Quenching Stainless

[Brew]

Are there any detrimental effects to quenching stainless welds?
I know it's not good for carbon steel, but I dont know exactly why, so I cant translate it to stainless.
Thanks!

[Seldom]

Hi Brew,
Quenching of 300 series SS and keeping the interpass temperature below 300 degrees F is a very good thing. It forcibly and quickly brings the SS weld and HAZ (heat affected zone) down through the upper (around 1600) and lower (500) transformation zone minimizing carbide precipitation.

The corrosion resistance of SS is dependent on chromium content. When carbide precipitation occurs the chromium joins with excess carbon at the grain boundaries to form chromium carbide, which offers no corrosion resistance! So if the interpass isn’t controlled closely, this carbide allows an open environment of intergranular corrosion (can be stress corrosion cracking as well as localized attack) while in service and cause premature failure of the weld and/or HAZ.

No other property of the SS other then the corrosion resistance is affected by the carbide precipitation or the result of quenching as far as I've experienced.

[Brew]

Wow. Thanks Seldom! Of course, most of that went over my head, but I got the gist of it anyway. Thanks again!

[Seldom]

Hi Brew,
Your welcome and I'm sorry if I shot to high.
That's a problem for me when I can't talk with the person and have to write it out. I never know if I'm shooting high or low by the writen question. When I can talk with a person directly, my answers sort of seek the question seekers level without a hitch.

It never hurts for folks to ask me to explain something again if my answers miss the mark the first time.