Mechanical Properties Of Weld Metal Research Articles

Effect of PWHT on microstructure and mechanical properties of welded joint of a new Fe-Ni-based superalloy

In this study, the effect post weld heat treatment (PWHT) on microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of weld metal of HT700P alloy with Inconel 617 filler metal was investigated. After welding, columnar grain, dendritic microstructure and segregation of Mo, Co and Ti elements related to the equilibrium distribution coefficient were observed in the weld metal. The PWHT was conducted in both direct-aging treatment with different time and solution treatment with different cooling methods. The results showed that direct-aging treatment had a limit impact on homogenization of weld metal, while microstructural homogenization and elemental segregation were significantly improved after solution treatment and massive M6C and M23C6 carbides precipitated at the grain boundaries and interdendritic region of weld metal. It was found that the elongation at 700 °C of welded joints after solution treatment was relatively increased, which was related to the decrease of residual stress and the precipitation of Mo-rich carbides at the grain boundaries. The fracture occurred in the weld metal presented interdendritic fracture characteristics, and the fracture mechanism for stress relaxation cracking was the strong grain interior induced by the precipitation of γ′ phase, leading to the stress concentration and nucleation of cavities at grain boundaries. After solution treatment, the creep lifetime of furnace cooling was much greater than that of water quenching. The superior creep properties of furnace-cooled joint could be attributed to the lower residual stress and the migration of carbon element in the fusion line, which inhibited the nucleation and aggregation of cavities in the partially melted zone.

Effect of post-weld heat treatment on mechanical and microstructural properties of high strength steel weld metal

The usage of high strength steel (HSS) is steadily increasing, primarily driven by the pursuit of weight reduction, leading to a subsequent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. This paper investigates the impact of various post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) temperatures of 525 °C, 550 °C and 575 °C with a holding time of 2 h on both the microstructure and mechanical properties of weld metal produced using a HSS metal cored wire. The investigation reveals that PWHT does not significantly alter strength but has a more pronounced influence on toughness. The as-welded condition exhibited the highest toughness. Among the samples subjected to the PWHT, the one treated at 575 °C showed the highest impact energy, reaching 69 J at −60 °C. This outcome is attributed to the increased presence of acicular ferrite in the microstructure, surpassing that of samples subjected to PWHT at different temperatures.

Effect of SAW electrode wire preheating current on its melting rate and weldment properties of HSLA steel joint

ABSTRACT Weld strength and quality are mostly affected by process parameters, which, in turn, influence the mechanical properties of weld metal and heat affected zone. In this research work, effect of electrode wire preheating on different responses including electrode wire melting rate, wire and plate melting efficiency, width of heat affected zone, microhardness, and corrosion rate of weld metal was studied. The experiments were carried out to accumulate the response data using the optimisation techniques. Then, the quadratic mathematical models were developed and checked the significance using the tests such as ANOVA, F-test and lack of fit. The preheat current is found to be the most contributing parameter, which efficiently enhanced the wire melting rate, wire melting efficiency and microhardness of weld metal whereas reduced the plate melting efficiency, heat affected zone (HAZ) width and corrosion rate. In addition, micrographs and micro-hardness results also confirmed the significant influence of preheat current.

Influence of the nature of distribution of non-metallic inclusions on the mechanical properties of weld metal of low-alloy steels

Influence of the nature of distribution of non-metallic inclusions on the mechanical properties of weld metal of low-alloy steels

Hydrogen induced cracking and stress corrosion cracking behavior of the weld metals in 17‐4 precipitation hardening stainless steel after double over aging treatment

AbstractThis research studied the effect of two‐stage over aging treatment on corrosion behavior of the weld metals in the 17‐4 precipitation hardening stainless steel. Gas tungsten arc welding was performed under solution annealed condition. After the welding, weld metal was subjected to double over aging treatments. Hydrogen induced cracking and stress corrosion cracking standard tests were carried out on weld metals before and after ageing treatment. Charpy impact test and microhardness test were conducted to evaluate the mechanical properties of weld metals. Microstructural examinations of the welding zones were performed by the optical microscope and field emission scanning electron microscope. The results showed that the as‐weld lath and coarse martensite were transferred to severely tempered martensite after over aging treatment with the formation of reversed austenite. In the latter case, the reversed austenite was about 30 % compared to 7 % before over aging treatment. The over aged weld metals were significantly more resistant to hydrogen induced cracking, and exhibited a longer time‐to‐failure in stress corrosion cracking test. The weld metal in the as‐weld condition in hydrogen induced cracking test showed severe cracking and failed rapidly in the stress corrosion cracking test.

Comparative study on CCTIG welding and PCTIG welding of GH4169 under the same heat input

GH4169 is a nickel-based superalloy, but high welding heat input and the harmful precipitates of the Laves phase seriously affect the mechanical properties of the welding joint. In this study, constant current tungsten inert gas welding (CCTIG) and pulsed current tungsten inert gas welding (PCTIG) were used to weld the GH4169 alloy sheet under the same heat input. After welding, the relationship between microstructure and comprehensive mechanical properties was analyzed. According to the results, under the same heat input: (1) The PCTIG welded joint has narrower weld and denser microstructure. (2) The pulse current improved the segregation of Nb element at the weld, and then reduced the precipitation of the Laves phase. (3) Pulse current improved the comprehensive mechanical properties of weld metal. The tensile strength and elongation were increased by 18% and 79% respectively.

Development of Closed-Form Equations for Estimating Mechanical Properties of Weld Metals according to Chemical Composition

In this study, data analysis was performed using an artificial neural network (ANN) approach to investigate the effect of the chemical composition of welds on their mechanical properties (yield strength, tensile strength, and impact toughness). Based on the data collected from previously performed experiments, correlations between related variables and results were analyzed and predictive models were developed. Sufficient datasets were prepared using data augmentation techniques to solve problems caused by insufficient data and to make better predictions. Finally, closed-form equations were developed based on the predictive models to evaluate the mechanical properties according to the chemical composition.

Effect of Arc Length on Oxygen Content and Mechanical Properties of Weld Metal during Pulsed GMAW

Pulsed gas metal arc weld (GMAW) was widely used for the advantages of controllable heat input, all-position welding, and no spatter. In order to obtain an ideal welding process, the stability of the arc length was studied in many researches, but the influence of arc length on the properties of weld metal was ignored. In this paper, the effect of arc length on oxygen content and mechanical properties of weld metal during pulsed GMAW was studied. Q690 high strength steel was selected as the base metal, and ER69-G solid wire, with a diameter of 1.2 mm, was used as the electrode wire. Additionally, the shielding gas and the wire feed rate were 82% Ar + 18% CO2 and 4 m/min, respectively. The results showed that as the arc length raised from 2.9 mm to 9.2 mm, the oxidation reacted more completely in the droplet transfer zone, and the oxygen content of the weld metal increased significantly. The tensile strength of the weld metal reduced but the −40 °C impact energy heightened. Due to the longer arc, the proportion of acicular ferrite (AF) in the microstructure decreased, but the proportion of lath bainite (LB) and granular bainite (GB) decreased. The higher oxygen content of weld metal was useful for the formation of inclusions, which promoted the nucleation of acicular ferrite and dimples, contributing to the growth of plasticity and toughness of weld metal.

Prediction of Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Weld Metal in Hybrid Laser-Arc Welding

Prediction of Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Weld Metal in Hybrid Laser-Arc Welding

Effect of Aluminum on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Weld Metal of Q960 Steel

High-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steel is used in important steel structural members because of its strength and plastic toughness. Q960 steel is HSLA steel obtained by adding an appropriate amount of alloy elements and quenching and tempering treatment on the basis of ordinary low-carbon steel. This kind of steel has strong hardenability due to the alloy elements added. Cold cracks, embrittlement and softening of the heat-affected zone easily occur after welding. In particular, the low-temperature impact toughness cannot meet the requirements and limits its use. In this paper, self-shielded welding is used to adjust the content of aluminum in flux-cored wire. The relationship between weld metal (WM) microstructure and strength and properties was studied by tensile test and impact test, and the influence mechanism of Al content on weld metal microstructure and properties was analyzed. The results show that when the content of Al is 0.21%, the impact energy at 0 °C~−60 °C is the best, the tensile strength can reach 1035 MPA and the number of pores is small. The size of inclusions in WM is mostly less than 1.0 μm Al2O3 spherical oxide. It can become the center of acicular ferrite (AF) and increase the nucleation probability. However, with the increase of Al content, large irregular AlN inclusions are produced, which reduces the tensile strength and impact energy of the welded joint.

Numerical Simulation of Physical-Mechanical Properties Based on the Composition of GTAW Weld Metal Alloys with Dissimilar Base Metals

Dissimilar weld-metal joints in aluminum alloys 5083 and 6061-T6 are often found in aircraft, railroad structures, ships, bridges, oil platforms, and building structures. However, welding of dissimilar metals is relatively more difficult due to the different metallurgy and thermophysical properties of the two alloys. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the physical-mechanical properties of the Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) process through numerical simulations of different welded joints between the 5083 and 6061-T6 aluminum alloys. The GTAW welding simulation process is carried out by 300 x 100 x 3 mm plate butt joints along 300 mm. GTAW weld metal is prepared for tensile test samples and metal alloy composition, the test is observed in the base metal and welded area. The results of the chemical composition test of the weld metal obtained that the composition is close to Al 5083 base metal so that the mechanical properties of the weld metal tend to be identical with Al 5083 alloy. The results of numerical simulation on the mechanical properties of GTAW weld metal at temperature conditions of 25 to 700 °C obtained several things, including 1) the range of thermal conductivity decreased from 174.393 to 86.424 W/mK. 2) The density increased from 2,348 to 2,663 gr/cm3. 3), the young modulus appears to decrease from 68,667 to 0 GPa. 4) the shear modulus decreases from 25,724 to 0 GPa. 5) the type of heat increases from 0.904 to 17,306 J/gK, and 6) the Poisson ratio increased from 0.335 to 0.5.

Strengthening and toughening strategies of weld metal for in-situ nanoparticle reinforced tin bronze alloy

As-cast in-situ nanoparticle reinforced CuSn10Zn2Fe1.5Co0.5 (wt-%) alloy was selected as base metal (BM) and filler for welding. Butt joints were obtained by tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding. Microstructure of weld metal was characterised. Nanoparticles with an average diameter of about 5 nm are uniformly dispersed in the primary copper matrix in size of micro or nano scales for weld metal. A large number of nano grains with size of about 20 nm can be found in the weld metal as well. Mechanical properties of weld metal were comparable to those of heat-treated BM. Strengthening and toughening strategies for the weld metal were discussed through fabricating in-situ nanoparticles and nano grains in the weld metal.

The effect of flux chemistry on element transfer in Submerged Arc Welding: application of thermochemical modelling

Post-weld slag and weld metal analyses were used to interpret the effects of different commercial flux compositions on element transfer between molten flux (slag) and weld metal in Submerged Arc Welding (SAW). Selected fluoride based flux compositions cover a wide range of basicity index (BI) values of 0.5–3.0. Thermochemical modelling in FactSage software is used to simulate the welding process in terms of gas-slag-metal equilibria. The importance of the gas phase in SAW element transfer is illustrated. The model provides improved accuracy in predicted weld metal oxygen values (ppm O) compared to the generally used empirical relationship of weld metal ppm O vs. flux BI. Model predicted oxygen values are within 150 ppm of the analysed values, compared to the empirical relationship values which are within 240 ppm from the analysed values. The model provides resolution in ppm O values at BI > 1.8. This information is lacking in the empirical relationship with constant ppm O of 250 ppm at BI > 1.8. The measured ppm O values follow the Fe–FeO equilibrium trend with a positive offset. The relative level of oxygen to deoxidation elements (Ti, Al, Mn, Si) in the weld metal is an important factor in oxide inclusion engineering. This model will aid in the specification of flux formulations to attain specific weld metal compositions for maximum acicular ferrite formation. In this way the weld metal mechanical properties can be improved. This model will reduce the number of welding tests required to develop new flux formulations.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of ultralow carbon high-strength steel weld metals with or without Cu-Nb addition

Two types of ultralow carbon steel weld metals (with and without added Cu-Nb) were prepared using gas metal arc welding (GMAW) to investigate the correlation between the microstructure and mechanical properties of weld metals. The results of microstructure characterization showed that the weld metal without Cu-Nb was mainly composed of acicular ferrite (AF), lath bainite (LB), and granular bainite (GB). In contrast, adding Cu-Nb to the weld metal caused an evident transformation of martensite and grain coarsening. Both weld metals had a high tensile strength (more than 950 MPa) and more than 17% elongation; however, their values of toughness deviated greatly, with a difference of approximately 40 J at −50°C. Analysis of the morphologies of the fracture surfaces and secondary cracks further revealed the correlation between the microstructure and mechanical properties. The effects of adding Cu and Nb on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the weld metal are discussed; the indication is that adding Cu-Nb increases the hardenability and grain size of the weld metal and thus deteriorates the toughness.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of weld metal in laser and gas metal arc hybrid welding of 440-MPa-grade high-strength steel

Fiber laser and gas metal arc hybrid welding of 440-MPa-grade high-strength marine steel was carried out at different welding speeds. The influence of welding speed on the microstructure and mechanical properties of weld metal was investigated. The weld-metal microstructure mainly consisted of pre-eutectoid ferrite, side-plate ferrite, acicular ferrite and lath bainite at a low welding speed. With the increase in welding speed, acicular ferrite and lath bainite were the dominant weld-metal microstructures. All samples failed at the base metal during tensile tests, which indicates that there is no soft zone in the hybrid welds. The welding speed had a significant effect on the impact toughness of the weld metal. The impact absorbed energy of the weld metal increased from 35 to 105 J with the increase in welding speed from 0.8 to 2.0 m/min. Large amounts of acicular ferrite and lath bainite were formed in the weld metal at a high welding speed, which resulted in an excellent impact toughness.

Effect of Post-Weld Aging Temperature on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Weld Metal of 15-5 PH Stainless Steel

This study is an attempt to correlate the microstructure and mechanical properties of weld metal of commercial 15Cr-5Ni precipitation-hardening stainless steel at different post-weld treatments. The weld metal is conducted by gas tungsten arc welding, and post-weld aging is performed at three different temperatures, viz. 580 °C, 600 °C and 620 °C. After post-weld aging treatment, the microstructure and mechanical properties of weld metals are investigated by OM, SEM, EDS, EBSD and impact tester. The results indicate that microstructure of weld metals by post-weld aging treatment consists predominately of martensite, reversion austenite and copper-rich phase. The amount of austenite and the size of copper-rich phase increase with increase in the post-weld aging temperature. The tensile strength of weld metals first increases and then decreases with the increasing of post-weld aging temperature. The former is due to the size and distribution of copper-rich phase, and the latter is due to the increasing of amount of reversion austenite.

Thermomechanical laser welding simulation of dissimilar steel-aluminum overlap joints

Mixing of steel and aluminum within the weld pool during keyhole laser welding results in a complex dissimilar microstructure, which in turn, initiates a shift in weld metal mechanical properties. In this study, a numerical model for computation of distortions in laser-welded dissimilar overlap joints (austenitic stainless steel 304 – 6082-T6 aluminum alloy), which considers properties of the mixed steel-aluminum weld metal was developed. The required yield strength, Young's modulus, and strain hardening exponent of the weld metal were experimentally determined using the indentation technique coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The designed material model calculates the weld elastic-plastic properties as a function of the aluminum concentration. The softening of the alloys in the heat-affected zone was determined by physical simulations and considered as a function of maximum temperature. Computed and measured distortions showed good agreement for various welding regimes with an average deviation of 18.4%. The sensitivity analyses indicated that the application of the developed weld material model significantly improves the accuracy of the thermomechanical simulations.

Microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of 316H weld metal during aging

ABSTRACTA standard 316H welding wire was used to obtain 6% δ-ferrite in the weld metal by the automatic tungsten inert gas welding. The effect of aging time at 750°C on microstructure and mechanical properties of the weld metal were analysed. The results showed that as the aging time increased, the δ-ferrite fraction decreased, and finally, δ-ferrite was no longer seen, the M23C6 fraction first increased and then decreased, and the σ phase fraction increased. Finally, the fractions of M23C6 and σ phase kept stable, but the size increased. Accordingly, as the aging time increased, the yield and tensile strengths first decreased significantly, then increased obviously and finally decreased slightly again, while the elongation and impact energy decreased all the time.

The influence of welding polarity on mechanical properties, microstructure and residual stresses of gas tungsten arc welded AA5052

The effect of welding current and polarity, i.e. AC and DCEN, on imposed thermal cycles, mechanical properties, microstructural events and residual stresses was investigated in GTA welding of AA5052. A three-dimensional thermo-mechanical model was utilized to evaluate thermal responses and residual stresses distribution in the weldments. Tensile testing and hardness measurements were also conducted to study the effect of welding polarity on the mechanical properties of components. Microstructural observations utilizing optical microscopy were carried out to assess the microstructural evolutions. The results show that wide varieties of microstructures are produced in DCEN sample from cells at the fusion boundary to equiaxed dendrites at the centre line. However, in the sample welded by AC current, the produced microstructure changes from columnar dendritic at the fusion line to equiaxed dendritic at the centre line. Although, these microstructural changes have no significant effects on the mechanical properties of weld metal. Furthermore, wider temperature contours in the AC sample resulted in a wider heat affected zone, i.e. 9.5 vs. 6.4 mm, and larger tensile residual stresses are produced in the longitudinal direction in the sample welded under DCEN polarity.

Prediction of Dilution and Its Impact on the Metallurgical and Mechanical Behavior of a Multipass Steel Weldment

Abstract A three-pass groove weld made by gas-tungsten arc welding in a 20-mm thick SA508 steel plate is modeled to predict the thermal, metallurgical, and mechanical behavior. The dilution for each pass is estimated as the proportion of base material in the weld metal, based on the predicted cross-sectional areas for the fusion zone (FZ) associated with each individual pass. The temperature predictions are consistent with the thermocouple measurement data and cross-weld macrographs. The predicted microstructures are qualitatively compared with the observed microstructures in cross-weld optical micrographs. The measured hardness is then used to quantitatively validate the predictions for postweld microconstituents (e.g., the ferrite, bainite, and martensite fractions), based on a hardness-microstructure correlation. The predicted residual stresses are compared with those measured by neutron diffraction. The results show that the dilution significantly affects the metallurgical and mechanical properties of weld metal (either as-deposited or reheated), and its consideration notably improves the predictions for microstructure and residual stress in the multipass steel weldment. Furthermore, the increase in dilution promotes the formation of martensite, which enhances the hardness, and leads to lower tensile stresses (or higher compressive stresses) in the weld metal. Such behavior arises due to the higher hardenability of the base material employed in this study, coupled with delayed austenite decomposition on cooling.