Repair welding of cracked steam turbine blades using austenitic and martensitic stainless-steel consumables

The procedure for repair welding of cracked steam turbine blades made of martensitic stainless steels has been developed using the gas tungsten arc welding process. Weld repair procedures were developed using both ER 316L austenitic and ER 410 martensitic stainless-steel filler wire. The overall development of the repair welding procedure included selection of welding consumables (for austenitic filler metal), optimisation of post-weld heat treatment parameters, selection of suitable method for local pre-heating and post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) of the blades, determination of mechanical properties of weidments in as-welded and PWHT conditions, and microsturctural examination. After various trials using different procedures, the procedure of local PWHT (and preheating when using martensitic stainless-steel filler wire) using electrical resistance heating on the top surface of the weldment and monitoring the temperature by placing a thermocouple at the bottom of the weld was found to give the most satisfactory results. These procedures have been developed and/or applied for repair welding of cracked blades in steam turbines.