Effect of aluminide coatings on penetration and microstructure of TIG welded 9Cr-1Mo steel for fusion blanket applications

摘要

Aluminide coatings with a top alumina layer on 9Cr steels are considered candidates for fusion blanket applications. One of the critical issues associated with such coating is the fabrication sequence. It is therefore important to investigate the effect of aluminide coating on weld properties of 9Cr steels. This work is a preliminary investigation of the weldability of aluminide coated 9Cr-1Mo steels using bead-on-plate welding experiments. Alumina coated GRADE 91 steel samples by hot dip aluminizing followed by normalizing and plasma tempering were generated. Bead-on-plate welding studies were conducted at different heat inputs by varying the weld speed (100,125,150 mm/min) and using a constant current of 200A by autogenous tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding process. The effect of coating on the weld microstructure was investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-rays (SEM-EDX) and microhardness tests. It was observed that the presence of alumina (Al2O3) on the top of coated samples resulted in improved depth of penetration (DOP) due to arc constriction. The presence of Al rich inclusions (AlN) in the weld bead were also observed. The marginal increase in Al concentration of the weld bead appears to reduce the grain size of weld metal for coated sample and microhardness was enhanced compared to the uncoated 9Cr-1Mo steels.