The Influence of Corrosion on the Mechanical Behavior of AISI 316L Stainless Steel Welds

Abstract

Stainless steels are widely used because they have high corrosion resistance. However, they can also suffer corrosion due to the constant aggressive effect of the environment or due to chemical and physical malfunctions. It is of great importance to determine the behavior of welded austenitic stainless steels in corrosive environments for safer construction. For this reason, in this study, the corrosion and mechanical behavior of welded austenitic stainless steels exposed to salt spray was investigated. In the first stage, commercially available AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel materials with 4 mm thickness were joined with the TIG welding method, both with and without filler metal. To specify the structure of the weld zone, the micro-macrostructure and micro hardness values of the welded samples were examined before the salt spray experiments. The salt spray test was performed in compliance with the EN ISO 9227 Corrosion test in artificial environments standard, in which the tensile samples of welded AISI 316L materials were subjected to salt spray test up to 1000 hours. Tensile tests were carried out following salt spray tests.