Arivazhagan Natarajan

By Manikandan Manoharan, Arivazhagan Natarajan and Nageswara Rao Muktinutalapati

Microsegregation occurs during solidification of fusion zone in alloy C-276. The concomitant precipitation of topologically close-packed phases P and μ has been reported to be responsible for the hot cracking observed in this alloy during welding. The clue to preventing hot cracking hence lies in suppressing microsegregation in the fusion zone. An important avenue towards this is the introduction of current pulsing during gas tungsten arc welding. Current pulsing was found to be effective in mitigating microsegregation; it was also found to refine the microstructure in the weld zone and improve the mechanical behavior of weld joints. Judicious choice of filler wire is of paramount importance to get weld joints free from segregation and with a good combination of mechanical properties. Joints made using arc welding methods were found to be highly resistant to corrosion in salt spray tests. Non-arc-based methods—laser welding and electron beam welding—were found to be effective in largely keeping the microsegregation at bay. This chapter elaborates on these issues.

Part of the book: Superalloys

By M. Arivarasu, K. Gokulkumar, K. Devendranath Ramkumar and N. Arivazhagan

Hot corrosion of the weldment is the result of the reaction between oxidation and sulfidation, which affects welded joints exposed to combustion gases containing sulfate coal ash at high temperature. It is also demonstrated that welding processes, weld consumables, temperature of exposure, and mixture of salt environment are important factors in hot corrosion of the weldment.

Part of the book: High Temperature Corrosion

By Nageswara Rao Muktinutalapati, Arivazhagan Natarajan and Moganraj Arivarasu

The coal-based power plants have been plagued by twin problems—low thermal efficiency and emission of high level of pollutants into the environment. Over the last few decades, attention was paid by researchers worldwide to overcome these problems and to design, build, and operate coal-based plants with improving efficiency levels and reducing emission levels. Operating the power plants with higher levels of steam temperature and pressure was adopted as the direction toward achieving the needed improvements. The requirement to operate the plants with increasingly higher levels of temperature and pressure made it necessary to design the components with superalloys. Hot corrosion then becomes a major design consideration, particularly for superheaters and reheaters. Thus, it becomes important to study the hot corrosion behavior of candidate superalloys. The present chapter attempts to review the work done over the last two decades to understand the hot corrosion behavior of superalloys in the context of their use in advanced coal-based power plants.

Part of the book: Superalloys for Industry Applications