Shielded metal arc (SMA) and gas tungsten arc (GTA) weldments were investigated to study the welding effects on the mechanical behavior of 308L austenitic stainless steel weldments, respectively. Both SMA and GTA weldments showed dendritic microstructure. The observed austenitic stainless steel welds solidified to give primary ferrite and secondary austenite as the ferritic-austenitic solidification mode (FA-mode) solidification. However, the lower heat input with larger Cr-versus-Ni ratio in SMA weld process led to lathy ferrite morphology and more residual ferrite in the SMA welds, while vermicular ferrite morphology was shown in GTA weldments. The yield strength of the welds significantly increased with decreasing elongation, which was mainly due to the dual phase strengthening effect after rapid solidification during welding