Spatially resolved measurement of creep deformation across weldments at high temperature cannot be achieved using standard extensometry approaches. In this investigation, a Digital Image Correlation (DIC) based system has been developed for long-term high-temperature creep strain measurement in order to characterise the material deformation behaviour of separate regions of a multi-pass weld. The optical system was sufficiently stable to allow a sequence of photographs to be taken suitable for DIC analysis of creep specimens tested at a temperature of 545 °C for over 2000 h. The images were analysed to produce local creep deformation curves from two cross-weld samples cut from contrasting regions of a multi-pass V-groove weld joining thick-section AISI Type 316H austenitic stainless steel. It is shown that for this weld, the root pass is the weakest region of the structure in creep, most likely due to the large number of thermal cycles it has experienced during the fabrication process. The DIC based measurement method offers improved spatial resolution over conventional methods and greatly reduces the amount of material required for creep characterisation of weldments.

Deformation-induced martensitic transformations are increasingly being used to create desirable mechanical properties in steels. Here, the kinetics of the deformation-induced martensitic transformation is investigated at 300, 263, 223, 173 and 100 K using in situ neutron diffraction during tensile loading. The results from these experiments show a distinct change in the transformation behaviour between 300 K and the tests conducted at 263 K and below, causing a difference in martensite structure. The difference in transformation kinetics is correlated to the suppression of slip at low temperatures, as evidenced using diffraction peak intensity analysis for different grain families and corroborated using transmission electron microscopy. A direct correlation between the deformation-induced martensite fraction and the work-hardening rate is shown.