A microstructural study of F82H-MOD. Plate, powder HIP and EB and TIG weldments

F82H is the heat identification number of a ferritic/martensitic steel. The steel has a chemical composition resulting in low activation after neutron irradiation. At ECN a microstructural study was conducted on plates of F82H (73, 15 and 25mm thick), a bar of HIPped F82H and EB and TIG welds in F82H plates. The investigation was aimed to characterise the microstructures for reference in irradiation experiments. The F82H mod. plates have a martensitic matrix with carbide precipitation on the prior austenite grain boundaries and the martensite laths. The carbide precipitation is most pronounced on the prior austenite grain boundaries. The PAG is comparable for the three plate thicknesses investigated. In two plates faint segregation bands were found with a denser carbide precipitation and 8-ferrite. Further Ta, Ti and Zr containing oxides are present. Hardness measurements show a higher overall hardness in the 25mm plate investigated compared to the 7.5 and 15mm plates. The F82H HIP bar shows a homogeneous PAG throughout the diameter. The microstructure shows a zone starting at about 1 mm below the surface with a width of 14mm, with a relatively high concentration of low precipitation density ferritic like fields, which corresponds to a zone with a 15HV5 lower hardness with respect to the rest of the bar. This zone is expected to be related to the HIP process. Further in the microstructure a circular pattern of W and Ta enriched inclusions is found, which mark the original HIP-powder grain boundaries. The EB-welds were manufactured by two manufactures and differ mostly in the heat input, resulting in differences in HAZ-width and the width of the weld cap. The F82H EB welds show comparable microstructures in the weld pool, with a martensitic microstructure free of carbides. All EB-welds contain 8-ferrite in concentrations of 0.1-1%. In the heat affected zone (HAZ), the coarse grained HAZ (CGHAZ) is free of carbide precipitation, whereas the fine grained HAZ (FGHAZ) shows a dense carbide precipitation. At the transition from FGHAZ to unaffected base material, non-transformed ferritic phases enriched in W are present. The TIG weld was post weld heat treated which resulted in a lower hardness than the EB welds and a dense carbide precipitation. The hardness measurements of the EB and the TIG welds show a hardness dip on the transitions FGHAZ to the 'unaffected' base material. 3 refs