Ultrasonic Inspection of Duplex Steel Joints Made by Laser Beam Welding

Abstract

Austenitic steel welds exhibit a heterogeneous and anisotropic structure that causes difficulties in the ultrasonic testing (UT) understanding. Increasing the material knowledge has been an international large and long term research field. The main specificity of the weld material is its oriented grain structure which has to be described as an anisotropic and heterogeneous material. The description of the grain structure regularly progresses from simplified and symmetrical structures to more realistic descriptions. This paper report some result of the weld joints fabricated by laser beam welding, experimental investigation of the ultrasonic inspection of duplex steels. Experimental studies have concentrated on methods of improving signal to noise ratio in these steels and on relating properties such as attenuation to material structure.