Lean duplex stainless steels welded by LBW subjected to corrosion testing

Lean duplex stainless steels (LDSS) are still gaining popularity due to their comparable corrosion resistance to austenitic grades. This characteristic enables them to be employed in aggressive environments such as petrochemical industries or marine applications. Despite the increment of additive manufacturing in order to reduce the defects and discontinuities produced by manufacturing processes, there is still a great market for traditional and advanced welding processes. Laser beam welding (LBW) is a very precise process that reduces distortion, offers high speed and automation which is crucial for repeatability and reproducibility. In this work, 2304 LDSS plates were joined by the Nd:YAG Laser welding process using different laser power in order to observe microstructural evolution and the formation of detrimental phases. In addition, a critical pitting temperature test was performed to assess the impact when subjected into a corrosion environment and to compare the resistance with the obtained microstructure.