Novel laser surface treatment approach to suppress sensitisation in modified type 316(N) stainless steel weld metal

Welded components are subjected to solution annealing heat treatment for achieving full stress relief and restoration of mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. During such heat treatments, optimum cooling rate has to be selected because very slow cooling rate will result in sensitisation and susceptibility to intergranular corrosion whereas fast cooling will result in reintroduction of residual stress. For 316 LN stainless steel which is welded using modified E316-15 electrodes (0·045–0·055%C), critical cooling rate above which there is no risk of sensitisation is 75 K h⁻¹. This paper presents a novel laser surface treatment which suppresses sensitisation in weld metal, even at a slower cooling rate of 65 K h⁻¹. Experiments involving laser surface melting were carried out with 150 W average power pulsed Nd:YAG laser and 10 kW CO₂ laser, in both continuous wave and pulse modulated (100 Hz) modes. Best results were obtained when surface melting was performed with high frequency pulse modulated CO₂ laser beam. The processed weld metal remained unsensitised after solution annealing followed by slower rate of cooling at 65 K h⁻¹. Numerical simulation study was performed with ANSYS 7·0 software to understand the physical reason behind the difference in sensitisation behaviour of CO₂ laser melted specimens under continuous wave and high frequency pulse modulated conditions and the predictions were validated using results of electron backscattered diffraction studies. Weld metal specimens treated with high frequency pulse modulated CO₂ laser clearly showed evolution of fine grains near the fusion boundary region which enhanced sensitisation resistance.