Acoustic emisson and ultrasonic wave characteristics in TIG-welded 316 stainless steel

A TIG welded 316 stainless steel materials will have a large impact on the design and the maintenance of invessel components including pipes used in a nuclear power plant, and it is important to clear the dynamic behavior in the weld part of stainless steel. Therefore, nondestructive techniques of acoustic emission (AE) and ultrasonic wave were applied to investigate the damage behavior of welded stainless steel. The velocity and attenuation ratio of the ultrasonic wave at each zone were measured, and a 10 MHz sensor was used. We investigated the relationship between dynamic behavior and AE parameters analysis and derived the optimum parameters to evaluate the damage degree of the specimen. By measuring the velocity and the attenuation of an ultrasonic wave propagating each zone of the welded stainless steel, the relation of the ultrasonic wave and metal structure at the base metal, heat affected zone (HAZ) metal and weld metal is also discussed. The generating tendency of cumulated counts is similar to that of the load curve. The attenuation ratios from the ultrasonic test results were 0.2 dB/mm at the base zone, and 0.52 dB/mm and 0.61 dB/mm at the HAZ zone and weld zone, respectively.