Effects of martensite-austenite constituents on mechanical properties of heat affected zone in high strength pipeline steels-review

Abstract

To improve oil and gas pipelines reliability through the minimization of defects in the welded joint, many researches were conducted to control local brittle zones in weld joints, mainly Martensite-Austenite constituents (M-A). The latter may present toughness problems for the Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) in American Petroleum Institute (API) grade steels. Given the complexity of this problem due to several parameters involved in the behavior of M-A constituents and consequently the performance of the HAZ, the recent literature was reviewed. The formation, quantity and morphology of M-A in the HAZ of multi-pass welds were elucidated. The inherent potency of M-A constituents in deteriorating toughness and initiating fracture was highlighted. The purpose is to give a state of the art and extract the points not treated yet, related to the interaction between M-A constituents, metallurgical design, welding thermal cycle and toughness in HAZ of pipeline steels. In this article, a particular attention was given to the yet not clarified behavior of Niobium (Nb) and Titanium (Ti) carbonitride, in the case of two pass welding and their ability to control Austenite grain growth.