Hot cracking susceptibility of Alloy 52M weld overlays onto CF8 stainless steel

In this study, weld overlays of Alloy 52M (a nickel-based filler metal) onto CF8 stainless steel (SS) were performed using the gas tungsten arc welding process. Hot cracking in the weld overlays was observed particularly near the interfacial region of the Alloy 52M/CF8 weld overlay. In general, the hot cracks were most likely to occur at the sites with high dilution rates, e.g., at the weld start/end locations of a single pass or in the first and second passes in multi-pass overlays. The region near the weld interface between Alloy 52M and the CF8 SS had a higher hot cracking tendency than the other regions. It was found that the dilution rate and the formation of eutectic-type constituents (i.e., γ/NbC) both played significant roles in the determination of the hot cracking susceptibility of these weld overlays. Nevertheless, hot cracks were entirely eliminated by proper deposition of a SS buffer layer prior to overlaying with Alloy 52M.