Efeito do processo de soldagem e da temperatura de preaquecimento sobre a susceptibilidade à fragilização por hidrogênio de juntas soldadas dissimilares utilizadas no setor offshore da indústria do petróleo.

Abstract

This Thesis presents a study about hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility of dissimilar metals welded joints present in oil industry equipment, specifically in valves connections with pipes for the oil transport, which are subject to use conditions involving severe mechanical stresses in corrosive environments, from the seawater and the oil fluid. As the valves steel are martensitic its heat affected zone (HAZ) may be susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement not only from cathodic protection but also from the seawater and H2S. Therefore, to prevent this potential embrittlement and consequently crack formation in these regions of the welded joint, is used as nickel alloy filler metal. Therefore, the part of martensitic steel previously undergoes a "buttering" process which consists of applying layers of Ni deposited by welding. The welding process used for the union of the joints was the MIG process using as filler metal the Inconel-625 (ER NiCrMo-3) wire electrode 1.2 mm in diameter. Two steels were buttering, AISI 8630M and AISI 4130. Both were subjected at the three different combinations of preheat and interpass temperatures. For the buttering realization, the same alloy, in powder form, was used by Plasma powder process (PTA-P). To evaluate the efficiency of the PTA-P process in buttering operation it was compared with other buttering performed by MIG process with the same filler metal of the weld joint. After buttering the samples were subjected to post welding heat treatment (PWHT). Chemical composition analyses were performed by Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), microstructure by Optical Microscopy (OM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and microhardness. After the welding the samples were machined and hydrogened using a process similar to those used for cathodic protection and submitted to tension tests. The Increase in the preheat and interpass temperature resulted in higher refining the grains of the HAZ however it, increased its average microhardness and extension, promoted greater Fe migration from MB to the buttering, increasing the hydrogen embrittlement. The use of PTA-P process promoted a very lower incidence and diversity of partially diluted zone (PDZ), being found only continuous PDZ. The PWHT promoted a reduction from 20% to 44% of hardness values. Based on the deformation levels and Embrittlement Index (EI), the AISI 4130 steel showed the best results with respect to hydrogen embrittlement.