Controlling
Controlling Heat
Heat Treatment
Treatment
of
of Welded
Welded P91
P91
Hardness testing proves to be a powerful tool for checking the condition of P91
BY PATRIC DE SMET AND HANS VAN WORTEL
Modified 9Cr-1Mo, commonly re-
ferred to as P91, is widely used in the
power industry because of its superior
properties at elevated temperatures. P91
get its favorable strength and toughness
properties from its microstructure. The
desired microstructure can only be ob-
tained using material with a well-balanced
chemical analysis and proper heat treat-
ment. Heat treatment is an especially crit-
ical step during the manufacturing and
fabrication of P91.
P91 is a martensitic chromium-molyb-
denum steel, microalloyed with vanadium
and niobium, and with a controlled nitro-
gen content. In the as-welded condition,
P91’s microstructure consists of “fresh”
martensite. This untempered martensite
is hard and brittle. The toughness is low
and the material is prone to stress corro-
sion cracking. In addition, while the creep
properties of fresh martensite are un-
known, they can safely be assumed to be
unfavorable. Therefore, tempering of the
formed martensite in P91 after welding is
necessary to obtain the required service
properties. Proper heat treatment will re-
sult in tempered martensite with precipi-
tated carbides (M23C6) and vanadium/
niobium-rich carbo-nitrides. The hard-
ness of weld and base metal will be be-
tween 200 and 270 Vickers hardness num-
ber (VHN), and toughness will be suffi-
cient, i.e., higher than 27 J (20 ft-lb) at
20°C (68°F).
Hardness of P91
The heat from welding will affect the
base metal. The heat-affected zone
(HAZ) starts directly adjacent to the weld
metal at the weld interface. A coarse-
grained heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) in
the HAZ, and, farther away from the weld
PATRIC DE SMET (pdsmet@nem.nl) is welding and materials engineer for NEM b.v., The Netherlands, and HANS
(hans.vanwortel@tno.nl) is senior project manager at TNO Industrial Technology, The Netherlands.
42 JUNE 2006
interface, a fine-grained heat-affected
zone (FGHAZ) can be distinguished.
Figure 1 represents typical hardnesses
along a postweld heat-treated weld metal,
HAZ, and base metal of P91. Figure 1
shows that the highest hardness is found
in the CGHAZ, and the lowest hardness
in the FGHAZ. This FGHAZ is the area
with the weakest creep properties and the
location where the so-called Type IV
cracking occurs (Ref. 1).
Effects of Variation in Heat
Treatment Parameters
during PWHT
TNO Industrial Technology and NEM
performed many hardness tests on P91 in
different heat treatment conditions. Fig-
ure 2 illustrates the effects of various heat
treatments on weld metal (maximum)
hardness. The hardness is presented as a
function of the Larson Miller parameter
(LMP), which is used to characterize the
combination of heat treatment time and
temperature. The LMP is valid for the tem-
perature of stress relief heat treatment.
Postweld heat treatment with an LMP
between the two dotted vertical lines in
Fig. 2 leads to good material properties.
The window of required heat treatment is
represented by 750°C/2 h (i.e., LMP =
20.8) as the lower limit and 770°C/10 h
(LMP = 21.9) as the upper limit.
Hardness Test as a
Control of PWHT
From Fig. 2, it is clear that there is a
direct relation between the Larson Miller
parameter and weighted average weld
metal hardness; most of the hardness val-
ues are expected to be below the average
trend line. Further, this figure shows that
the base metal hardness does not vary
much with LMP.
Base metal hardness is found at a level
somewhat above 200 VHN. Only at very
high values for LMP can a drop in hard-
ness below, but still close to 200 VHN, be
found.
This close relation between hardness
and PWHT parameters (expressed as
LMP), for the weld metal, is very helpful
for checking the P91 condition after heat
treatment.
If a portable hardness test is used,
some care should be taken. Often the base
metal, weld metal, and HAZ are subjected
to hardness testing. However, consider-
ing the probe dimension, it is not easy to
test the narrow heat-affected zone. Even
if one could get some results out of the
HAZ, it is difficult to indicate if the val-
ues come from the FGHAZ or from the
CGHAZ. A relatively low value can be ac-
ceptable if it comes from the FGHAZ, but
unacceptable if it is found in the CGHAZ
— Fig. 1.
A fair approach is to test only the weld
and base metals. Both of these zones can
be easily distinguished. Further, Brühl et
al. (Ref. 1) found that the FGHAZ
hardness is approximately 20 VHN lower
than the base metal. Based on the col-
lected data, this “fixed” difference in
hardness between FGHAZ and base
metal is confirmed.
A relation between CGHAZ hardness
and weld or base metal hardness is less
pronounced, but it was found that the
CGHAZ is roughly up to 20 VHN higher
than the mean weld metal hardness.
Figure 2 can be used as a guide for in-
terpretation of the test results, keeping
the accuracy of portable hardness testing
in mind. When analyzing portable test re-
VAN WORTEL

Base Metal
Fig. 1 — Typical hardness across P91 weld metal, HAZ, and base
metal in PWHT condition.
Fig. 3 — Charpy-V impact toughness as function of Larson Miller pa-
rameter (LMP).
sults, keep in mind that the accuracy is
lower than that of laboratory test results.
The effect of inadequate handling of the
test equipment, poor surface preparation
at test location, or testing on a decarbur-
ized or heavily deformed surface layer can
also lead to inaccurate results.
Toughness
In Europe, a Charpy-V impact tough-
ness of 27 J (20 ft-lb) is generally consid-
ered as sufficiently ductile. Directive 97/23
of the European Parliament (Ref. 2), re-
ferred to as PED (pressure equipment di-
rective) adopted this 27 J at 20°C (or at
lowest operating temperature) as a safe
limit (Ref. 2). Some codes, however, re-
quire even higher values of 41 J (30 ft-lb)
(Refs. 3, 5).
Regarding toughness of a welded joint,
the weld metal is considered most critical.
Results of Charpy-V impact testing of
CGHAZ
FGHAZ
Fig. 2 — Trend of hardness as function of Larson Miller parameter
(LMP).
Fig.4 — Effect of PWHT above lower critical temperature A1.
weld metal with varying LMP for weld
metal of submerged arc welds (SAW) is
illustrated by Fig. 3.
For SAW, it was found that the tough-
ness in the as-welded condition is around
7 J. Only after a PWHT above LMP of
20.8 can a toughness higher than 27 J be
guaranteed. This is in line with the values
of filler metal suppliers. Most of the sup-
pliers of P91 filler metals give data for
weld metal with a heat treatment around
760°C (1400°F)/2 h (LMP = 21).
Finally, it is interesting to note that
NEM and TNO found that in the PWHT
condition weld metals with acceptable
toughness showed hardnesses lower than
300 VHN.
Intercritical PWHT
In some unfortunate cases, compo-
nents may be postweld heat-treated out
of the required range. Postweld heat treat-
ment at a too low LMP will result in a too
high weld metal hardness, and can easily
be found from hardness test results. Heat
treatment beyond 770°C/10 h (i.e., too
high LMP) results in low hardness. As
long as the heat treatment temperature is
below the lower critical temperature A11,
the hardness will stay around 200 VHN,
even at a very long PWHT duration.
Heat treatment above the lower criti-
cal temperature A1 will ruin the mater-
ial’s properties (Ref. 4). Heat treatment
above A1 results in (partial) transforma-
tion of martensite into austenite.
The formed austenite will be trans-
formed into fresh, hard martensite at
rather rapid cooling rates and into soft
ferrite at slow cooling rates. Both situa-
1. A1 is the lower transformation tempera-
ture. On heating, ferrite is partly trans-
formed into austenite (a Æ a +g ).
WELDING JOURNAL 43
tions are unwanted, but formation of fer-
rite is considered to be the worst situation
because creep strength drops to that for
grade P22.
The lower critical temperature, A 1, is
a function of nickel (Ni) and manganese
(Mn) (Ref. 6). For P91 base metal, A1 is
found at around 800°–830°C. Weld metal
contains higher percentage Ni and Mn
and, therefore, has a lower A1. The lower
critical transformation temperature can
be estimated using the ORNL data-based
relation A1 = 848–42(Ni[%]+Mn[%])
[°C]. For Ni+Mn of 1.5%, the A1 is found
at around 785°C (1445°F), which is close
to the upper limit of PWHT.
Because of the poor properties of heat
treatment in the intercritical area (above
A1, below A3 [for A3 refer to footnote 2]),
it is very important to prevent such a Fig. 5 — Effect of PWHT above weld metal, but below base metal A1, followed by rapid cool-
PWHT. ing.
Depending on heat treatment temper-
ature and cooling rate, basically four ex-
coarsening of carbides. This situation may References
treme situations are possible.
A. Heat treatment above weld and base be somewhat difficult to detect by hard-
ness testing, since the hardness values are 1. Brühl, F., et al. 1990. Behavior of the
metal A1, followed by rapid cooling
comparable to the acceptable range for 9% chromium steel P91 and its weldments
B. Heat treatment above weld and base
weld metal and just below the required in short and long term tests. Proceedings
metal A1, followed by slow cooling
base metal hardness. Knowing the initial of the ASME/IEEE Power Generation Con-
C. Heat treatment above weld, but
base metal hardness before PWHT will ference. Boston, Mass. pp. 1–10.
below base metal A1, followed by rapid
help to distinguish this situation. 2. Directive 97/23/EC of the European
cooling
Parliament and of the council. May 29,
D. Heat treatment above weld, but
1997, p. 23.
below base metal A1, followed by slow Final Materials Condition 3. VdTÜV 511-2, p. 2.
cooling.
Hardness is directly related to PWHT 4. Henry, J. F. 2005. Growing experi-
Rapid cooling refers to a speed just
time and temperature characterized as ence with P91/T91 forcing essential code
high enough to prevent ferrite formation
LMP. This makes hardness testing a pow- changes. Combined Cycle Journal,
out of austenite.
erful tool for checking the material’s con- 1Q/2005.
Figure 4 illustrates situation A, PWHT
dition. Testing only at the end of the line 5. Dutch Rules for Pressure Vessels,
above weld and base metal A1, followed by
— after final PWHT — is a good prac- Sheet M0110, p. 7.
rapid cooling. Because of formation of
tice. However, it is better to start with a 6. Newel, W. 2002. Guideline for weld-
fresh martensite upon cooling, a higher
hardness test on incoming material. This ing P(T)91 materials, EPRI, June, p. 9.
hardness is found for the base and weld
metals, as well. helps to interpret the results after PWHT.
Figure 4 also illustrates situation B, i.e., As has been shown, the base metal hard-
PWHT above weld and base metal A1, but ness is not expected to change during
followed by slow cooling. Formed austen- manufacturing.
ite is now transformed into soft ferrite, re- Further, it is clear that in order to ob-
sulting in low hardness for weld and base tain good service properties and tough-
metal. ness, the window for PWHT is relatively
Experiments also showed that in the narrow. A good practice is to perform a
case where the weld metal is heat-treated furnace survey to ensure PWHT within
above A1 but the base metal is below it the required temperature window.
(situation D), low hardness values are Finally, it is emphasized that not only
found in the range indicated in Fig. 4. Al- heat treatment temperature, but both
though no ferrite is formed in the base PWHT time and temperature (LMP) de-
metal, the hardness drops due to a soft an- termine the effect of the PWHT cycle.
nealing effect, i.e., coarsening of carbides. Postweld heat treatment within the
Figure 5 represents situation C, i.e., for temperature range of 750° to 770°C (1380°
PWHT above weld metal but below base to 1420°F) and an LMP of around 21 will
metal A1, followed by rapid cooling. The lead to good high-temperature properties
weld metal now contains some fresh and toughness for a safe hydrostatic test
martensite besides the tempered marten- and to put the installation into service. ◆
site. The base metal is softened due to

2. A3 is the upper transformation tempera-

ture. On heating, ferrite is transformed into
austenite (a +g Æ g ).

44 JUNE 2006