Microstructure investigation on the fusion zone of steel/nickel-alloy dissimilar weld joint for nozzle buttering in nuclear power industry

Microstructure of the fusion zone of steel/nickel-alloy dissimilar metal welds (DMWs) for nozzle buttering was investigated by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and electron back-scattered microscopy (EBSD). The results showed that the dissimilar joint was complete, without welding defects. The structures of the fusion zone included the beach structure along the fusion boundary, the peninsula structures connected with the fusion boundary, and the island structures in the weld. The distribution of these three types of structures near the fusion boundary was uneven. The beach structure was formed because of the insufficient mixing and solidification of the molten liquid base material and the filler metal, with the width ranging between 0 and 150 μm. The peninsula and island structures were formed by the undercooling of the insufficiently mixed liquid base material and filler metal that entered the weld because of the convection and scouring of the weld pool. The composition of the three structures depended on the degree of mixing of the liquid base material and the filler metal, with a dilution ratio between 40 and 60%. The degree of dilution for the beach, peninsula, and island structures decreased in turn. With an increase in the dilution ratio, the initial solidification temperature of the corresponding composition increased significantly. When the dilution ratio exceeded 94.5%, the initial solidification phase transformed from the face-centered cubic γ-austenite into a body-centered cubic ferrite, with island structures solidified in the form of ferrites in the weld near the fusion boundary. The austenite grain orientations at weld side are dispersed with 75% large (> 15°) misorientation in frequency and the overall texture orientation distributes dispersedly with deviating from the < 100 > direction.