Technical Report

Subject Date Document No.

Page

1 (7)

Report on weld cleaning methods

15/8/2007
Author

1
Telephone +61298280500

Dr. Ian Ward

Introduction Cleaning of stainless steel weldments is particularly important in order to achieve adequate corrosion resistance after welding. Methods such as mechanical and chemical cleaning are typically used. Recently, electrochemical methods have also been employed where pickling pastes are considered dangerous for OH&S reasons. An investigation has been conducted to assess the performance of various cleaning processes, including electrocleaning and determine their effects on the corrosion resistance of weldments in 316L stainless steel. Cleaning of stainless steel weldments Post weld cleaning of TIG welds on pipe joints has previously been evaluated by Fager (1). A summary of the test results for duplex stainless steel SAF2205 is given in Figure 1.

Post weld cleaning SAF2205

60 50 40

CPT
Deg C

30 20 10 0
Pa ren tm eta l As we lde d Pic kle ba th Pic kle pa ste Gr ind 36 0# Gr ind 80 Br # us hs t. s tee l Br us h3 M Bl as tin g

Figure 1. The effect of various mechanical and chemical cleaning methods on the pitting resistance of SAF2205 duplex stainless steel. In general, the finer mechanical finishes return the surface corrosion resistance closest to that of the original mill annealed and pickled finish. Chemical treatments such as pickling, are effective in returning the surface to the original finish.

Distribition:

Sandvik Australia Pty Ltd Wed cleaning report.

Technical Report

Page 2 of 7

Weldments The high temperature heat affected zones (HAZ) of weldments are considered (1) to be chromium depleted, with an attendant reduction in corrosion resistance. The surface oxidation and chromium depleted zone and interference colours are represented in Figure 2.

Weld oxidation
Weld high temp oxide (1,000 Ang) Natural passive layer
(20-40 Ang)

Low temp HAZ Weld

Parent metal

Chromium depleted zone

Interference colours of the high temperature oxide

Brown

Blue

Green

Tig weld rootside Argon purged

Figure 2. Surface oxidation, depleted zone and interference colours of stainless steel welds. Testing program This testing program was aimed at identifying the corrosion resistance of the different parts of the weldment, using some common methods of treating the welds. The material tested was standard 2B mill finish grade 316L stainless steel. Mechanical cleaning was conducted by buffing using a 3M scotchbrite pad. Acid cleaning was performed using pickling paste of 15% phosphoric acid and 0.9% Hydroflouric acid. Electrocleaning was performed using a portable electrochemical cleaning machine, using 20% phosphoric, and proprietary electrolyte solutions.

Sandvik Australia Pty Ltd Wed cleaning report.

Technical Report

Page 3 of 7

Electrochemical testing Corrosion testing and evaluation was carried out using a portable electrochemical potentiostat (1), which allows easy access to virtually any size object with various surface geometries even on-site. This is particularly important in the case of weldments, where analysis of specific areas of the heat affected zone and weld metal produce different results. Determination of the pitting potential used in these tests has been found (2) to be the most appropriate test method for standard stainless steel grades when compared with critical pitting temperature and critical chloride concentration methods. The sensor makes electrolytic contact with the surface. Capillary forces cause electrolyte flow through a porous polymer pen. By positioning the pen on the sample surface, electrolytic contact is established and electrochemical characterization is possible. The measured test area is 1.5 mm2. Fig 1: Electrochemical measurement of a stainless steel tube. Electrolytes of 0.5M, 1.0M and 5.0M NaCl solutions are prepared from distilled water and reagent grade chemicals. All potentials are referred to saturated calomel electrode (SCE). Prior to testing the surface is cleaned with ethanol. The surface is locally contacted by the electrolyte and is controlled by an electrochemical control unit. The instrument runs polarization scans at a rate of 10 mV/s in order to determine the pitting potential. A typical calibration measurement is shown in Fig. 3. Running several calibrations results in the averaging of the instrument of the determined pitting potentials.

Fig. 3. Calibration scan determines pitting potential

Fig. 4. Corrosion current at the reference potential

Once calibration is completed, the instrument decreases the potential by 120 mV. By running potentiostatic tests for 10 seconds, the relative corrosion resistance is determined. Typical results are shown in Fig. 4.

Sandvik Australia Pty Ltd Wed cleaning report.

Technical Report

Page 4 of 7

If the current shows typical passive behavior it can be concluded that the tested area exhibits a pitting potential that is comparable or higher than the area where the instrument was calibrated. If the current shows a strong increase, it can be concluded that pitting is initiated. Hence, the tested area exhibits a corrosion resistance that is significantly decreased compared to the area where the calibration was performed. The above technique, as well as direct determination of the pitting potential, have been used to determine effectiveness of various processes for post weld treatment of weldments. Test Results Post weld cleaning methods Corrosion tests were conducted on the parent metal, similarly treated parent metal, low temperature HAZ, high temperature HAZ and weld metal, after various forms of cleaning. Automatic 316L MIG welds with argon purge on the rootside were used. Tests were conducted on grade 316L 2B material using 1M NaCl solution at 18 degC. The test results are sumarized in Figure 5. Electrocleaning (a) was conducted with 20% phosphoric acid gives a similar result to that of pickling paste. The results shown here for electrocleaned (b) represent a proprietary electrolyte.

Post weld cleaning 316L

800

Corrosion resistance

700 600 500 400

Electro cleaned (b)

Pickling paste

Electro cleaned (a)

300 200 100 0

Buffed 3M

As welded

Original surface

Treated Low temp parent metal HAZ

High temp HAZ

Weld metal

Tig weld rootside Argon purged

Figure 5. Effect of cleaning methods on a stainless steel weldment.

Sandvik Australia Pty Ltd Wed cleaning report.

Technical Report

Page 5 of 7

Weld cleaning A separate set of tests were conducted to determine the pitting potential of the parent metal, HAZ and weldmetal on the root side of the weld. Measurements were taken before and after electrochemical cleaning of the welds. Testing was conducted on grade 316L 2B material using 0.5M NaCl solution at 20 degC. Results are given in Figure 6.
316L weldment root side
800 Corrosion Potential mV 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

As - welded

Electro cleaned

Figure 6. Showing the positive effect of electrocleaning on the root side of a weldment. A similar result for electrocleaning was obtained by Bchler (4) who conducted a potentiostatic linescan over a weld of DIN 1.4301 (304L) (Fig. 7), which reveals the the initiation of local corrosion attack on the oxide layers of the heat affected zone. These were removed and the surface passivated by an electrochemical treatment with accurrent on part of the sample surface. Then the scanning was repeated in a two dimensional scan showing the lateral distribution on the entire sample surface (Fig. 8). The result of the two dimensional scan demonstrates clearly that the lower left side of the sample which has been treated shows passive behavior, while the non treated upper right side shows pit initiation along the weld.

Fig. 7: Potentiostatic line scan (4) over a weld of a stainless steel (DIN1.4301) showing the variation in corrosion current of a 40mm test length. Tested in 0.1 M NaCl at 260 mVSCE.

Sandvik Australia Pty Ltd Wed cleaning report.

Technical Report

Page 6 of 7

Fig. 8: Potentiostatic current [A] distribution on a weld on DIN 1.4301 at 0.3 V SCE in 0.1 M NaCl over an area of 30 x30 mm. The lower left side of the sample has been electrocleaned showing passive behavior, while the non treated upper right side shows pit initiation along the weld. (4) Conclusions Pickling with commercial pickling paste significantly improves the corrosion resistance compared with that of the as-welded material. It was surprising however to observe that the corrosion resistance of both HAZ and weld metal approached, but did not quite match that of the parent metal. The electrocleaning process not only recovered, but can improve the corrosion resistance to a level above that of the original parent metal. The results depended on the method and solution used. It is concluded that electrocleaning is at least as good as pickling and can even improve the corrosion resistance of weldments. Further test work is planned to confirm and extend the scope of this evaluation.

Dr. Ian Ward Technical manager, Sandvik Materials Technology, Australia.

Sandvik Australia Pty Ltd Wed cleaning report.

Technical Report

Page 7 of 7

References:
(1) S-A Fager Sandvik Welding Reporter 1990. SWR-190 (2) The ec-pen in quality control: Determining the corrosion resistance of stainless steel on-site M. Bchler, C.-H. Vote, D. Bindschedler, and F. Stalder SGK, Swiss Society for Corrosion Protection, Technoparkstr. 1, CH-8005 Zrich, Switzerland (3) Estimating the Pitting Resistance of Low-Alloy Stainless Steels M. Berner, & S. Mischler, Laboratoire de Mtallurgie Chimique, Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne C.-O. A. Olsson, Avesta Research Centre, Outokumpu, Sweden (4) A new locally resolving electrocehmical sensor: Application in research and development M. Bchler, C.-H. Vote and F. Stalder SGK, Swiss Society for Corrosion Protection, Technoparkstr. 1, CH-8005 Zrich, Switzerland