Cracking of 7CrMoVTiB10-10 (T24) Steel Weld Joints

7CrMoVTiB10-10 (T24) steel was designed for high temperature applications, especially for water wall panels in modern supercritical coal-fired boilers. However, welding of T24 steel caused many problems due to its cracking susceptibility. In the present paper the causes of T24 steel weld joints cracking have been discussed. Microstructural and fractographic analysis of weld joint were conducted and hardness was measured. It was found that the main causes of crack’s formation in weld metal are hot cracking susceptibility of T24, high deformation during welding process and weld metals’ hardenability. The mechanism of cracking was determined. It was concluded that cracks had been initiated in high temperature brittleness range, then propagated through the weld metal in transverse direction as the cold cracks. The reduction of weld metal’s ductility was due to too high cooling rate and excessive hardening of weld metal in relation to base metal.