The role of grain boundary sensitization on the intergranular Stress Corrosion Cracking
resistance of heat affected zones in welded supermartensitic stainless steels have been
studied. Slow strain rate tensile tests are performed on specimen sampled across multiplepass
welds. The effects of the carbon content and chromium to carbon ratio on the resistance
to Stress Corrosion Cracking are highlighted. The examination of carbon replica in
transmission electron microscopy show that these differences are related to the grain boundary
coverage by chromium carbides. A sensitisation phenomenon in heat affected zones is
proposed as being the primary cause for the sensitivity to stress corrosion cracking. Post-weld
heat treatments are a practical solution to this problem and simulated heat treatments
demonstrate a time-temperature dependence that is compatible with the kinetics of chromium
diffusion in bcc ferrite. The transposition of these results to four-points bend testing is
discussed.