Corrosion and mechanical tests were performed on two large diameter seam welded 13%Cr stainless steel pipes (1.5 Mo and 2.5 Mo). The testing included seam welds, mechanised gas metal arc welded (GMAW) girth welds and base materials. No evidence of sulphide stress corrosion (SSC), local pitting or crevice corrosion was observed in either of the two materials or the welds when tested at 27°C in formation water and in condensed water at 20bar CO2 and 2mbar H2S. No pitting or
crevice corrosion was observed at 110°C. However, by 4-point-bend testing, corrosion/cracking occurred in the girth welded samples in both environments at l l0°C. The corrosion/cracking initiated at the region of the root fusion line and propagated in the high temperature Heat affected Zone (HAZ). Initial and secondary cracking followed the prior austenite grain boundaries. The mechanism is typical intergranular corrosion combined with stress corrosion cracking. Transmission Electron Microscopy(TEM) investigation has documented M23C6 precipitates at the prior autenite grain boundaries. Post weld heat treatment (PWHT) at 650 °C for minutes seems to have a beneficial effect on the corrosion/cracking behaviour. The super duplex weld metal used for the girth welds overmatched the yield strength of the parent materials at room temperature but undermatched it at 110 °C. Compared to the value at ambient temperature, an increase in yield strength of approximately 10% was recorded for the 13%Cr pipe materials at 110°C probably due to the present of retained austenite. A decrease of approximately 10-15 % in the yield strength of the duplex weld metals was recorded at 110°C.
Keywords: Superl3Cr, Welds, Large Diameter, High Temperature, Corrosion