INVESTIGATION ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF ALLOY

AND STAINLESS STEEL USING CRYOGENIC TREATMENT

 ABSTRACT
• Cryogenic treatment of steels has been widely used for
enhancing mechanical properties like hardness, toughness and
stable metallurgical structure.
• The object of the present work is to research the dissimilar
material welding of Alloy steel SS335 G12 and SS 316 stainless
steel using stainless steel filler metals.
• Gas tungsten arc welding with identical parameters and
procedures was used to carry out single V groove butt welding .
Cryogenic environment mechanical properties were performed.
• And to evaluate Toughness and hardness analysis to performed
in the weld region. And evaluate the tensile strength of the
material.
 PROCESS METHODOLOGY:
CRYOGENIC TREATED MATERIAL TEST FLOW:
V-GROOVE BUTT WELD BASIC DIAGRAM

TIG

ALLOY STEEL STAINLESS STEEL

 SA335 GRADE 12 (ALLOY STEEL):

• Engineered for use in elevated temperature

service, ASME SA335 Grade 12 is a chrome
molybdenum carbon alloy steel for use in
weldable pressure vessels and industrial boilers.
• The material benefits from added chromium
which provides excellent corrosion and oxidation
resistance making it ideal for sour service
applications in the oil and gas industry.
 Grade 12 chemical Composition
ELEMENTS % LEVEL
C 0.05-0.15
Si <-0.5
Mn 0.30-0.61
P 0.025
S <0.025
Cr 0.8-1.25
Mo 0.44-0.65
STAINLESS STEEL (austenite): SS316
– Contain between 16 and 25 percent chromium, plus
sufficient amount of nickel, molybdenum and/or nitrogen
– Have a face-centered-cubic (fcc) structure
– Nonmagnetic
– Good toughness
– Austenitic, High strength, best corrosion resistance. High
temp capability up to 1200 F.
– General use where corrosion resistance is needed.
– Typical alloy 18% Cr and 10% Ni = commonly known as
18/10 stainless
 SS316 CHEMICAL COMPOSITON
ELEMENTS % LEVEL
C 0.08
Mn 2.0
Si 0.75
P 0.045
S 0.03
Cr 16
Mo 2-3
Ni 10-14
N 0.10
 CRYOGENIC TREATMENT

• The explosive growth of cryogenics in the early 50’s led

to much interest in material properties at low
temperatures. Important fundamental theory and
measurements of low temperature material properties
were performed in the 30’s, and 40’s.
• In the cryogenic treatment, to optimize the metallurgical
aspects by material to be treated under very cold low
temperature for a predetermined period of time to
obtain the metallurgical crystalline structure of the
material to improve the hardness, strength, ductility,
toughness, were resistance etc. and to reduction in
residual stresses, which improves the stability during the
machining.
• The cryogenic treatment consists of slow cooling of
conventionally hardened steel samples to a prescribed
temperature, soaking for certain duration, followed by
slow heating back to the room temperature for
subsequent tempering. It is already patented the rate
of cooling for some steels by the investigators.
• Two kinds of cryogenic treatment are adopted in the
present research work namely shallow cryogenic
treatment and deep cryogenic treatment. After
quench-hardening process, part of samples is then
subjected to shallow cryogenic treatment (SCT) and
deep cryogenic treatment (DCT).
• By Shallow Cryogenic Treatment the
conventionally quench hardened samples are
directly put in a freezer kept at -40ºC and soaked
for required hours to attain thermal equilibrium.
Samples are then extracted and left to reach
room temperature in air.
• In a deep cryogenic treatment cycle will increase
the wear resistance of steels. This method of
processing avoids the cracking of the material.
This typical cycle is generally followed by the
industries for treating the steel components.
 TESTING PROCESS
AFTER WELDING
– HARDNESS (HAZ REGION, WELD REGION)
– IMPACT TEST(TOUGHNESS)
– TENSILE TEST
 TIG WELDING PROCESS
• The TIG-method is characterized by its high
quality weld metal deposits, great precision,
superior surfaces and excellent strength. TIG is the
most common welding method used for pipes,
tubes with a wall thickness from 0.3 mm and
upward. In the TIG-method a non-consumable
electrode of tungsten or tungsten alloy is used, in
comparison to other common welding methods
where the filler metal also is the electrode.
 Welding parameters
• Filler rod - 304L
• Rod dia - 1.6mm
• Current - 60-110A
• Voltage - 10-12V
• Gas flow rate - 4-6L\min
• Polarity - DCEN(DC ELECTRODE
NEGATIVE)
• Gas - Argon
 TIG WELDING ADVANTAGES
• Produces a high quality and a low-distortion weld
• Free of splatter that is associated with other
methods
• Can be used with or without filler metal
• Can be used in a wide range of power supplies
• Can weld almost all metals, including dissimilar
metal welds
• Gives precise control of welding heat
 FILLER ROD E304L PROPERTIES
• All position stainless steel electrode for 304L
or equivalent steels
• Excellent corrosion resistance in oxidizing
environments such as nitric acid
• High resistance to intergranular corrosion
• Smooth bead appearance
• Easy slag release
• High Toughness and strength.
 CRYOGENIC TEMPERATURE
• TEMPERATURE - -60*C

– The Toughness and Hardness Test will be

conducted at the same -60*C.
 TESTING PROCESS
AFTER WELDING
– HARDNESS
– IMPACT TEST(TOUGHNESS)
– TENSILE TEST
 TENSILE TEST
• Tensile test is used to determine the tensile strength of the
specimen, % elongation of length and % reduction of area.
Tensile test is usually carried out in universal testing machine.
• A universal testing machine is used to test
tensile strength of materials. It is named after the fact that it can
perform many standard tensile and compression tests on
materials, components, and structures. The specimen is placed
in the machine between the grips and an extensometer if
required can automatically record the change in gauge length
during the test. If an extensometer is not fitted, the machine
itself can record the displacement between its cross heads on
which the specimen is held.
TENSILE TEST SPECIMEN SIZE (300*50*6)mm
 HARDNESS TEST
• BRINELL HARDNESS TEST
• A simple and economical way to characterize the
mechanical properties and microstructure is by
performing hardness measurements. By performing
hardness measurements the highest and lowest levels
of hardness can be determined. In dissimilar metal
welds the hardness level of parent metals and weld
metal are determined. The most interesting part is
where the transition from parent metal to weld metal
takes place and in the root bead of the weld
 TOUGHNESS(IMPACT TEST)
• It is well understood that ductile and brittle are
relative, and thus interchange between these two
modes of fracture is achievable with ease. The term
Ductile-to-Brittle transition (DBT) is used in relation
to the temperature dependence of the measured
impact energy absorption. For a material, as the
temperature is lowered, the impact energy drops
suddenly over a relatively narrow temperature
range, below which the energy has a considerably
lower value as a representative of brittle fracture.
CHARPY TEST SPECIMEN( WELD METAL)
 CRYOGENIC TREATMENT ADVANTAGES:

• Transforms almost all soft retained austenite to hard marten site,.

• Increases abrasive wear resistance,
• Increases tensile strength, toughness and stability,
• Decreases residual stresses,
• Effective Micro Structural changes.
• Modification of Brittleness
THANK YOU