C. He also
indicated that the m-phase resulted from long-time transfor-
mation of the p-phase. Welding metallurgy of the Hastelloy
C-276 was studied by Cieslak et al. [6] and the occurrence
of topological closed packed phases in the weld metal was
reported. All of these phases are possible equilibrium phases
in the Ni–Cr–Mo ternary system [7–9]. Cieslak et al. [6] also
studied the microstructure and the phases responsible for the
hot cracking. They concluded that the intermetallic phase
which is a combination of both the p- and m-phases is re-
sponsible for the weld metal hot cracks in Hastelloy C-276.
Electron beam welding (EBW) is a fusion joining process.
The welds are usually produced without filler metal and joints
are obtained by fusion of the parent materials. Moreover,

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 M. Ahmad et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 390 (2005) 88–93 89

Table 1
Quantitative X-ray microanalysis (wt.%) of the as-received, matrix, eutectoid particles in the MZ and m-phase
Elements As-received (wt.%) MZ composition (wt.%) m-phase composition (wt.%)
Matrix Eutectoid particles
Ni 54.91 55.64 42.60 30.88
Mo 17.32 16.90 29.59 42.22
Cr 15.71 15.26 15.50 12.12
Fe 5.38 4.97 4.47 3.67
W 5.09 5.48 6.23 9.41
Co 1.59 1.78 1.61 1.69

welding is carried out in vacuum to avoid oxidation. Because
of the relatively high cooling rate, there is a high depth of
penetration and a very small heat affected zone (HAZ) com-
pared to arc welding. The technique is becoming popular
in the aerospace and nuclear industry, and in particular, for
complex weld structures. EB surface melting is a rapid solid-
ification process which results in significant undercooling of
the melt and leads to several metastable phases [10].
There is no report available on the study of the microstruc-
ture and hardness of the MZ formed by the EBW of Hastelloy
C-276. The aim of the present study is to investigate the mi-
crostructure and hardness of the molten zone generated by
EBW.
separate out during the welding. The use of a Cu die also
produced rapid cooling of the MZ. The electron beam weld
parameters used for welding are accelerating voltage = 40 kV,
beam current = 12 mA and the welding speed = 400 mm/min.
Welding was done using the vibration mode. After welding
the samples were polished on fine cloth and then etched in
a solution of HCl = 80 ml, HNO3 = 4 ml, CuCl2 = 1 g and
glycerin = 20 ml. Microstructural investigations were done
using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) having an EDS
as an attachment. Hardness measurements were carried out
by using a load of 1.96 N. X-ray diffractometer (XRD) using
Cu Ka1 radiation source, λ = 1.54051 Å was used to study
the change in lattice parameter of the fusion zone.

2. Experimental 3. Results and discussion

The composition of the alloy determined with energy dis-
persive system (EDS) is given in Table 1. The size of the each
sample was 2 cm × 1 cm × 0.3 cm. The joining surfaces of
samples were made smooth by polishing with diamond paste
up to 0.25 mm. Two samples were put together side by side
in a special die of copper to make sure that they did not
3.1. Microstructure
The SEM micrograph shown in Fig. 1 gives the maximum
view of MZ at 25× and it reveals nice smooth interface be-
tween the two samples. Fig. 2(a) shows the microstructure of
the as-received Hastelloy C-276 and it consists of equiaxed

Fig. 1. SEM micrograph giving the view of the MZ.

90 M. Ahmad et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 390 (2005) 88–93

Fig. 2. SEM micrographs of Hastelloy C-276: (a) as-received alloy; (b) molten zone.

grains. Fig. 2(b) shows the MZ microstructure and it is found
to be of fine lamellar type which is a morphology completely
different from the as-received alloy. The growth of lamellar
structure appears to occur within the previous grain orienta-
tions. At high magnification very small pores/voids are seen
in the eutectic phase as shown in Fig. 3, which indicates that
the undercooling has been attained during the weld solidifi-
cation. EDS spectra of the matrix and the lamellar particles
are also given in Fig. 4(a) and (b). These spectra clearly in-
dicate that the intensity of the Mo and W is higher for the
micro-eutectoid particles compared to the matrix. The com-
position of the micro-eutectoid and the matrix of the MZ are
given in Table 1. The concentration of Cr and Fe is reduced
during the EBW whereas that of W is increased in the matrix
as well as in the eutectic compared to the as-received alloy.
The content of the Co is also increased in the matrix and a
very small depletion is found in the eutectic particles of the
MZ. The amount of Mo is to certain extent enhanced in the
eutectic particle and a minute loss is observed in the ma-
trix compared to the original composition of the alloy. This
might be due to the low evaporation temperatures of Cr and
Fe compared to W, Co and Mo. Our results clearly demon-
strate that the solidification of the eutectoid particles occurs
along a path of increasing Mo and W. Cieslak et al. [6] studied
the microstructure and the eutectic phases of the weld zone
of the Hastelloy C-276 welded by arc melting technique and
demonstrated that the eutectic constituent was a combination
of the p- and m-phases. Our data did not show the presence
 M. Ahmad et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 390 (2005) 88–93
Fig. 3. SEM micrograph showing the pores/voids in the MZ.
of both the phases separately or in combined form in the
MZ.
3.2. X-ray diffraction
X-ray diffraction patterns of Hastelloy C-276 of the as-
received alloy and that of EBW region have been taken and
are shown in Fig. 5. The difference between the diffraction
pattern of the as-received and the EB molten region consists
of a shifting of the peaks towards higher angles along with a
broadening of the peaks for EB molten zone compared with
the as-received alloy. The changes in the diffraction pattern
might be due to the fact that a depletion of Cr, Fe and Mo and
an enhancement of Co, Ni and W take place in the matrix
of the MZ. The atomic radii of Co and Ni are small com-
pared to those of Cr and Fe and the atomic radii of Mo and
W are comparable, so the net change in the concentration
leads to a reduction in the lattice constant. The lattice pa-
rameters calculated from XRD patterns are equal to 3.619 Å
for the as-received alloy and 3.570 Å for the weld region.
These results indicate that lattice parameter of the MZ is
small compared to that of the as-received alloy. The broad-
ening of the peaks could occur due to microscopic residual
stresses caused by rapid solidification and also due to the re-
finement of the microstructure. Generally, microscopic resid-
ual stresses may also cause a shift of these peaks. However,
the residual stresses after liquid phase treatment are normally
tensile in nature [11] which result from shrinkage during so-
lidification on subsequent cooling. Therefore, tensile residual
stresses will move the peaks towards lower angles i.e., oppo-
site to the shift resulting from depletion of the Mo, Fe and
Cr and enhancement of Ni and Co in the matrix. This reflects
that the effect of the residual stress is very small compared to
the concentration-induced shift. The broadening of the peaks
91
in the X-ray diffraction pattern of the EB molten zone is due
to refinement of the microstructure. A fine microstructure is
also confirmed by the SEM results.
3.3. Hardness
Vicker’s hardness of the parent material and MZ was mea-
sured and it was found that the hardness difference between
the two is 45 HV. The hardness of the molten region is about
35% higher than that of the as-received alloy. A hardness re-
duction of about 5–8% is observed in the heat affected zones
(HAZ). Fig. 6 shows the hardness of the as-received alloy
together with those of HAZs and MZ. According to the dis-
location theory, the strength of a material or the hardness of
an alloy is controlled mainly by the density and mobility of
dislocations in the alloy. There are two ways that metals and
alloys can be strengthened. One is to reduce the density of
dislocations and the other is to increase the resistance against
the mobility of dislocations in high density dislocations ma-
terials. There are many methods to obstruct the movement
of the dislocations. Hardness can be achieved by solid solu-
tion hardening, precipitation, dispersion, and microstructure
refinement as well as by work hardening [12]. In the present
study, it has been observed that the hardness of the EB welded
region has been increased significantly and the microstruc-
ture refinement and the presence of a fine lamellar structure
and micro-eutectic phase have been clearly identified as hard-
ening mechanism in the MZ. It is also observed by the EDS
analysis that content of the W, Co and Ni is higher in the solid
solution of the matrix and it can cause solid solution harden-
ing. The eutectoids rich in Mo and W can act as dispersoids
and obstruct the movement of the dislocations. The decrease
in hardness in the HAZ is most likely due to the observed
coarsening of the grains.
92 M. Ahmad et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 390 (2005) 88–93
Fig. 4. EDS spectrum of (a) the matrix; (b) eutectoid particles.
Fig. 5. X-ray diffraction patterns of (a) as-received alloy; (b) molten zone.
Fig. 6. Histogram showing hardness of different areas of the sample.
3.4. Temperability
EB welded samples were heat treated at 950 ◦ C for 3 h
and quenched in air to investigate the effect of heat treatment
on the microstructure of MZ. Formation of a new phase is
observed by SEM after the heat treatment. The EDS anal-
ysis of the precipitated phase reveals that it is rich in Mo
and W and its composition is also given in Table 1, which
very well matches with the composition of the m-phase as
determined by Akhter et al. [3]. The micro-eutectic phase is
found to be stable and it does not transform into p- and m-
phases but the m-phase grows independently as a result of heat
treatment.
4. Conclusions
A fine lamellar structure, without detrimental intermetallic
compounds, is achieved in the weld molten zone by electron
beam welding. Weld defects such as voids and microcracks
are reduced considerably. Reduction in the lattice parame-
ter of the molten zone is observed as a result of change in
composition. Hardness of the molten zone is enhanced by
achieving fine microstructure and without the presence of
the m-phase. It is shown that the presence of the m-phase
is the result of heat treatment rather than the result of EB
welding.
Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to the staff members of the Radia-
tion Damage Group of Physics Research Division, Pakistan
Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Islamabad, Pak-
istan, for their support during the experimental phase of this
work.
 M. Ahmad et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 390 (2005) 88–93
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