Evaluation of the effect of TIG surface quenching process of S45C steel on the hardness of cylindrical surface layers by Taguchi method

This study investigates the effects of arc length, current intensity, travel speed, gas flow rate, and pulse time on surface hardness to better understand the arc quenching of S45C steel with a curved shape. With the standard examination method, increasing the current intensity, Travel speed, and arc length causes the surface hardness to decrease. The surface hardness varies depending on the gas flow rate and pulse time. The Travel speed factor appears to have the greatest effect, followed by the gas flow rate and current intensity. Pulse time and arc length are ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, indicating a smaller impact on surface hardness. The microhardness diagram is divided into four stages: improving, rapid dropping, moderate dropping, and stable. The greatest hardness was 576 HV, with a case depth of 1200 μm. The structure of the arc-hardened sample is composed of hardening zones, HAZ, and base metal. The base metal is composed of ferrite and pearlite, which are the original microstructures of medium-carbon steel. The HAZ is made up of two phases: a brown bainite phase and a brighter ferrite phase. Ferrite, bainite, martensite, and residual austenite phases make up the hardening with a high hardness value area. These phases’ diversity results from their rapid heating and cooling rates as well as the significant variations in cooling rates among depths. The findings of the study on the optimum values of factors such as current intensity at 150 A, Travel speed at 150 mm/min, arc length at 2.5 mm, pulse time at 0.6 s, or gas flow at 10.5 l/min can help engineers to have a closer look at the parameters of this arc tempering technology affecting the surface hardness and their applications. Moreover, the hardness measurement value according to the Taguchi method investigation also shows that the highest value of surface hardness achieved is 42.6 HRC compared to 18 HRC of unhardened surface hardness. In addition, the findings on microstructure also help the applicator to better understand and evaluate the quality of this electric arc method for quenching the surface of S45C steel, thereby making it more useful in the industry.

In this study, microhardness variation as well as macro and micro structural examination of the heat affected zone (HAZ) of a girth welded API 5L X46 pipeline material were conducted as a means of tracking local brittle zone (LBZ) in the HAZ region. The weldment analysed were built from heat input range of 695 J/mm – 2567 J/mm. Analysis of the results revealed that the HAZ profile changes with variation in the heat input and becomes shallow but wider as the heat input increases. Defects free welds were achieved under the heat input range of 1650 J/mm – 2017 J/mm welding condition. Localized high hardness values were obtained at certain locations within the HAZ of intermediate heat input welds produced at 1467 J/mm due to thermal stresses induced strains at this heat input in the resolidified weld. Other than this, non-equilibrium rapid heating/cooling that is common during welding as well as the magnitude of mechanical strain generated on cooling vary with heat input and was attributed to the development of high hardness value at localized region within the HAZ of the welds in low heat input welding condition. The macrographic profile at these locations, contrasted against that of a failed pipeline material of similar specification obtained from typical oil and gas infrastructure, established that crack initiation and propagation followed the trend of microhardness variations in the girth welded pipe. The crack initiates at specific location in the HAZ with very high hardness in the range 186-216 Hv within a radius of about 3-5 mm from the edge of the fusion zone.
 Keywords: API 5L X46; Girth welding; Heat input; Heat affected zone; Local brittle zones

The hardening behavior of the welding heat affected zone (HAZ) with different heat input for 500MPa grade screw thread steel is investigated in this paper. The single welding thermal cycle was applied to the test steel by a Gleeble-3500 thermal simulator. With the definition of hardness ratio, relative hardness factor and partial hardness zone, the HAZ Max hardness, hardness distribution and hardness mechanism of steel were analyzed. The results show that the HAZ hardness is always higher than the base steel hardness. The hardness ratio is increasing with the heat input decreased. The distribution of relative hardness factor of HAZ can be expressed by the Avrami equation which can describe the distribution of HAZ hardness. The width of partial hardness zone increases rapidly with the heat input increased. But at a certain degree of heat input, the width of partial hardness decreases slightly. The microstructure generated by heat input is the intrinsic factor of the HAZ hardness variation. The HAZ hardness enhances as the martensite content increases. On the contrary the HAZ hardness reduces as the ferrite content enhance on condition the heat input increase or the observed area is far away from the HAZ.

Arc quenching has many advantages, including generating large amounts of heat in a short time, a self-quenching ability, and simple equipment. The electric arc energy from a TIG welding machine was used to modify the surface properties of S45C Carbon Steel Cylinders. The study focuses on the impact of arc length, current intensity, travel speed, gas flow rate, heating angle, and pulse on surface hardness after arc quenching an S45C steel tube with a cylinder surface. The study found that the hardness reduces from 45.1 HRC to 41.2 HRC as the current intensity increases from 125 A to 140 A. According to Taguchi’s results, the ranking of factors which have the greatest impact on surface hardness are pulse time, travel speed, intensity, gas flow rate, arc length, and heating angle. The pulse time has the highest impact because it directly influences the heating input, followed by the travel speed. Arc length and heating angle, on the other hand, have the least effect. The base metal, heat-affected area, and hardened area are the three distinct areas that make up the microstructure structure. After the arc quenching process, the case hardening depth is represented by the heat-affected zone at 1536 μm. A highly colored residual austenite and a needle-shaped martensite phase make up the hardened region. The hardened region is 1200 μm thick and has a hardness of more than 300 HV0.3. The study’s findings may improve the application and understanding of the arc quenching treatment procedure in the industrial sector.

The present study aims to improve the surface hardness of carbon steel by application of laser surface melting of effective conditions. The travelling speed of laser beam during this treatment is one of the important treatment conditions. This study aims to investigate the effect of laser surface melting with different beam speeds on macro and microstructure as well as the hardness distribution through the thickness of carbon steel. To achieve this target, three different travelling speeds (1500, 1000 and 500 mm min-1) at a constant beam power of 800 W were chosen in this study. The resulted laser treated specimens were investigated in macro and microscopically scale using optical and scanning electron microscope. Hardness measurements were also carried out through the thickness of the laser treated specimens. The laser treated areas with all used travelling speeds results in melted and solidified zone on the surface of the steel. In the same time, Plates of acicular martensite structure were observed within the upper part of the melted and solidified zone in almost all experimental conditions, while some bainite structure in ferrite grains are detected in its lower part. By increasing the travelling speed, the depth of the laser treated zone was decreases, while travelling speed has much less significant effect on the laser treated zone width. The size of the formed martensite plates was increased by decreasing the travelling speed from 1500 to 500 mm min-1. On the other hand, the travelling speed has a straight effect on the length of the acicular martensite; as the travelling speed increases, the acicular martensite became longer, while it shows fine acicular martensite at lower travelling speeds. The depth that full martensite structure can be reached is increased by increasing travelling speed. At lower travelling speed (500 mm min-1), large amount of bainite structure is observed at the center of the treated zone up to its lower end. The fast travelling speed (1500 mm min-1) show higher hardness on the free surface than that of slow travelling speed (500 mm min-1). On the other hand, the travelling speed has a reverse effect on the depth of this hardness increment; the slower travelling speed give deeper areas of high hardness than that of fast speed. The Heat Affect Zone (HAZ) areas were increased by decreasing the travelling speed. In all conditions, the heat affected zone areas were composed of partially decomposed pearlite in ferrite grains. Finally, the microstructure of the base metal far from the laser treated areas show normal ferrite-sound pearlite microstructure.

This study describes the mechanisms of emergence and propagation of fatigue cracks caused by mechanical tension stress fluctuations in dissimilar steels butt and overlap welded joints under axial tension fatigue loads. A structural (ASTM A537, class I) and a stainless (ASTM A240, 304L) were soldiers through GMAW, Argon as protecting gas and a stainless (ASTM A240, 308L) as a supplier material, not being submitted to pre and post welding thermal treatment. Microstructures (Scanning Electron Microscopy, SEM) were contrasted in different zones of each joint, focus on Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) and fusion lines. Samples were inspected by not destructive test (penetrating liquids and ultrasound), to discard surface and internal defects. The following mechanical tests were compared between both welding joint (WJ): Vickers hardness profile, tension, bending, impact, axial fatigue, and speed of propagation of fatigue cracks. Vickers show high values of micro hardness in the HAZ, near the fusion line between weld and stainless. Tension and axial fatigue tests indicated similar behavior between WJ and structural (butt joint); and similar behavior between WJ and stainless (overlap joint). Pre-cracked test evidence a faster growth of crack in the fusion line between structural steel and stainless. Dissimilar unions (butt and overlap) have mechanical and microstructure properties, which can be considered adequate to withstand the mechanical requirements in service conditions, despite relatively high values of hardness in the HAZ, particularly in the fusion line between the welding cord and the stainless 304L, as well as inclusions between the structural and the stainless one.

Hardness distribution in heat affected zone (HAZ) of boron bearing 780 MPa grade high tensile strength steel was investigated. Welded joint was produced by submerge arc welding with 4.5 kJ/mm heat input. The Vickers hardness was 370 on HAZ 2mm distant from fusion line. The Vickers hardness decreased ti 300 on fusion line. In simulated HAZ test, raising the temperature from 1273 K to 1623 K decreased the Vickers hardness from 340 to 280. These results show that simulated HAZ test can simulate hardness distribution in HAZ in the welded joint. In simulated HAZ test at 1273 K, increasing the holding time from 5 seconds to 3600 seconds decreased the Vickers hardness from 370 to 300, although increasing the holding time at 1623 K did not change the hardness. The cause of the hardness change in simulated HAZ test can be explained in the following. McLean’s theory about equilibrium segregation shows that the raising the temperature decreases boron content at grain boundaries. In addition, rapid grain growth during heating causes a concentration of boron at grain boundaries (called dragging effect). In the area heated up to 1273 K, boron concentrates at grain boundaries over equilibrium amount by the dragging effect. After grain growth, boron content at grain boundaries decreases to equilibrium amount at 1273 K by diffusion. On the other hand, the area heated to 1623 K has a lower boron content than 1273 K at grain boundaries. The reason for this is that the high diffusive rate of boron cancels the dragging effect, and boron content decreases to the equilibrium amount at 1623 K lower than 1273 K. It is concluded that the Vickers hardness of 300 on fusion line increased to 370 at HAZ 2 mm distant from the fusion line, and this hardness distribution can be explained by the change of boron content at grain boundaries.

Heterogeneous microstructure and anisotropic mechanical properties of reduced activation ferritic/martensitic steel fabricated by wire arc additive manufacturing

This work aims to optimize the main YAG fiber laser parameters to weld 304L stainless steel plates of 3 mm thick. Different laser powers (2500, 2000, and 1500 W) and speeds (60, 40, and 20 mm/s) were used and merged in heat input, maintaining the defocusing distance at –2 mm to get full penetration. The weld quality and the effect of the laser heat input on the microstructures of the weld and heat-affected zones were investigated. Besides, the fracture strength of the welded joints and hardness distribution through the cross-sections were evaluated. The weld width has a direct relationship with heat input. The laser power of 2800 W produced full penetration joints without any macro defects while reduction in laser power pronounced partial penetration defects. The size of the heat-affected zone in all the processing parameters was very small. The microstructure of the weld zone shows columnar dendrite austenite grains with small arm spacing in most of the welded zone. The size of the dendrites became finer at lower heat input. At a higher heat input, a reasonable amount of lathy equiaxed grains with some delta ferrite occurred. A small amount of delta ferrite was detected in the heat-affected zone, which prevented the crack formation. The hardness of the weld metal was much higher than that of the base metal in all processing parameters and it has a reverse relationship with the heat input. The fracture strength of the welded joints was very close to that of the base metal in the defect-free samples and it increased with decreasing the heat input.

In the present study, CO2 laser with the continuous wave was used for the welding of dissimilar thin steels i.e., low carbon steel (LCS) and AISI 304 stainless steel (SS 304). In laser welding, the most significant process parameters are laser power (Plaser) and laser scanning speed i.e., welding speed (V). The heat input per unit length (J/mm) was considered in this study, which was calculated by the Plaser/V ratio. The effect of heat input on mechanical properties, weld bead dimensions and residual deformation was investigated. Micro and macrostructural characteristics of welded samples were evaluated using an optical microscope and EDX system equipped with a scanning electron microscope. Within the present working range of the heat input (i.e., 150 to 300 J/mm), the tensile samples were fractured in the LCS side under a ductile manner. The heat input of 210 J/mm was experienced the full depth of penetration and maximum tensile strength of 387.94 MPa. The fusion zone was exhibited the vermicular δ–ferrite at the dendritic core in the austenite matrix. The LCS was showed the recrystallisation in the heat affected zone (HAZ), whereas the grain coarsening was occurred in SS 304. The dendrites width was found to reduce with a decrease in heat input, which resulted in higher hardness values in the fusion zone. The residual deformation was increased by 26.4% with an increase in the heat input from 150 to 300 J/mm and the extreme deformation of 0.211 mm was obtained at a heat input of 300 J/mm.

During laser overlap welding of high strength steels, a wide interface-bead width is a prerequisite for ensuring joint strength. However, a wide weld bead is accompanied by thermal effects such as thermal deformation and softening of the heat-affected zone owing to the high heat input during welding. Hot-press-forming steel with a strength of 2.0 GPa is the highest strength steel sheet in the automotive industry. When laser-welded, the minimum hardness in the heat-affected zone is less than 2/3 of the base metal hardness. In this study, single-mode laser and beam wobbling was employed to obtain a proper bead width while minimizing the heat input in the lap welding of steel sheets with a strength of 2.0 GPa. Two strategies—high frequency wobbling/high travel speed and low frequency wobbling/low travel speed—were evaluated with a laser power fixed at 1 kW. In the high frequency wobbling/high travel speed condition, the load-carrying at the overlap joint increased as the travel speed and wobbling frequency decreased. However, even in the case with the maximum fracture load, the fracture location in the tensile–shear test was the weld metal. The low frequency wobbling/low travel speed strategy was more effective in ensuring joint strength, and the fracture location in the tensile–shear test moved to the heat-affected zone. An equivalent tensile strength of 1 GPa or more was achieved by selecting appropriate parameters. Under optimal conditions, multiple weld penetrations and sufficient interface beads were confirmed on the cross section.

TBW technique by varying weld polarities in SMAW as an alternative to PWHT

For high productivity weld fabrication, gas metal arc welding (GMAW) is typically used since it offers a combination of high deposition rate and travel speed. Recent advances in power supply technologies have increased the deposition rates in hot-wire tungsten inert gas (HW-TIG) welding, such that it is possible to achieve parameters which may be comparable to those used in GMAW for pressure vessels and some pipeline applications. However, these two processes have drastically different deposition efficiencies and heat input characteristics. The purpose of the present study is to examine GMAW and HW-TIG bead-on-plate deposits in terms of mechanical properties, deposition rate, and heat affected zone (HAZ) thermal cycles when identical travel speed and wire feed speeds are applied with a ER90S-G filler metal. The results demonstrate that HW-TIG can be applied with comparable travel and wire feed speeds to GMAW, while providing a more uniform weld bead appearance. Based on weld metal microhardness values, it is suggested the effective heat input is lower in HW-TIG compared to GMAW, since the average hardness of the weld metal is slightly higher.

Laser welding process is widely used in the industrial field due to its numerous advantages: a small heat affected zone(HAZ), deep penetration, high welding speed, ease of automation, single-pass thick section capability, enhanced design flexibility, and small distortion after welding. The objective of this research works is to investigate the influence of the process parameters, such as the welding fur metals with CW Nd:YAG lasers. The bead-on-plate and Lap welding experiments are carried out for several combinations of the experimental conditions. In order to quantitatively examine the characteristics of the welding quality of the cross section, tensile stress behavior and the hardness of the welded part are investigated in comparison of the Nickel coated and Nickel uncoated S45C steel. As a result of experiment, nickel coated S45C Steel showed more even weld zone than Nickel uncoated counterpart upon lap welding. Also, it showed relatively small amount of internal defects and spatter, and Nickel coated S45C showed better weldability than Nickel uncoated S45C steel. The optimum welding process upon lap welding of Nickel coated S45C steel is when each laser power is 1900W; focal positions is -1mm; welding speed is <TEX>$0.9{\sim}1.0m/min$</TEX>. The heat input was <TEX>$4.178{\sim}4.36{\times}103J/cm^2$</TEX>.

The article describes properties of welds made of high wear resistance X120Mn12 steel obtained by the hybrid PTA-MAG (plasma transferred arc – metal active gas) method. The specimens were 8 mm thick rectangular (200 mm × 350 mm) sheets metal. The analyzed butt welds were made with the parameters selected according to the criterion of smallest cross-sectional area of welds and the narrowest HAZ (heat affected zone). The outcome of metallographic tests of weld, HAZ and parent material, hardness distribution and XRD (X-ray diffraction) patterns of selected areas are presented. The IIT (Instrumented Indentation Test) method was used to describe the distribution of mechanical properties shaped by thermal cycle annealing of the welding process. The investigation shows that the application of the PTA-MAG hybrid heat source for welding manganese steel enables the use of the filler material ER307 (AWS-A5.9). The hybrid PTA-MAG welding system has the relatively high potential to be an efficient alternative to welding standard processes for X120Mn12 steel due to the HAZ overheating limitation. The zone of high-risk weld cracking is the part of the HAZ close to the fusion area that has been reheated during weldment formation. Heat input about 0.6 kJ/mm is needed to provide full deep penetration butt weld without defects and with a vapor capillary of wide enough to cover the weld gap. The increase of hardness in the welded joint is smooth distributed and going up to 10% compared to the base material. The width of HAZ was &lt;1 mm. Intensive carbides precipitation in HAZ has been avoided successfully.