NACE MR0103 and Duplex Stainless Steels
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 21 January 2009 01:00
- Written by Don Bush
Q: Why are some suppliers reluctant to produce duplex stainless-steel valves that are compliant with NACE MR0103?
A: Duplex stainless steels are those that are chemically balanced to provide a target microstructure of 50% austenite phase and 50% ferrite phase. Duplex stainless-steel valves required to meet NACE MR0103 will almost always be installed in a sour, corrosive, chloride-containing environment, so it is essential the material provides optimized resistance to sulfide stress cracking, chloride stress corrosion cracking, chloride pitting and general corrosion.
The task group that created the NACE MR0103 document, “Materials Resistant to Sulfide Stress Cracking in Corrosive Petroleum Refining Environments,” recognized that microstructure is a key factor influencing the properties of duplex stainless steel. They also recognized that the microstructure is influenced strongly by chemistry and by heating and cooling during processing of the material. As a result, NACE MR0103 includes some very stringent requirements for duplex stainless steels, especially with regard to welding. Since most valve bodies (and many bonnets) are produced from castings, welding will be performed. Although most welding will be minor and cosmetic in nature, NACE MR0103 does not distinguish between minor and major weld repairs when it comes to welding requirements for these materials.
During welding, the cooling rates that occur in the weld deposit and in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) can have dramatic effects on the final microstructure. Higher cooling rates tend to promote higher ferrite levels, which are advantageous for chloride stress corrosion cracking resistance but detrimental to sulfide stress cracking resistance and impact resistance. Conversely, slower cooling rates promote lower ferrite levels, which will result in increased sulfide stress cracking resistance and toughness, but reduced chloride stress corrosion cracking resistance, and can allow the formation of harmful second phases that detract from the overall corrosion resistance of the material.
Therefore, successful welding of duplex stainless steels to provide optimum properties is a fine balancing act, which requires careful control of welding parameters that affect the cooling rate of the weldment.
Welding Requirements
In order to achieve the necessary control over cooling rates during welding, NACE MR0103 includes several requirements with regard to qualification of welding procedures:
- Each procedure qualification specimen must be hardness surveyed using to 10 kg Vickers hardness scale. The readings must average no more that 310 HV 10, and no individual reading is allowed to exceed 320 HV 10.
- The ferrite content must be measured metallographically in the weld deposit and HAZ of each procedure qualification specimen. The measured ferrite content must fall within the 35% to 65% range in all measured locations.
- The heat input required per the resulting welding procedure specification must not deviate by more than 10% from the heat input used when producing the procedure qualification specimen(s).
- The base metal thickness range qualified by a given procedure specimen of thickness T is 0.8T to 1.2T.
Requirements 1 and 2, although they add testing over and above the normal ASME Section IX requirements, are not overly problematic.
