Duplex stainless steels present ferrite and austenite in their microstructure in order to join good mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. These materials are very used in petrochemical industry, being the DSS UNS S31803 one of the most commercially known. There were not much published literature to study the influence of the precipitation of Widmanstätten austenite in joins with some restriction. This work has as objective to analyze the influence of the restriction in the phase balance of austenite and ferrite, in the morphology of the austenite, in the microhardness and the toughness of both HAZ and FZ. Shielded electrode AWS E2209-17 was used to weld V joints in the duplex stainless steel UNS S31803. Welding has been performed in two levels of energy C1 (15 kJ/cm) and C2 (20 kJ/cm), with and without restriction. In a generalized manner, it was observed a greater amount of ferrite in the finishing passes when compared to the first passes. Bigger amounts of Widmanstätten austenite in the conditions welded with restriction had been observed. Generally, the HAZ presented a coarser microstructure in the finishing passes, in way that did not show significant differences when compared with the conditions with and without restriction. Microhardness level was lower when large amount of Widmanstätten has been presented. Differences in energy absorbed in HAZ and FZ has not been observed when comparing conditions with and without restriction. The influence of the use of restraint in welding, especially in balancing phase, microstructure and microhardness has been observed.
Duplex; Restriction; Microstructure; Microhardness; Toughness
