Enhancing NDE Reliability for Grade 91 Steel Welds: Ultrasonic Imaging and Microstructural Correlations

Abstract

Ensuring the integrity of Grade 91 (9Cr-1Mo-V) steel welds is vital for the safe and reliable operation of fossil fuel–fired and nuclear power plants. This study applies an imaging technique for the ultrasonic characterization of two Grade 91 steel welds created with cold metal transfer and flux-cored arc welding processes. Ultrasonic immersion testing in the through-transmission configuration was employed to generate shear waves, which helped identify the weld metal, heat-affected zone, and base metal regions. These weld microstructures were also correlated to their ultrasonic images using metallography, ultrasonic amplitude, hardness measurements, and grain size. The findings from this study can assist practitioners in developing new nondestructive evaluation technologies, improving the inspection reliability of creep strength–enhanced ferritic steel welds by potentially identifying weld microstructure regions susceptible to creep-type failures.