Embrittlement prediction of aged austenitic stainless steel welded components from hardness measurements as a nondestructive testing method was studied. Samples were thermally aged for 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000 hrs and the hardness profile was drawn through the base metal, heat affected as well as welds metal zones. The hardness increased with increasing the aging time up to 500 hrs in the three considered zones, then it decreased at 1000 hrs to the same value for both base and weld metal zones, while the heat affected zones exhibited more softening after 1000 hrs aging. Under further aging, the whole zones of weld joints became harder after 2000 hrs, and then the hardness decreased with increasing aging time till 5000 hrs to the same order of the as-weld values. The degree of embrittlement prediction could be estimated by the change of hardness through different weld joint zones.
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