The Investigation of Ultrasonic Energy Attenuation in AISI 316 Stainless Steel Weld Joint

This research aims to study and describe the effect of microstructure on shape of distance amplitude correction (DAC) curve and ultrasonic inspectability of stainless steel weld joint. Two calibration blocks (side drilled hole block) were prepared from AISI 316 stainless steel plate according with ASME section V version 2013. One calibration block was varied the grain size by annealing process. The annealing temperature and holding time were 1,200 °C and 4 hours, respectively and then cooled down in furnace. AISI 316 Butt joint welding specimens were prepared to establish the artificial discontinuities. Lack of fusion and drill hole, diameter 1 and 2.5 mm, were selected to establish as discontinuities. Specimens were welded by gas tungsten arc welding and shielded metal arc welding process. Then, the gain size and microstructure of two calibration blocks were analyzed by microscope. The macrostructure, gain size and microstructure of weld joint were determined by microscope. Longitudinal and transverse wave with probe frequency 2.25 and 4 MHz and angle probe 45, 60 and 70 degrees were used to describe the effect of microstructure on shape of DAC curve and investigate the ultrasonic inspectability in stainless steel weld. The experiment results found that the ultrasonic energy of longitudinal and transverse wave in calibration blocks decreased as the gain size increased. The attenuation due to gain size affected to the shape of DAC curve. The grain size in heat effected zone (HAZ) of weld specimen is larger than base material and the ultrasonic transverse wave can detect lack of fusion and drill hole diameter 2.5 mm but cannot detect drill hole diameter 1 mm. The usefulness of this research is utilizable for searching the discontinuities in the weld zone of stainless steel by ultrasonic. The attenuation of ultrasonic energy in the weld zone of AISI 316 is usually high and the amplitude displayed at the screen is very low. This reason can be made the operator wrong result interpretation, if they did not consider about the attenuation from microstructure.