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A corrosion management and applications engineering magazine from Outokumpu Stainless

Austenitic and Duplex Dear Reader

Stainless Steels used as
We have during recent years, as you probably are aware of due to the
Construction Materials
accelerated costs for stainless steel, experienced an increased demand
for this material in a variety of applications. You and quite a few more
people around the world have realised that quality pays off in the long
run. It is far better to pay a little extra when installing different types
of equipment instead of getting the costs as maintenance at a later
occasion.
Maintenance means not only extra costs for replacement material,
but also production losses, erection of expensive scaffolding and
maybe emissions of hazardous compounds, e.g. residues from sand
blasting operations and solvents from epoxy coatings.
The article describes how you could make better use of this beautiful
material for the building and construction industries, emphasising
welding.

Enjoy the reading!

Yours sincerely
Jan Olsson
Technical editor of Acom

www.outokumpu.com
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Austenitic and Duplex

Stainless Steels used as
Construction Materials
Björn Holmberg and Asko Kähönen
Outokumpu Stainless AB, Sweden

Abstract
Stainless steel is today more and more used as an engineering material in architecture- and
building constructions. It is a material with high aesthetic attraction, good weldability
and formability and also high strength when needed. A further aspect is durability of
the material and no need for protective coatings against corrosion or fire. Austenitic
stainless steels are the most used stainless steels in building applications. The trend
today however is an increased use of high strength duplex stainless steels.
Typical stainless properties are discussed in the paper such as formability, increased
strength by cold deformation, corrosion resistance and especially weldability. Different
applications today and future possibilities are shown as well as different design criteria.
For stainless steels the most used joining technique is arc welding. The paper will
highlight specific questions such as how should a weld look like to fulfil mechanical
properties, fatigue, removal of weld oxides, corrosion, and aesthetic appearance, prestigious
material. To reach sufficient corrosion resistance and mechanical properties correct filler
material must be used as well as a qualified welding procedure and welding operator.

Stainless steel in architecture, building and construction

Stainless steel is among the most prestigious architectural and building materials. It is
a beautiful material with high aesthetical attraction. Stainless steel is easy to form due
to its good ductility and it is suitable for a wide range of applications. Shortly after the
material had been discovered, it found its way to buildings in large scale.
Stainless steel can still be seen in old prestige buildings, like Chrysler building
with its ornamented top in New York. Since then the popularity of stainless steel has
increased within architects and building engineers. Today you can choose between
a large range of surface finishes, colours and product forms and it is easy to find an
optimum stainless steel grade for your purpose, Fig. 1. Chrysler building has been

Fig. 1 From the left: Chrysler Building (New York), One Canada Square in Canary Wharf (London) and Petronas Towers
(Kuala Lumpur).
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renovated because of water leakage in some parts of the upper floors. During the renovation
the quality of the stainless steel plates was controlled and they were considered still to
be in perfect condition after more than 80 years of service in harsh weather conditions,
exposed to a combination of urban/industrial and marine environments.
There are good reasons for starting to look at stainless steel as a construction material.
Stainless steels are amongst the most corrosion resistant materials that exist. Stainless
steel has self-healing properties in case of small damages on the surface. The covering
oxide layer is replaced quite fast after the damage. With the right choice of grade for the
purpose and appropriate manufacturing methods, stainless will be unaffected by the
environment even in the most aggressive industrial sites including marine atmospheres.
More than 90 percent of all building applications today can be constructed using
a small number of stainless steels. The most common ones are ferritic and austenitic
steels. The common steel grades in building applications today are: EN 1.4301 (304),
EN 1.4307 (304L), EN 1.4401 (316), EN 1.4404 (316 L), EN 1.4571 (316Ti),
EN 1.4510 (439) and EN 1.4016 (430). Fast development of duplex stainless grades has
influenced that these steels are considered as the future construction materials in the
building and construction industry. Examples of such duplex steels are: EN 1.4362
(SAF 2304), EN 1.4462 (2205) and a new low nickel alternative EN 1.4162 (LDX 2101).
[1]. Two ferritic grades are used in load carrying constructions EN 1.4113 (434) and
EN 1.4003 (410S). Common for both these grades is the high proof strength of a mean
value of 370 MPa. EN 1.4113 is also used for architectural exteriors trims and profiles.
Also decorative profiles and metallic finishing for building are typical applications.
EN 1.4113 has a higher Cr content of than EN 1.4003 and about 1% Mo content.
This leads to a significant improvement in pitting corrosion resistance.
Normally the austenitic grades EN 1.4301, EN 1.4306, EN 1.4541, EN 1.4571,
EN 1.4318 are available in different product forms including hollow sections. For
these grades the mechanical strength and fire resistance properties vary to some degree.
The information about the behaviour of the different materials has become available
through continuous research. The duplex grades are also used in building and construction
applications when high mechanical strength is needed in aggressive environments, like
bridge structures.
Today stainless steel is used in many other areas than in facades and roof covers,
which were the first applications back in the twenties. Other important aspects are life
cycle costs and the ideal of sustainable development. Even if the initial material costs for
stainless steel can be higher than for carbon steel, stainless steel requires no painting
and surface treatment. This, together with the savings in maintenance, compensates
more than well the higher material costs. Stainless steel is 100% recyclable after the
product life cycle and there is no limitation for the recyclable scrap that can be used for
new production of stainless steel. [2]

Stainless steel as a construction material

In principal all the common design and construction rules are also suitable for stainless
steel. This small discussion of the design with stainless steel is based on some chosen
literature references. One of the most important at the moment is the handbook from
Euro Inox [3]. It is based on the results of an international research and co-operation
project, where many EU countries participated, including Sweden. It presents all the
design aspects for stainless steel and especially those differing from carbon steel ones.
Another important reference is the new Eurocode – Eurocode 3 for steel construction. [4].
Stainless steel is often compared with carbon steel. The obvious reason is that they
have very similar mechanical properties. Carbon steel is by far the most used material
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for construction. The largest differences in physical and mechanical properties between
stainless steel and carbon steel are that the stainless steel has:

• Higher thermal expansion (austenitic steels)

• Lower thermal conductivity
• Strong deformation hardening
• Larger deflection under beam bending load
• Higher strength over a large temperature range
• Good energy absorbing ability (toughness)
• Better fire resistance properties

Thermal expansion is a measure of the expansion of the material at higher temperatures.

Ferritic and duplex steels have an expansion similar to carbon steel. Austenitic steels expand
most of these materials. Thermal expansion is an important aspect in constructions
designed for high temperatures or in long tubular constructions.
Thermal conductivity is low for stainless steel compared to carbon steel. For example
a heat exchanger has a lower utilization factor than one manufactured using carbon
steel. However, in many cases the use of stainless steel is necessary because of the need
for high corrosion resistance. At high temperatures the thermal conductivity increases
in austenitic stainless steels.
A typical behaviour of stainless steel is the deformation hardening in normal
temperatures. The degree of deformation hardening is depending of the steel grade,
chemical properties, microstructure and manufacturing history. A rule of thumb is
that austenitic steel deformation hardens heavily, duplex stainless hardens somewhat,
ferritic less and martensitic steels only slightly.
Deformation hardening has an influence on mechanical properties, mainly strength
and elongation. On the other hand, this has an effect on fabrication methods like
forming, bending and machining. As the material hardens successively after the grade
of deformation in the forming process, the manufacturing process has to be designed
taking this into account. In case of plate bending the deformation hardening causes
the spring back effect which has to be taken care of by over bending in order to get
the wanted angle. Deformation hardening can even be advantageous because of the
increased strength in final component even if this cannot be utilized during calculations.
Typically the increase in strength is in the range of 20 – 100% in bended plate corner.
It is important to have this discussion with the manufacturer in order to find out the
possible restrictions in cold forming because forming of stainless steel may need more
force to form than carbon steel. Length of pressed plate details may be reduced because
of the size of the machinery or the available force when forming thicker or higher strength
material. Duplex stainless steels require approximately the double force compared with
the austenitic steels. Because of the lower ductility of duplex steels, larger radii in corners
have to be used.
Toughness of the austenitic stainless steels is very good. Typical fracture elongation
up to 50% can be achieved without the cold-formed material being brittle. Austenitic
stainless steels are tougher than construction steels at all temperatures and they are used,
for example, as reinforcement in concrete structures for cryogenic installations such as
storage tanks for liquefied gases.
The deflection of a bended beam is deduced at Serviceability Limit State according to
Eurocode 3. Usually the deflection can be calculated according to common steel design
theory with one exception: The secant modulus has to be used instead of elasticity
modulus. Secant modulus varies according to stress level in the beam. The values can
be calculated according to a simplified method in Eurocode 3 [4].
The strength of stainless steel varies, see Table 1. This is mainly due to the material’s
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microstructure, chemical composition and manufacturing method. But as mentioned

earlier, cold forming during the fabrication process can influence the component
strength. For many austenitic steels, chosen for a specific environment, there is often
a duplex alternative with similar corrosion properties but with higher proof strength.
This gives a possibility to optimize a construction for both material cost and capacity.
As mentioned earlier, the strength of the final product depends at the end of the
manufacturing process. The deformation hardening of stainless steel can be utilized
by cold stretching/ hard rolling the material to higher strength. Increased material
strength can then be taken advantage of by reducing the material thickness to make
the product lighter and/or getting better deformation or dent resistance e.g. in cover
plates. This method is used for austenitic stainless steels, which have a high deformation
hardening capacity, especially the grades 1.4310, 1.4301 and to a certain extent also
1.4401, see Table 2.

A sample of typical strength values for some common stainless steels. The guaranteed
values according to European standard are also shown in the table. Table 1

Outokumpu Outokumpu typical values EN, mm. values

steel name Rp0.2 Rp1.0 Rm A5 No. Rp0.2 Rp1.0 Rm A5 KV
MPa MPa MPa % MPa MPa MPa % J
4016 C 380 520 25 1.4016 260 450 20
248 SV P 730 930 20 1.4418 660 840 14 55
LDX2101® P 480 700 38 1.4162
SAF 23040 ®
P 450 670 40 1.4362 400 630 25 60
2205 P 510 750 35 1.4462 460 640 25 60
SAF 25070 ®
P 590 830 35 1.4410 530 730 20 60
4310 C 300 330 800 50 1.4310 250 280 600 40
4301 P 290 330 600 55 1.4301 210 250 520 45 60
4311 P 320 360 640 55 1.4311 270 310 550 40 60
4401 P 280 320 570 55 1.4401 220 260 520 45 60
4404 P 280 320 570 55 1.4404 220 260 520 45 60
4436 P 300 340 590 50 1.4436 220 260 530 40 60
4432 P 280 320 570 50 1.4432 220 260 520 45 60
904L P 260 300 600 50 1.4539 220 260 520 35 60
254SM0 ®
P 340 380 680 50 1.4547 300 340 650 40 60

Strength classes for hard rolled EN 1.43 Table 2

Steel Grade Strength Class Rm Rp0.2 A5

(EN) (EN) [MPa] [MPa] Typical
1.4310 C700 700– 800 ~400 45
C850 850 –1000 ~600 35
C1000 1000–1150 ~750 30
C1150 1150 –1300 ~900 20
C1300 1300–1500 ~1100 12
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Stress- strain properties of stainless steel
Stress – strain properties of stainless steel are different than carbon steel in many ways.
The form of the stress-strain curve is the most important difference. Carbon steel
usually shows linear elastic behaviour up to yield point and thereafter a plateau before
nonlinear stress-strain (deformation hardening) curve. Stainless steel behaves nonlinearly
all the way without such clear change from linear to non-linear. This is the reason why
the ‘yield point’ in stainless steels is defined as a certain percentage of permanent strain
(conventionally the 0,2% strain), a proof strength, defined as indicated in the Figure 2.
Fig. 2 shows typical experimental stress-strain curves. They are representative for just
that type of material and they are not to be used for the design. Because of its exceptional
ductility (especially the austenitic ones) and its deformation hardening capability stainless
steels can tolerate noticeable local deformations on the surface.

Fig. 2 Typical stress-strain curves for stainless steel and carbon steel
(for longitudinal tension) [1]

O
N/mm2
600
E 1.4462

O 0,2
400
Carbon steel (grade S355)

O 0,2 1.4301/1.4401
200
E

0
0,002 0,005 0,010 0,015 3
(O0,2 is the 0,2% proof strength)

The strength of austenitic and duplex materials is increased through cold working. The
50% increase of proof strength (0.2%) can be considered as typical for cold-formed corner
in a profiled plate. This effect on strength is very local and the increase in the components
load bearing capacity is depending on where the higher strength corner is situated in the
component or its cross section. The increase in the material strength compensates well
the effect of local thinning of the material because of the forming process.

Corrosion resistance
When using stainless steel as a construction material it is important to remember that
stainless steel can corrode in some circumstances. It is therefore important that the designer
make the correct choice of steel, filler material, welding procedure and post weld cleaning
for a certain exposure environment to avoid later corrosion problems. The most frequent
stainless steel corrosion types occurring in constructions are pitting and crevice corrosion
although the discussion will also cover galvanic corrosion of carbon steel.
Pitting is often localized to the weld area due to weld tint, spatter, unintentional
arcing and coarse grinding, Figure 3a. Crevice corrosion might occur in overlap joins,
flanges, root weld defects and under deposits.
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Galvanic corrosion of carbon steel can take place if it is welded to stainless steel and
if both materials are immersed in a corrosive environment, e.g. water. To avoid this the
carbon steel surface should be coated, e.g. painted, and so also the stainless steel surface
to a distance of about 10–20 cm from the joint.
Another common phenomenon is extraneous corrosion, i.e. corrosion of carbon steel,
which has contaminated the stainless steel surface. Reasons can be that tools or lifting
devices have been used for the handling of both carbon steel and stainless steel or just
carbon steel dust in a workshop without separation of the two materials, Figure 3b.

Fig. 3 Different corrosion types in stainless constructions: a) Pitting in non-sufficiently

cleaned welds, b) Extraneous corrosion due to contamination with mild steel.

a b

Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is normally not a problem within the building and
construction industry, but one such problem should still be emphasised, SCC in load
bearing structures in swimming pool buildings. Volatile compounds, mainly chloramines,
can precipitate on cold metal surfaces and cause a special type of SCC, occurring at
ambient temperatures.

Welded structures – different design criteria, applications

Welded constructions of stainless steel differ somewhat from corresponding carbon steel
constructions. The main differences are found in weld methods, choice of filler material,
limitation of weld energy, tack weld technique, cleaning afterwards and sometimes post weld
heat treatment. Welding processes are discussed in a separate chapter. When constructing
stainless steel details it is very important that weld types and weld procedures are being used,
which prevent weld defects at the weld root. Noticeable defects will strongly decrease the
corrosion resistance of the weld if exposed to a corrosive environment. Such defects are also
detrimental for the mechanical strength of the joint, especially the fatigue strength
A welded joint is always a potential impairment for the construction. It is therefore
highly recommended to place joints in mildly loaded parts of a component. A typical
case is not to place a weld at a corner. If there is a risk for sediment on bottom of a
tank, it may be possible to design the welded detail so that welded joint is not exposed
to unnecessary difficult corrosive environment. Stainless steel deforms easier during the
welding process than carbon steel. This is due to the difference in thermal expansion and
thermal conductivity. This effect appears most often when welding thin materials. It is
therefore important to weld with methods that introduce less heat into the weld. Automatic
welding with laser or TIG is recommended. Semi-automatic welding shows also interesting
results as the new MIG/MAG facilities on the market can already be used for welding
down to 1 mm material thickness. Welding is performed at such a low heat input that
deformation and buckling of the material can be avoided or reduced.
There are good applications where stainless steel is used as a replacement for traditional
carbon steel. The use of stainless steel is expected to increase in the future in areas like:
• Where the difficulty or cost of maintenance makes other alternatives
uneconomical in the life cycle cost analysis
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• When structural integrity in critical components is important and

the inspection routines are either costly or impossible to follow
• Where the good mechanical properties of stainless steel, like e.g. high
strength, can be combined with inherent excellent corrosion properties
• When aesthetic appearance is of high importance
Good examples where all of these aspects can be combined are bridges where carbon steel
is still the traditional firsts choice material, but where the most advanced new constructions
using duplex stainless steel as a construction material are beginning to appear, see Fig. 4.

Fig. 4 Stainless steel bridge in Menorca, Spain. The material is EN 1.4462 (2205)
duplex stainless steel.

When designing tanks containing liquids the high strength of duplex stainless steels
can be utilized, Figure 5. Proof strengths of 400 – 500 MPa for duplex stainless steels
make it possible to reduce the plate thickness of the walls and in thus spare money by
using duplex steel EN 1.4462 (2205) instead of the ‘standard’ stainless EN 1.4401 (316).
The same goes for many other load bearing structures, e.g. bridge components, see Fig. 6
where the high strength, good weldability and good ductility of duplex stainless steels can
be utilized.
Several accidents due to failures in load bearing structures in swimming pools buildings
show that the risk of SCC makes the normal austenitic grades such as 1.4306 and 1.4404
unsuitable for several such applications in certain environments. Test results show that grades
EN 1.4547, EN 1.4529 and EN 1.4565 are suitable for critical load-bearing components
in pool hall atmospheres that are not washed or cleaned frequently. This is in agreement
with the requirements of the German building code. As a result of their microstructure,
duplex grades are more resistant to SCC than the standard austenitic grades. There are
some recent examples in the UK of flumes being suspended with super duplex grade
EN1.4507 stranded wire. There are also examples of duplex grade 1.4462 (2205) giving
satisfactory performance in safety critical, load-bearing swimming pool applications. [5].
Stainless steels are on their way to be used in car components as well. Automotive vehicle
structural crashworthiness is defined as the capability of an automotive structure to provide
adequate protection for the vehicle and its passengers in the event of a crash. The vehicle
structure and the occupant restraint system interact to protect vehicle occupants. The
structure needs to maintain enough space inside the vehicle so that the occupant restraints
can operate effectively. One very potential component for stainless steel is front bumper
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Fig. 5 Storage tanks of Fig. 6 A bridge detail of

duplex stainless steel. duplex stainless steel
EN 1.4462 (2205)

support, which requires very good energy absorbing capability. In a Swedish project one has
succeeded in creating a stainless steel bumper support construction that is 26% lighter
than the existing structure keeping the costs the same and having the same energy absorbing
capacity. The material is HyTens from Outokumpu.
Mixed joints with carbon steel are possible in most cases. However, use of over alloyed
filler material is then often required. In case of heavy gauges in austenitic grades a small risk
for hot cracking does exist. This is quite typical welding defect for austenitic stainless steels.
It can be avoided by using a filler material, which gives 2 – 10% ferrite in the weld metal.
In EN 1011-3 some other overall recommendations are given for handling and welding
of stainless steel.
Stainless reinforcing steels, rebars, are inherently resistant to corrosion. The use of stainless
rebars significantly decrease the demand for inspection and maintenance, and consequently
also the cost, of structures facing a risk of rebar corrosion. Stainless steel rebars are also
resistant to high chloride ion contents in concrete and they do not need an extra coating for
corrosion protection. By using stainless steel rebars the maintenance, traffic problems and
reparations can be reduced. All this can lead to cost reductions [6].

Design against fatigue

Fatigue phenomenon is especially important for components or details in structures that
are subjected to load /stress variations. Typical constructions or structures which face the
risk for fatigue are lifting arrangements, bridges, cars, vibrating machines or components
that are exposed to wind loads like high towers and masts. This list can be quite long.
It is often said that fatigue is the most common cause of failure in structures and machine
components. Like in carbon steel constructions the combination of stress concentrations
and defects at welded joints makes them the most risky details in construction, see Fig. 7.
The factors, which have stress increasing effect, can be classified to following three categories:
• Macro-geometric effects
• Structural discontinuities
• Local notches (at weld toe)
Macro-geometric effects occur usually in large structures and they cause concentration
of membrane stresses and formation of secondary shell bending stresses. They are
never readily included in the S-N data gained from usual fatigue test pieces. Structural
discontinuities are features included in many test specimens. The effects are similar
to those caused by macro-geometric features but they occur within a smaller region.
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Fig. 7 Typical initiation points for fatigue cracks.

a) b) c) d) e)

h)
f) g) i) j)

Typical fatigue crack initiation points are the contact areas between weld material and
base material, weld toe, Fig. 7. You can almost always find there a small initial crack or
crack like fault which starts to grow under fatigue loading. These structural details can
be classified according to standardized fatigue classes. From fatigue point of view the
best would be detail a), butt weld, and the worst one either h), load carrying fillet weld,
depending on the weld type and quality, or d), welded reinforcement.
The most used fatigue life estimation method is more or less similar in all modern
fatigue standards. The standards include tables for choosing the most correct welded
joint type, like those in Fig. 7. The welded joints are grouped to several fatigue classes
(FAT) and each class is represented by S-N-curve, like the one in Fig. 8, FAT 71, detail
c in Fig. 7. Examples of joint classification can be found e.g. in ENV 1993-1-1, Ch. 9.
After the classification of the joint S-N-curve parameters are given and the fatigue life
can be calculated. Instructions how to calculate fatigue strength of a component or a
detail in carbon steel constructions are valid also to stainless steel, see Chapter 9 in
ENV 1993-1-1, which is going to be replaced by EN 1993-1-9 .
By following good design practice a lot can be done to reduce the sensitivity for fatigue.
This is in the first hand a question of appropriate detail design, having a consecutive
design strategy of choosing a structural detail that has as good fatigue strength as possible.
The key to good fatigue design is to take fatigue into account early in the design process.
It still happens that fatigue is checked only after the other design criteria are fulfilled.
This can lead to inadequate design from fatigue point of view or costly re-design of the
structure.
It is also important to take the manufacturing and installation process into account.
A miss in e.g. welding the detail can lead to a defect that causes a potential fatigue crack
initiation/growth leading in the best case to unplanned and hence costly repair work.
These potential risky details must be pointed out for the manufacturer in order to get the
best possible result. This is especially important for details like lifting brackets or holes.
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Fatigue properties of duplex stainless steel are at least as good as for carbon steels.
Fig. 8 shows test results for a relatively new duplex stainless steel LDX 2101.

Fig. 8 Example of fatigue test results for the new duplex stainless steel LDX 2101.

LDX 2101, GMAW, Load Carrying Cruciform Filler Joint

400
Fracture
Runouts
300
Rd50%
Rd95%
FAT71
Stress range, o , MPa 200

Rd50%

Rd95%
100 Test Specimen
90
80
70
60 Welded, GMAW (MIG)
Load Carrying Cruciform Filler Joint

50
104 105 106 107
Endurance, cycles, N

It is possible to avoid fatigue problems and in worst case structural failure by concentrating
on construction details, their design and manufacturing, and by avoiding:
• Abrupt changes in cross sections leading to stress concentrations
• Angular misalignment and eccentricity in welded details
• Small discontinuities likes scratches and grinding marks,
especially perpendicular to principal stresses
• Unnecessary welding of lifting brackets
• Imperfect welding, fillet welds, tack welds, etc.
• Unintentional arcing
• Crater cracks at electrode ends
• Placing the welds at high stress areas like corners
• Too sharp weld toe angles
• Oversized welds.

Welding of stainless steels

General
The most common austenitic stainless steels used for construction purposes have all very
good weldability. In Table 3 some of the weldability factors for the different steels are
given. The most discussed weldability factor when welding carbon steel or martensitic
stainless steel is the problem with hydrogen cracking. This phenomenon sometimes
appears in the heat-affected zone, HAZ, of heavy wall constructions (>20mm). High
strength carbon steels with carbon equivalents (CEV, IIW) above 0.4 are consequently
welded mostly with preheat (>75 –150°C). It is also important to use filler materials
with low hydrogen content (< 5ml/100g weld metal). These phenomena do not exist
when welding austenitic and most duplex materials.
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It is recommended that a fabricator uses a quality system for the welding operation.
The new international QA system, ISO 3824 gives a good guideline for the fabricator.
In this standard procedures for qualifying welders, qualification of welding procedures as
well as quality requirements for different constructions are given. For fabrication of steel
constructions, a new standard is now almost ready for publication, prEN 1090-2. This
new standard can also be used for stainless steel structures. The standard contains technical
requirements for execution, fabrication, welding, erection and cleaning for different execution
classes.
It is important that welds in stainless steels as well as welds in other materials are
free of defects to secure mechanical strength. Stainless steel welds must also fulfil the
requirements for corrosion resistance.
This means that the surface of the steel or the weld area must be free from contamination
or surface defects, which otherwise might cause localised corrosion. Requirements are
given in for example EN 25817. Examples of surface defects are iron contamination, coarse
grinding, spatter and unintentional arcing as well as heat tint. It is often advantageous
that the design engineer specifies the as-welded profile and surface condition required.
This may influence the choice of welding process or post weld treatment.

Weldability

Weldability of some steel grades. Table 3

Working/
Micro- Steel Welding Hydrogen Grain 475°C - Hot
Structure Type Filler Temperature Cracking Growth Embrittlem. Cracking
Austenitic 200 – 400°C Very
Martensitic 1.4021/420 No No No
(martensite.) (200 – 400°C) sensitive
Ferritic 200– 300°C
Ferritic 1.4016/430 Sensitive Yes Yes No
Austenitic RT
1.4401/316 Austenitic RT No No No Some
Austenitic 1.4539/904L “ RT No No No Some
1.4845/310S “ RT No No No Yes
Duplex 1.4462/2205 Duplex RT No Some Yes Small
RT to 150°C
Carbon
Steel Ferritic Dependent of Sensitive Yes No Some
thickn. and C-ekv.
C-Steel to Over
Mixed joint
Stainl. steel alloyed Some Small

Welding processes
The common used fusion methods can be used for welding of stainless steels. When
welding thin gauge materials GTAW, PAW and Laser are the most used methods. The
development of the GMAW equipments has now given the operators the possibility
to use this method down to 1.0 mm. This increases productivity when welding in the
field compared to GTAW. When welding heavier gauges on site the trend today is to use
flux-cored wires. They give the welder good weld pool control and a high productivity.
Thin walled constructions may be designed with an overlap joint. In such cases resistance
spot/seam welding are often used due to high productivity. The design engineer must
however be aware of the risk of crevice corrosion.
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Consumables
1. Duplex steels
Duplex steels should be welded with designed fillers. This optimizes microstructure,
mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. The following fillers are recommended.

Parent material Filler: Avesta Welding

LDX 2101 LDX 2101
SAF 2304 2304 / LDX 2101 / 2205
2205 2205
SAF 2507 2507 / P100

2. Austenitic steels
The steels presented in this article have all very good weldability. They can be welded
autogenously or with the use of filler. Recommended fillers are shown below.
Parent material Filler: Avesta Welding
1.4310 308L/MVR
1.4301 (304) 308L/MVR
1.4404 (316L) 316L/SKR
1.4571 (316Ti) 316L/SKR

3. Ferritic steels
These steels do not have the same good weldability as the other presented.
The sensitivity to grain growth implicates the need to weld with very low heat input.
They are mostly welded with austenitic fillers to give a weldment as high ductility
as possible. They are also limited in thickness.

Welding distortion
In common with other metals, stainless steel suffers from distortion due to welding.
However, the distortion of stainless steel, particularly austenitic grades, is greater than
that of carbon steels due to a higher coefficient of thermal expansion and lower thermal
conductivity. Welding distortion can only be controlled, not eliminated. The designer and
fabricator can take some actions to reduce distortion. Few beads, small joints, symmetric
joint configuration, pre-setting of the plates, clamping jigs, back stepping and by using
a welding process that gives a narrow weld (e.g. Laser) are examples that can be used to
reduce weld distortion.

Post weld cleaning

Post weld cleaning is an important and very often forgotten item. Adequate cleaning is
essential if optimum corrosion resistance is required or if an architect has chosen stainless
steel for aesthetic reasons. It is therefore important for the designer to define the required
post weld cleaning for avoiding cost overruns and possible poor service performance.
Commonly used cleaning processes are, brushing, grinding + polishing and cleaning with
pickling products. Pickling gives the highest corrosion resistance. It is often good practice
to combine mechanical and chemical processes. Coarse grinding can on the other hand
reduce the corrosion resistance of the welded joint. Even the fatigue properties might be
reduced if coarse grinding is used as the final operation.
If the architect has chosen the stainless welded construction for aesthetic reasons, the
cleaning of the weld area might be a very important matter in practice. The first and easiest
way is to try to make the weld invisible. If this is not possible, the surface appearance
after treatment should be as similar as the original delivered condition. For example,
if polishing is the final treatment the steel could be delivered as polished.
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A deco or pattern rolled surface should not have exposed welds because they will normally
not be accepted from an aesthetic aspect after a cleaning operation. And the same philosophy
should be applied if the surface of the steel is cold rolled skin passed. Such a bright shiny
surface will after welding and cleaning mostly give a dull appearance of the weld area.

Post weld heat treatment (PWHT) of welded joints

From the material point of view, it is very unusual to heat treat stainless steel after welding.
It is very often the case that more problems appear after PWHT than what was to be solved
with the operation. Duplex steels are more difficult to PWHT than standard austenitic
steels. By this reason PWHT is not recommended..
If the construction must be heat treated to reduce weld stresses, quench annealing at
1050 –1100°C is recommended. If this procedure is used it is important that the construction
has a suitable form and that the cooling can be performed uniform and rapidly. A certain
grade of reduction of weld stresses can be obtained by PWHT at 450 – 480°C during 2 –10
hours depending on the material thickness. This low temperature range is not suitable for
duplex steels.
Welded constructions in EN 1.4462 loose strength at temperatures above 900°C.
This may cause deformation due to the own weight effect. Quench annealing requires
consequently that the construction is supported during the heat treatment. The cooling
after PWHT of duplex constructions must be rapid to avoid embrittlement due to sigma
phase precipitates. Water quenching is recommended. Stress relieving at 600 – 650°C
can be carried out if the steel has low carbon content (< 0.030) or if it is stabilized.
The holding time can be 0.5 – 4 hours depending of the material thickness.

Summary
The important properties in stainless steel compared to carbon steel for constructional
use are:
• No specific yield point like carbon steels, Rp0.2 (or sometimes Rp1.0)
are used instead
• Stainless steel has generally better toughness than carbon steels
• Stainless steel deform hardens much more than carbon steel – especially
the austenitic ones
• Some specific design methods like using secant modulus instead of Young’s
modulus when calculating beam bending
• Detail design and fabrication is important for the fatigue properties
like it is for carbon steels
• Post weld cleaning is important for corrosion and aesthetical reasons
• Stainless steels are more sensitive to high heat inputs during welding
• To design and construct using stainless steel is not difficult, it is just
a bit different.

In conclusion it is appropriate to refer to Mr. Payet-Gaspard’s words [7]:

“Stainless steel is one of the construction industry’s trump cards. With stainless steel, the imagination
is liberated, boldness and safety are reconciled and creative passion and responsibility become
allied… Architects should not hesitate to use stainless steel in building construction. Those who
dare will win, every time.”
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References
[1] Euro-Inox: Good Fabrication in Architectural Stainless Steel, 2002
[2] Bingen, M, http://www.stainlessbuilding.com/why/index.aspx
[3] Design manual for structural stainless steel, Euro Inox and The Steel Construction
Institute, 2002, ISBN 2-87997-037.
[4] Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures, prEN 1993-1-4, Part 1.4 : General rules
Supplementary Rules for Stainless steels.
[5] Baddoo, N & Cutler, P. Stainless Steel in indoor swimming pool buildings.
Downloadable at: http://www.euro-inox.org/
[6] http://www.stainless-rebar.org/appl.htm
[7] Payet-Gaspard P. Stainless Steel: A superb construction material. Presentation
in the conference “Stainless Steel for Architectural Visions”. Paris, 2001.
 1278EN-GB. Graphic Concept. October 2006

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