J. Mater. Sci. Technol., Vol.20 No.

4, 2004 383

Microstructural Evolution on the T91 Dissimilar

Metal Joints during Creep Rupture Tests
Guangmin LUO1)† , Jiansheng WU1) and Qingsen MENG2)
1) Key Lab. for High Temperature Materials & Tests of Ministry of Education, Shanghai JiaoTong University,
Shanghai 200030, China
2) School of Materials Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
[ Manuscript received April 29, 2003, in revised form July 30, 2003]

T91 steel is one of the new materials presently employed in power plant pipe components. The creep rupture strength
and microstructure of the T91+10CrMo910 and T91+13CrMo44 welded joints were analyzed during creep rupture
tests. Creep transgranular ductile rupture occurred at the 10CrMo910 matrix in the T91+10CrMo910 welded joints
and creep intergranular brittle rupture occurred at the 13CrMo44 HAZ in the T91+13CrMo44 joints. Microhardness
measurements showed high hardness at the heat affected zone (HAZ) of T91 and a sharply drop at the 13CrMo44
HAZ during creep rupture. The metallographic tests showed that no obvious microstructure degradation was observed
in the 10CrMo910 HAZ and matrix, while creep cracks appeared at the 13CrMo44 HAZ. T91 steel had relatively high
creep resistant strength in the welded joints tested. Recovery occurred in the T91 HAZ with the growth of subgrain
size and the decrease of dislocation density during creep. It was concluded that the dissimilar joints of T91 and low
alloy heat-resistant steel should have close creep strength matching to increase the service life of the overall joints
at elevated temperature.
KEY WORDS: T91 steel, Dissimilar metal joint, Creep rupture test

1. Introduction

Low-alloy bainitic and ferritic steels, such as 10CrMo910

(2.25Cr-1.0Mo) and 13CrMo44 (1Cr-0.5Mo), are widely used
in the superheater tubes and steam pipes of power plants[1∼7] .
These components commonly suffer microstructural degrada-
tion through creep and oxidation during long term service. In
the fossil fuel fired power plant the superheater tubes proper-
ties of the high temperature sections were deteriorated seri-
ously, therefore the thickness of the wall decreased from 5 mm
to 2 mm due to peeling of oxide skin. These superheater tubes
should be replaced with high quality steels for the purpose of
safety.
Modified 9Cr steel, referred to as T91 for tubing and P91
for piping, is a relatively new alloy that has been used in Fig.1 Creep rupture strength of tested welded joints
new construction projects since 1992[8∼11] . T91 steel, offer-
ing higher creep resistant strength, lower oxidation rate, and Rupture surfaces of creep rupture specimens were cleaned
excellent weldability, was used to replace the 10CrMo910 and and then observed by means of scanning electron microscope
13CrMo44 material in the higher temperature sections in this (SEM). Microhardness of the joints was measured. Optical
investigation. Accordingly the question of dissimilar weld- microscope and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were
ing, T91+10CrMo910 and T91+13CrMo44, was put forward. used for observation of the microstructures.
The aim of this paper is to investigate the mechanical proper-
ties, strength matching, and microstructural evolution of the
3. Results
welded joints during creep rupture tests.
3.1 Creep rupture tests
2. Experiment The creep rupture strength vs the rupture time plotted
in the lg-lg coordinates is shown in Fig.1. More specimens of
Two groups of T91+10CrMo910 and T91+13CrMo44 T91+13CrMo44 joints than T91+10CrMo910 were tested due
welded joints were prepared from tubes (57 mm×5 mm) made to their unstable testing data. The extrapolation lines showed
of T91, 10CrMo910 and 13CrMo44 steels welding with TIG- that the 105 h creep rupture strength of the T91+10CrMo910
R40 (Φ2.5 mm) electrodes. The chemical composition of the and T91+13CrMo44 welded joints are 86.2 MPa and 46 MPa,
parent materials and the electrodes are given in Table 1. Weld respectively.
seams were deposited in the V groove by multi-pass tungsten
inert gas arc welding (TIG). The welded joints were heated 3.2 Fractography
to 720±10◦ C for 1 h followed by air cooling. All of the T91+10CrMo910 specimens fractured with
Creep rupture tests were carried out at 550±3◦ C by creep “cup” shape neck at the 10CrMo910 matrix. The distance
rupture testing machine (RCL-3) under constant stress con- from rupture location to weld seam was slightly decreased as
ditions on the T91+10CrMo910 and T91+13CrMo44 welded the applied stress decreased and the testing time increased.
joints. Creep rupture tension testing specimens were taken Rupture occurred at the 13CrMo44 heat affected zone (HAZ)
from welded tube segments with the weld seam in the gauge in the T91+13CrMo44 specimens. No neck was observed at
center and T91 and 10CrMo910 or 13CrMo44 steels in each the 13CrMo44 HAZ.
side. Scanning electron micrographs of the rupture surface are
shown in Fig.2. The 10CrMo910 matrix rupture surface is
† Ph.D., to whom correspondence should be addressed,
characterized by a dimple transgranular ductile mode, while
E-mail: gmluo@vip.sina.com.cn.
384 J. Mater. Sci. Technol., Vol.20 No.4, 2004

Table 1 Chemical compositions of materials investigated, wt pct

C Mn Si Cr Mo S P
13CrMo44 0.15 0.45 0.22 0.95 0.59 0.007 0.02
10CrMo910 0.11 0.40 0.22 2.20 0.96 0.006 0.02
T91 0.10 0.51 0.45 8.90 0.95 0.009 0.02
TIG-R40 0.10 0.50 0.40 2.50 1.05 0.010 0.02

Fig.2 SEM micrographs of the rupture surface at the (a) 10CrMo910 matrix at 138 MPa stress and 1235 h
rupture time, and (b) 13CrMo44 HAZ at 110 MPa stress and 2270 h rupture time

Fig.4 Microstructure of the weld seam (220 MPa, 175.5 h)

Fig.3 Microhardness profile of the joints (a)

10CrMo910+T91 and (b) 13CrMo44+T91
“rock” shape intergranular brittle fractograph with many sec-
ond cracks was observed in the 13CrMo44 HAZ rupture sur-
face.
3.3 Microhardness tests
Microhardness was measured along the specimen from
rupture location to T91 HAZ (Fig.3). The average microhard-
ness of the weld seam is about 250 HV. The microhardness of
T91 HAZ is higher than that of the weld seam but lower than
that of the T91 matrix. No obvious decrease of microhardness
was observed in the profile of the T91+10CrMo910 specimens
during long term creep. The soft zone (about 165 HV) is at
the 10CrMo910 matrix adjacent to the rupture location. No
obvious microhardness decrease is found in the weld seam and
Fig.5 Microstructure of the 10CrMo910 matrix near the
fracture (160 MPa, 923 h)
T91 HAZ in the T91+13CrMo44 joints while the microhard-
ness of 13CrMo44 HAZ decreases sharply from 220 HV to 65
HV during long term tension at high temperature.
3.4 Microstructure
The microstructure of the weld seam consists of coarse
columnar upper bainite and the columnar grains gradually
converted into equiaxed ones as the creep testing time in-
creases. No crack occurs in most of the weld seams except one
(Fig.4) which is applied with much higher stress (220 MPa).
The microstructure of the 10CrMo910 near the rupture in
the T91 dissimilar welded joints is illustrated in Fig.5. It is a
mixture of pearlite, small amount of bainite and ferrite. The
 J. Mater. Sci. Technol., Vol.20 No.4, 2004
Fig.6 Microstructure of the 13CrMo44 HAZ (a) “W” shape cracks at 220 MPa stress and rupture time for 175.5
h, and (b) “R” shape cracks at 110 MPa stress and rupture time for 2270 h
Fig.7 Microstructure of the T91 HAZ (220 MPa, 175.5 h)
coarse-grained (20 µm) and fine-grained (5 µm) HAZ of the
10CrMo910 are composed mixture of bainite and ferrite.
The original pearlite microstructure is disappeared and
replaced by polygonal ferrite and coarse carbides in the
13CrMo44 HAZ. A lot of intergranular cracks, which are per-
pendicular to the tension direction, were observed near the
fusion line and in the HAZ of 13CrMo44. Wedge (W) shape
cracks were observed in short term high stress creep speci-
men and round (R) shape cavity cracks were observed in the
relatively long term low stress creep tensile specimen (Fig.6).
Figure 7 shows the microstructure of T91 consisted of
tempered martensite matrix and homogeneously distributed
precipitates. TEM micrographs illustrating the microstruc-
ture evolution are presented in Fig.8. Slender lath subgrain
(0.3 µm) structure with high density of dislocations was ob-
served in T91 HAZ after short term creep tests (Fig.8(a)).
Recovery occurs in some area of T91 HAZ during relatively
long term creep rupture tests (Fig.8(b)). It shows that the
width of subgranular lath increased to 0.8 µm, the dislocation
density decreased, equiaxed subgrains were appeared, and no
aggregation of precipitates occurred in the subgrains.
4. Discussion
The creep rupture strength of the T91+10CrMo910
welded joints remained steady and is higher than that of the
10CrMo910 matrix (Standard Germany, DIN17 175-79 σ=68
MPa). The rupture strength of T91+13CrMo44 welded joints
is obviously decreased as the tensile time increased at high
temperature. The 13CrMo44 HAZ in T91+13CrMo44 welded
joint is the weak zone since its creep rupture strength is less
than that of 13CrMo44 matrix (DIN17 175-79 σ=49 MPa).
This can be explained by the following microstructure analy-
sis.
The fractography test showed that the 10CrMo910 matrix
fractured in the type of transgranular ductile creep rupture.
385
Each dimple corresponds to a fracture nucleation site. In-
clusions may be spotted at some of the dimple locations[1,2] .
Intergranular brittle rupture was observed in the 13CrMo44
HAZ. It illustrates that the strength of grain boundary is
weaker than that of inner grain since voids nucleated and grew
along the grain boundary and coalesced to the extent neces-
sary to cause failure. The columnar grains gradually con-
verted into equiaxed ones in weld seam as the creep testing
time increased which showed that recrystalization occurred
during long term tension at high temperature.
The microhardness tests showed that the T91 steel kept
the high hardness value during the long term creep. It indi-
cated that the T91 steel had relatively high creep resistant
strength among the welded joints. The microhardness of the
weld seam is higher than that of 10CrMo910 matrix and HAZ,
because the alloy content of Cr and Mo is relatively high and
thus enhanced the microstructure stability. 10CrMo910 HAZ
is harder than its matrix due to two reasons. One is that more
bainite structure in the HAZ was observed compared with the
matrix; the other is that a diffusion of Cr and Mo probably
occurred from the weld seam to the HAZ during the welding
and creep rupture. The microhardness of 13CrMo44 HAZ is
higher in short term creep rupture and rupture occurred be-
cause of higher applied stress. It sharply decreased, however,
during relatively long term creep due to the microstructure
degradation. All the rupture locations of the tested specimens
showed an agreement with the microhardness tests.
Different sizes of primary austenite grains in the coarse
grained and fine-grained 10CrMo910 HAZ were observed be-
cause of the heat cycling during the welding. The less the
remaining time in the austenite range, the finer the grain size.
The mixture of bainite and ferrite appeared in the HAZ due to
the different transforming temperature during the continuous
cooling after welding. Bainite is the transformation product
at intermediate temperature and ferrite is the transforma-
tion product at higher temperature. The microstructure of
10CrMo910 matrix is coarse pearlite and small amount of bai-
nite, and rupture occurred here due to less bainite content and
lower microhardness. No crack and no obvious microstructure
degradation were observed at the 10CrMo910 matrix near the
fracture, hence the ductile creep rupture is caused mainly by
higher stress but not by inferior creep properties.
“W” shape cracks were observed in the 13CrMo44 HAZ
at high stress short term creep tensile specimens. At high
tensile stress, grain boundary sliding is the main deformation
mechanism and stress concentration is induced by shear stress
between the grain boundaries at the juncture of three grains.
“W” shape creep cracks (Fig.6(a)) were formed if the defor-
mation of the inside grains can not accommodate the shear
deformation at grain boundaries, and thus creep rupture of
the T91+13CrMo44 welded joints is caused by higher tensile
stress in the short term creep rupture.
In long term creep tensile samples, ferrite microstructure
with carbide particles gathering at the grain boundary was
386 J. Mater. Sci. Technol., Vol.20 No.4, 2004
Fig.8 Change of substructures in T91 HAZ as a function of time (a) 100 h and (b) 2600 h
formed by diffusion in the 13CrMo44 HAZ instead of bai-
nite and pearlite, which weakened the effect of precipitation
hardening and solid solution strengthening. The distortion
incompatibility between carbides and matrix easily led to the
formation of voids, especially at high temperature. Further
more, the carbides weakened the gain boundary strength and
caused stress concentration. Voids, therefore, were formed at
the gain boundaries, grew up and connected with each other
into microcracks during long term tension. This is the typical
“R” shape creep crack (Fig.6(b)) and it is commonly appeared
under lower stress, longer tensile time and higher temperature
conditions. The microstructure degradation of carbide parti-
cles gathering at grain boundaries is the main reason which
induced the T91+13CrMo44 welded joints rupture at rela-
tively long term creep.
The microstructure of T91 HAZ is tempered martensite
which is harder than that of bainite and pearlite microstruc-
ture. Precipitates was observed homogeneously dispersed in
the matrix indicating that the T91 steel had a good precip-
itation hardening effect since precipitate particles acted as
barriers to the movement of dislocations. The T91 HAZ has
small initial subgrain size and high dislocation density. Dur-
ing creep tension tests, substructure change occurred in T91
HAZ though no obvious optical microstructure change was
observed. At external stress and elevated temperature, dislo-
cation strain energy decreased as the dislocations slipped or
climbed to the cell walls and polygonization occurred. This
can explain the phenomenon that the observed dislocation
density decreased and the equiaxed subgrain appeared in the
T91 HAZ during the recovery process.
Polygonization commonly occurs in the end of the first
creep. It is well known that the dislocation density decreases
continuously in the process of polygonization, while it does
not decrease obviously any more after steady polygonization
substructure is completely formed in the secondary creep.
The microhardness tests showed that no microhardness drop
occurred in T91 HAZ during creep rupture tests, which in-
dicated that the T91 steel is in the secondary creep and has
higher creep resistant strength. T91 is, therefore, the satis-
factory replacement material for the superheater tubes.
From the above discussion it is known that the creep resis-
tant strength of 10CrMo910 is higher than that of 13CrMo44.
No failure occurs in the T91+10CrMo910 welded joints that
means the welding process and welding material are feasible
in the plant service, while the T91+13CrMo44 welded joints
failed at the 13CrMo44 HAZ. It shows that the high tem-
perature properties of the welded joints between T91 and low
alloy heat-resistant steels depended strongly on that of low al-
loy steels. The T91 dissimilar metal joints should, therefore,
have close strength matching so as to increase creep strength
of the integral joints.
5. Conclusions
(1) Creep transgranular ductile rupture occurred at the
10CrMo910 matrix in the T91+10CrMo910 welded joints and
creep intergranular brittle rupture occurred at the 13CrMo44
HAZ in the T91+13CrMo44 joints. The 105 h creep rupture
strength of the T91+10CrMo910 joints is about 86.2 MPa,
T91+13CrMo44 joints 46 MPa.
(2) The microstructure stability and creep rupture
strength of 10CrMo910 is better than that of 13CrMo44 at
elevated temperature because 10CrMo910 contains relative
higher alloy elements.
(3) Recovery occurred in the T91 HAZ with the growth of
subgrain size and decrease of dislocation density during creep.
T91 steel was in the secondary creep and had relatively higher
creep resistant strength in the tested welded joints. It is the
optimum replacement material for the superheater tubes.
(4) The creep rupture strength of the welded joints be-
tween T91 and low alloy heat-resistant steels depends strongly
on that of the low alloy steels. It should have close strength
matching so as to increase the creep strength of the T91 dis-
similar welded joints.
Acknowledgement
The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support of the
Shanxi Natural Science Foundation (20031051) and Shanxi Science
Institute of Power.
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