Enhanced creep lifetime in P91 steel weldments via stabilizing tempered martensite structure

P91 steel weldments are susceptible to Type IV creep cracking during high-temperature service, significantly reducing the creep lifetime of impacted components. For enhancing the creep lifetime of P91 steel weldments, the present work proposes a novel post-weld heat treatment strategy to stabilize the tempered martensite structure and avoid Type IV creep cracking. Compared to conventional post-weld tempered treatment weldments, the creep lifetime of as-welded weldment is improved by 1.7 times, while the creep lifetime of weldment subjected to post-weld normalizing followed by tempering is enhanced by 4.6 times, effectively preventing Type IV cracking. It has been revealed that creep weakness zones, that is, soft zones, occur in as-welded weldment and post-welded tempering treatment weldment, where the microstructure is predominantly recrystallized ferrites. Creep fracture always occurs in the region of the highest fraction of recrystallized grains. Post-weld normalizing and subsequent tempering can enhance prior austenite grain size and stabilize tempered martensite structure. For as-welded weldment and post-welded tempering treatment weldment, creep cavities preferentially grow along ferrite grain boundaries as compared to prior austenite grain boundaries, which could easily lead to intergranular premature cracking. For post-weld normalizing and subsequent tempering weldment, cavities form along prior austenite grain boundaries of base metal and are elongated together with martensitic packets/blocks under stress. Finally, the final fracture is caused by the rupture of elongated grains.