Impact Toughness Of Heat Affected Zone Research Articles

A study on as-welded microstructure and mechanical properties of thick-walled 9Cr3W3Co1CuVNbBN martensitic steel weldment

A systematic study on the microstructure evolutions and their relationships with mechanical properties of thick-walled 9Cr3W3Co1CuVNbBN martensitic steel pipe joint welded by narrow-gap automatic argon arc welding was carried out. The results showed that a narrow equiaxed grain zone (EGZ) and a significantly wide inter-critical zone (ICZ) were formed in the heat affected zone (HAZ) due to the larger grain size and lower VN precipitates in base metal (BM). The refined grains formed in WM and the higher solid solubility of C, Cr and W in EGZ and ICZ were the main factors leading to their higher hardness than that of BM. The decrease of dislocation density in over-tempered zone (OTZ) immediately adjacent to ICZ not only significantly improved the impact toughness of HAZ, but also led to a significantly lower hardness than that of BM. Nevertheless, the room/high temperature tensile fracture of the welded joints occurred in the BM zone, which was attributed to the cross-sectional shrinkage of the OTZ restrained by the nearby high hardness region ICZ, and the preferential formation of cavities near the coarse Cr23C6 carbides in BM.

Microstructural evolutions and impact toughness in simulated welding heat affected zones for a high-strength carbide-free bainitic rail steel

Systematic experimental investigations were conducted to study the microstructures and impact toughness of each heat affected zone (HAZ) formed during rail flash-butt welding. A high-strength carbide-free bainitic rail steel was subjected to different thermal simulation cycles to separately reproduce each HAZ subzone by tailoring the peak temperature (PT) with respect to 700, 850, 920, 1000 and 1350 °C, and hence to generate the corresponding microstructures by using Gleeble-3500 simulator. Results show that the HAZ subzones exhibit complicated microstructures depending on the PTs, and with increasing PT the dominant bainitic microstructure type evolves from polygonal bainitic ferrite (700 °C) to a mixture of fine bainitic ferrite and granular bainite (850–1000 °C), and finally to coarse bainitic ferrite and granular bainite (1350 °C). Impact tests demonstrate that the impact toughness initially increases significantly as the PT reaches 920 °C (i.e., fine-grained HAZ), beyond which the impact toughness starts to decrease. The fine-grained HAZ displays optimal impact toughness in HAZs, yet which is lower than the base metal. Moreover, the morphology and distribution of martensite-austenite (M-A) constituents is strongly dependent on the welding PT, and the high fraction blocky and coarse slender M-A constituents is considered to be detrimental for the impact toughness.

Effect of alloy element on microstructure and properties of heat-affected zone

In the present study, the influences of general composition (GC steel), magnesium deoxidation treatment (MT steel) and magnesium deoxidation treatment with high vanadium (MVT steel) content on the inclusions, microstructure and low-temperature toughness of the welding heat affected zone of EH36 steel were studied. The thermal cycle process of the heat-affected zone (HAZ) was simulated by a thermal simulator, and then microstructure and impact properties were tested and analyzed. Obtained results show that Magnesium deoxidation treatment and magnesium deoxidation treatment with higher vanadium content decrease the number and average size of inclusions. Compared with GC steel, the austenite grain size of MT and MVT steel reduces at high temperatures so that the nucleation temperature of acicular ferrite in HAZ microstructure increases. Compared with GC steel, the low-temperature impact toughness of HAZ by MT steel and MVT steel increases.

Effect of C and Si contents on microstructure and impact toughness in CGHAZ of offshore engineering steel

The combined effect of the C and Si contents on the microstructure and low-temperature impact toughness of heat-affected zone (HAZ) of the offshore engineering steel. As the C and Si content is decreased from 0.09 to 0.07 wt.% and 0.12 to 0.03 wt.%, the HAZ toughness at −40 °C is increased from 36 to 180 J, and the hardness in the coarse-grained heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) is decreased from 325 to 297 HV0.05. The higher C and Si content promote the precipitation of M23C6 and cementite, but restrain the formation of MC and M2C carbide in the present developed steels. The microstructures in the CGHAZ are comprised of a mixture of martensite and bainite after the welding with the heat input of 50 kJ/cm and are similar with the different C and Si contents. As the C and Si contents are decreased, the density of the geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) is increased. The fracture is changed from brittle to ductile manner, and the cleavage facet size is decreased from 23 to 11 µm. Reducing the C and Si contents significantly decreases the packet size from 25 to 17 µm, thereby leading to the improvement of HAZ toughness.

Effect of Welding Peak Temperature on Microstructure and Impact Toughness of Heat-Affected Zone of Q690 High Strength Bridge Steel.

The effect of peak temperature (TP) on the microstructure and impact toughness of the welding heat-affected zone (HAZ) of Q690 high-strength bridge steel was studied using a Gleeble-3500 thermal simulation testing machine. The results show that the microstructure of the inter critical heat-affected zone (ICHAZ) was ferrite and bainite. The microstructure of fine grain heat-affected zone (FGHAZ) and coarse grain heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) was lath bainite (LB), lath martensite (LM), and granular bainite (GB), but the microstructure of FGHAZ was finer. With the increase in peak temperature, the content of LB and GB decreased, the content of LM increased, and the lath bundles of LM and LB gradually became coarser. With the increase in peak temperature, the grain size of the original austenite increased significantly, and the impact toughness decreased significantly. When the peak temperature was 800 °C, the toughness was the best. For CGHAZ, the peak temperature should be less than 1200 °C to avoid excessive growth of grain and reduction of mechanical property.

Effect of Molybdenum on the Impact Toughness of Heat-Affected Zone in High-Strength Low-Alloy Steel.

The microstructure, precipitates, and austenite grain in high-strength low-alloy steel were characterized by optical microscope, transmission electron microscope, and laser scanning confocal microscopy to investigate the effect of Mo on the toughness of steel. The microstructure was refined and the toughness was enhanced after the addition of 0.07% Mo in steel. The addition of Mo can suppress the Widmanstätten ferrite (WF) formation and promote the transformation of acicular ferrite (AF), leading to the fine transformed products in the heat-affected zone (HAZ). The chemical composition of precipitates changed from Nb(C, N) to (Nb, Mo)(C, N) because of the addition of Mo. The calculated lattice misfit between Nb(C, N) and ferrite was approximately 11.39%, while it was reduced to 5.40% for (Nb, Mo)(C, N), which significantly affected the size and number density of precipitates. A detailed analysis of the precipitates focusing on the chemical composition, size, and number density has been undertaken to understand the contribution of Mo on the improvement of steel toughness.

Effects of coarse particles, prior austenite grains, and microstructures on impact toughness in heat-affected zone of Mg deoxidation steel plates without or with Al addition

ABSTRACT The effects of coarse TiN particles, prior austenite grains, and intragranular microstructures on the impact toughness in heat-affected zone of Mg deoxidation steel plates without Al (0Al) or with 0.02 wt-% Al (200Al) were studied from the cleavage initiation and propagation. The coarse particles are mainly TiN. 0.02 wt-% Al addition increases coarse TiN particles (>0.5 μm) from 124 to 151 mm–3, increases brittle microstructures from 25% to 78%, and increases dislocations between ferrite laths, which impairs the toughness, although the austenite grain size is reduced from 213 to 184 μm. Coarse TiN particles alone can’t govern the brittle fracture with the additional effect of microstructures in the case of intragranular acicular ferrites (IAFs). The importance of intragranular microstructures on preventing crack propagation is greater than that of austenite grain boundaries when the grain size is smaller than a critical size to suppress the IAF formation for ferritic steels.

The Microstructure and Property of the Heat Affected zone in C-Mn Steel Treated by Rare Earth

Abstract The microstructures and impact properties of the heat affected zone (HAZ) in steel treated by rare earth (RE) under different welding processes were discussed. The effect of Al on the impact properties of the HAZ in RE treated steel was analyzed. It finds that when the welding t8/5 is smaller than 111 s, the main microstructure in steels is bainite/widmanstatten. The impact toughness of the HAZ is lower than that of the steel matrix. When t8/5 is more than 250 s, the microstructure is mainly acicular ferrite (AF) in the steel treated by RE, and the impact toughness of HAZ is obviously improved. Even under the welding processing with t8/5 about 600 s in RE treated steel can still obtain a lot of AF. While in the steel killed by Al and treated by RE, the main microstructure is parallel cluster of bainite/widmanstatten, and the impact toughness of HAZ is significantly lower than that of low-Al RE treated steel. Al can deteriorate the optimizing of RE treatment on HAZ.

Role of Reversed Austenite Behavior in Determining Microstructure and Toughness of Advanced Medium Mn Steel by Welding Thermal Cycle.

Reversed austenite transformation behavior plays a significant role in determining the microstructure and mechanical properties of heat affected zones of steels, involving the nucleation and growth of reversed austenite. Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope (CLSM) was used in the present work to in situ observe the reversed austenite transformation by simulating welding thermal cycles for advance 5Mn steels. No thermal inertia was found on cooling process after temperature reached the peak temperature of 1320 °C. Therefore, too large grain was not generated in coarse-grained heat-affected zone (CGHAZ). The pre-existing film retained austenite in base metal and acted as additional favorable nucleation sites for reversed austenite during the thermal cycle. A much great nucleation number led to the finer grain in the fine-grained heat-affected zone (FGHAZ). The continuous cooling transformation for CGHAZ and FGHAZ revealed that the martensite was the main transformed product. Martensite transformation temperature (Tm) was higher in FGHAZ than in CGHAZ. Martensite transformation rate was higher in FGHAZ than in CGHAZ, which is due to the different grain size and assumed atom (Mn and C) segregation. Consequently, the softer martensite was measured in CGHAZ than in FGHAZ. Although 10~11% austenite retained in FGHAZ, the possible Transformation Induced Plasticity (TRIP) effect at −60 °C test temperature may lower the impact toughness to some degree. Therefore, the mean absorbed energy of 31, 39 and 42 J in CGHAZ and 56, 45 and 36 J in FGHAZ were exhibited at the same welding heat input. The more stable retained austenite was speculated to improve impact toughness in heat-affected zone (HAZ). For these 5Mn steels, reversed austenite plays a significant role in affecting impact toughness of heat-affected zones more than grain size.

Effect of heat input and M-A constituent on microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of heat affected zone in low carbon steel

Microstructure evolution and impact toughness of simulated heat affected zone (HAZ) in low carbon steel have been investigated in this study. Thermal simulator was used to simulate microstructure evolution in HAZ with heat input of 10 – 100 kJ / cm welding thermal cycle. Results indicated that microstructure of HAZ mainly consisted of acicular ferrite (AF) inside grain and high volume fraction of grain boundaries ferrite (GBF) at prior austenite boundaries; the size of GBF and effective grain size increased with increasing heat input. Excellent impact toughness (more than 150 J at −40 °C) was obtained in HAZ with heat input less than 50 kJ / cm. When heat input was 100 kJ / cm, the impact toughness of HAZ decreased to 18 J because of the presence of large M-A constituent with lath-form in HAZ, assisting the micro-crack initiation and decreasing the crack initiation energy seriously. Effect of inclusions on acicular ferrite transformation in HAZ was also discussed.

Continuous cooling transformation behavior and impact toughness in heat-affected zone of Nb-containing fire-resistant steel

Simulated heat-affected zone continuous cooling transformation diagram was developed for advanced fireresistant steel. Over a wide range of cooling rates, corresponding to t8/5 from 6 s to 150 s, granular bainite was the dominant transformation constituent, while the morphology of less dominant martensite-austenite (M-A) constituent changed from film-like to block-type constituent; but the hardness remained similar to the average value of 190-205 HV (0.2). The start and finish transformation temperature was high at 700 °C and 500 °C, and is different from the conventional high strength low alloy steels. It is believed that the high-content (0.09 wt%) of Nb may promote bainite transformation at relatively high temperatures. Martenistic matrix was not observed at high cooling rate and the film-like M-A constituent and blocky M-A constituent with thin film of retained austenite and lath martensite were observed on slow cooling. Excellent impact toughness was obtained in the heat-affected zone with 15-75 kJ/cm welding heat input.

Characterization of microstructure of HAZs in as-welded and service condition of P91 pipe weldments

Steels 9-12% Cr, having the high creep rupture strength are advocated for the modern low polluting thermal power plants. In the present investigation, the P91 pipe weldments have been characterized for microstructural responses in as-welded, post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) and ageing conditions. The PWHT of welded samples were carried out at 760 °C for time of 2 h and ageing at 760 °C for 720 h and 1440 h, respectively. The effect of time has been studied on precipitates size, distribution of precipitates and grain sizes present in various zones of P91 steel weldments. The impact toughness and hardness variation of heat affected zone (HAZ) have also been studied in as-welded condition as well as at different heat treatment condition. A significant change was observed in grain size and precipitates size after each heat treatment condition. The maximum impact toughness of HAZ was obtained after PWHT at 760 °C for 2 h. The main phase observed in weld fusion zone in as-welded, PWHT and ageing conditions were M23C6, MX, M7C3, Fe-rich M3C and M2C. The unwanted Z-phase (NbCrN) was also noticed in weld fusion zone after ageing of 1440 h.

Microstructure and Low-Temperature Mechanical Properties of 304 Stainless Steel Joints by PAW + GTAW Combined Welding

The combined double-pass process of plasma arc welding (PAW) + gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) was performed on 304 austenitic stainless steel with the thickness of 12 mm. Results indicated that two different morphologies of ferrite (e.g., lathy δ-ferrite and skeletal δ-ferrite) were formed within the austenite matrix in PAW weld metal (PAW-WM). GTAW weld metal (GTAW-WM) was mainly composed of fine austenite and skeletal δ-ferrite. In transition zone between PAW-WM and GTAW-WM, epitaxial growth contributed to cellular dendritic crystals transforming into columnar crystals. The tensile strength of joint is about 700 MPa. The impact toughness of WM varied from 281 J (20 °C) to 122 (−196 °C), while the impact toughness of heat-affected zone (HAZ) varied from 205 J (20 °C) to 112 J (−196 °C).

Effect of Heat Treatment on Microstructure and Hot Impact Toughness of Various Zones of P91 Welded Pipes

The new generation super critical thermal power plants are required to operate at enhanced thermal efficiency of over 50% to reduce the fuel consumption and environmental pollution. Creep strength-enhanced ferritic steels, commonly known as Cr-Mo alloys such as P91 (X10CrMoVNb 9-1) are such material of choice for the next generation power plants. The operating requirement of these next generation power plants is that steam temperature of around 650 °C is maintained. For such high-temperature application, creep strength of material is the primary consideration together with adequate weld heat-affected zone (HAZ) toughness. Present work deals with the effect of high service temperature on impact toughness of P91 (X10CrMoVNb 9-1) base material, weld fusion zone, and HAZ. The impact toughness of HAZ for conventional weld groove design and narrow weld groove design has been evaluated experimentally in as-welded and at different post-weld heat treatment conditions. Fractography of the impact toughness specimens of base metal, weld fusion zone, and HAZ was carried out using scanning electron microscope. The effects of heat treatment schemes on the percentage of element present at the fracture surface were also studied.

Enhancement of Heat-Affected Zone Toughness of a Low Carbon Steel by TiN Particle

Enhancement of heat-affected zone toughness of a weight percentage of 0.014 pct Ti-bearing low carbon steel by TiN particle was investigated. An increase in nitrogen weight percentage from 0.0031 to 0.0083 pct results in increasing of number density of TiN precipitates from 4 × 103 to 3 × 105/mm2, and reduces prior austenite grain size from 850 to 350 μm with a soaking of 1673 K (1400 °C) for 2000 seconds. Effective refinement of austenite grain prohibits formation of ferrite side plate and/or upper bainite, and densely distributed TiN particles promote intra-granular ferrite formation, which is accompanied by an increase of 40 K to 60 K (40 °C to 60 °C) in austenite decomposition temperature during continuous cooling process. The changes in transformed products improved impact toughness of heat-affected zone efficiently, ex., increase absorbed energy of less than 42 J to more than 320 J with a simulated t8/5 of 550 seconds.

Effect of post-weld heat treatment on the mechanical properties of CLAM/316L dissimilar joint

Dissimilar welding between China low activation martensitic (CLAM) steel and 316L austenitic stainless steel was investigated to achieve the reliable connection between test blanket modules (TBMs) and piping system in the international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER). The dissimilar joints were welded by tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding process with a filler material type-309. In order to stabilize the microstructure and improve the strength and toughness, post-weld heat treatments (PWHTs) of tempering at 740°C, 780°C and 820°C, respectively, for 2h were performed. The microstructure observation showed that tempering at 740°C for 2h was the preferable PWHT rule in this work. After the treatment, the hardening in heat affected zone (HAZ) on the CLAM steel side decreased remarkably. The tensile strength of the joint was roughly the same as that of the base metal. The impact toughness of HAZ on the CLAM steel side was 77% of that of the base metal. The absorbed energy of HAZ of 316L steel decreased by 93J, and that of weld metal (WM) was 110J after the treatment.

Effect of Welding Heat Input on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of HSLA Steel Joint

Gas tungsten arc welding of HSLA steel was conducted with different welding heat inputs, and the influences of welding heat input on the microstructure, Vickers hardness, and impact toughness of heat-affected zone (HAZ) in prepared joints were systematically investigated. The microstructure in HAZ with low welding heat input mainly consisted of martensite, and the microhardness of coarse grain HAZ was measured higher than that of fine grain zone. The results show that increasing the welding heat input could suppress the formation of martensite and reduce the microhardness of HAZ. However, the impact toughness of HAZ was not monotonously improved with the increase of welding heat input. It is deemed that the coarsened grain, the formation of upper bainite, and the non-uniform distribution of carbides and inclusions in HAZ could degrade the impact toughness. Tests demonstrate that the optimum comprehensive properties of HAZ were obtained when the welding heat input was 0.67 kJ/mm.

Effect of Ti, Zr and Mg Addition on the Impact Toughness of Heat Affected Zone in Low Carbon Steel

In order to understand the effects of deoxidizer such as titanium, zirconium and magnesium on the impact toughness of heat affected zone (HAZ) of steel, four low carbon steels deoxidized by titanium, zirconium and magnesium were obtained. After smelting, forging, rolling and welding simulation, the effects of Ti, Zr and Mg additives on the impact toughness of HAZ in low carbon steel were studied. The inclusion characteristics (size, morphology and chemistry) analysis, Charpy-type test and the fracture observation of the specimens after the Charpy-type test were carried out respectively. The following results were found. The density of inclusion in Ti-Zr-Mg deoxidized steel is maximal. With the increasing of Ti content in steel, the proportion of inclusions in diameter less than 0.5 μm decreases. The proportion reaches maximum 64.0% in Ti-Zr-Mg deoxidized steel. The addition of Ti-Zr-Mg can enhance the impact toughness of HAZ after welding simulation. The maximal impacting energy is 249J at 253K. The complex particles of MgO-ZrO2-TiOx-MnS are most benefit to enhance impact toughness. The improvement of HAZ is attributable to the role of particle pinning and the formation of intergranular ferrite.

Strength-Mismatch Effect on Steel Weld HAZ-Toughness in CTOD and Charpy Tests

The effects of strength-mismatch between the base and weld metal in welded joints on CTOD and Charpy impact toughness of heat-affected zone (HAZ) are investigated in this study. Both toughness properties are compared, in consideration of the effect of the local brittle zone (LBZ) in HAZ, and strength-mismatch effects are discussed analytically. Two types of welded joints for 490 MPa strength class structural steel with the same thickness of 25 mm, which were strength-matched and overmatched joints, are prepared under the same welded conditions (heat input = 4 KJ/mm) with different welding consumables. The critical CTOD of the HAZ for the overmatched joint exhibits the lower values in wide temperature range of ductile-to-brittle fracture transition than that for the matched joint, whereas microstructures and total LBZ size along crack-tip are consistent with each other. On the contrary, significant difference between the matched and overmatched joints in the lower temperature range cannot be observed in the Charpy impact toughness. The reason why the strength-mismatch effects on the fracture toughness are different between the CTOD and Charpy impact tests is discussed.

Effect of Ti, Al and Mg Addition on the Impact Toughness of Heat Affected Zone in Low Carbon Steel

In order to understand the effects of deoxidizer such as aluminium, titanium and magnesium on the impact toughness of heat affected zone (HAZ), three low carbon steels deoxidized by Ti-Al, Mg and Ti-Mg were obtained. After smelting, forging, rolling and welding simulation, the effects of Al, Ti and Mg addition on the impact toughness of HAZ in low carbon steel were studied. The inclusion characteristics (size, morphology and chemistry) of samples before welding and the fracture pattern of the specimens after the Charpy-type test were respectively analyzed using optical microscope and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The following results were found. The density of inclusion in Ti-Mg deoxidized steel is bigger than Ti-Al deoxidized steel. The average diameter is decreased for the former than the latter. The addition of Ti-Mg can enhance the impact toughness of the HAZ after welding simulation. The maximal value of the impact toughness is 66.5J/cm2. The complex particles of MgO-TiOx-SiO2-MnS are most benefit to enhance impact toughness. The improvement of HAZ is attributable to the role of particle pinning and the formation of intergranular ferrite.