Mechanical Behaviour of Intercritically Reheated Coarse-Grained Heat Affected Zone in High Strength Line Pipe Steels

Author(s):  
Madhumanti Mandal ◽  
Warren J. Poole ◽  
Thomas Garcin ◽  
Matthias Militzer ◽  
Laurie Collins

Multipass welding of high strength steels used for fabrication and joining of transmission pipelines presents a number of metallurgical challenges. A key concern is both the strength and toughness of the heat affected zone (HAZ) adjacent to both seam and girth welds. In this work, a systematic study has been conducted on regions of the heat affected zone in the base metal where the first welding pass produces a thermal excursion which results in a coarse-grained heat affected zone (CGHAZ). The subsequent weld pass involves intercritical annealing of this region, i.e. a microstructure associated with intercritically reheated coarse grain heat affected zone (ICCGHAZ). The small ICCGHAZ region is often identified as being particularly susceptible to crack initiation. This work was undertaken to understand microstructure development in this zone and how the ICCGHAZ may affect the overall performance of the HAZ. Gleeble thermomechanical simulations have been conducted to produce bulk samples representative of different welding scenarios. Charpy impact tests and tensile tests have been performed over a range of temperatures. It was found that when a continuous necklace of martensite-austenite islands form on the prior austenite grain boundaries (i.e. for a M/A fraction of ≈10%), the Charpy impact toughness energy is dramatically decreased and the ductile brittle transition temperature is significantly raised. Detailed studies on the secondary cracks have been conducted to examine the fracture mechanisms in the different microstructures. The results show that the lower bainite microstructures obtained after the 1st thermal treatment, representative of CGHAZ have excellent impact properties. The impact toughness of the microstructures typical of ICCGHAZ is strongly dependent on the composition as well as morphology and spatial distribution of the resulting martensite-austenite (M/A) islands transformed from inter-critically formed austenite. This zone can play a significant role in fracture initiation and thus needs to be considered in alloy and welding process designs.

2018 ◽  
Vol 937 ◽  
pp. 61-67
Author(s):  
Yu Jie Li ◽  
Jin Wei Lei ◽  
Xuan Wei Lei ◽  
Oleksandr Hress ◽  
Kai Ming Wu

Utilizing submerged arc welding under heat input 50 kJ/cm on 60 mm thick marine engineering structure plate F550, the effect of preheating and post welding heat treatment on the microstructure and impact toughness of coarse-grained heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) has been investigated. The original microstructure of the steel plate is tempered martensite. The yield and tensile strength is 610 and 660 MPa, respectively. The impact absorbed energy at low temperature (-60 °C) at transverse direction reaches about 230~270 J. Welding results show that the preheating at 100 °C did not have obvious influence on the microstructure and toughness; whereas the tempering at 600 °C for 2.5 h after welding could significantly reduce the amount of M-A components in the coarse-grained heat-affected zone and thus improved the low temperature impact toughness.


Metals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gang Huang ◽  
Xiangliang Wan ◽  
Kaiming Wu ◽  
Huazhong Zhao ◽  
Raja Misra

The objective of the present study is to investigate the effects of nickel (Ni) on the microstructure and impact toughness of coarse-grained heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) of high-strength low-alloy steel. It was observed that the microstructure of CGHAZ predominantly consisted of bainite and a small proportion of martensite-austenite (M-A) constituents and acicular ferrite (AF). With increased Ni content, the percentage of M-A constituent decreased and AF increased; consequently, the impact toughness of CGHAZ increased. The study revealed that a small addition of nickel significantly affected the formation of M-A constituents and AF; however, no obvious influence was observed on the bainitic microstructure of high-strength low-alloy steel.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1016 ◽  
pp. 42-49
Author(s):  
Kook Soo Bang ◽  
Joo Hyeon Cha ◽  
Kyu Tae Han ◽  
Hong Chul Jeong

The present work investigated the effects of Al, Si, and N content on the impact toughness of the coarse-grained heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) of Ti-containing low-carbon steel. Simulated CGHAZ of differing Al, Si, and N contents were prepared, and Charpy impact toughness was determined. The results were interpreted in terms of microstructure, especially martensite-austenite (M-A) constituent. All elements accelerated ferrite transformation in CGHAZ but at the same time increased the amount of M-A constituent, thereby deteriorating CGHAZ toughness. It is believed that Al, Si, and free N that is uncombined with Ti retard the decomposition of austenite into pearlite and increase the carbon content in the last transforming austenite, thus increasing the amount of M-A constituent. Regardless of the amount of ferrite in CGHAZ, its toughness decreased linearly with an increase of M-A constituent in this experiment, indicating that HAZ toughness is predominantly affected by the presence of M-A constituent. When a comparison of the effectiveness is made between Al and Si, it showed that a decrease in Si content is more effective in reducing M-A constituents.


2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (06n07) ◽  
pp. 1885-1890 ◽  
Author(s):  
ZUOCHENG WANG ◽  
GUOTAO CUI ◽  
TAO SUN ◽  
WEIMIN GUO ◽  
XIULING ZHAO ◽  
...  

In our research, boron was added into the Nb -added high strength low alloy (HSLA) H -section steels. The contents of boron added were 4ppm, 8ppm and 11ppm, respectively. The mechanical properties of H -section steels with/without boron were examined by using uniaxial tensile test and Charpy impact test ( V -notch). The morphologies of the microstructure and the fracture surfaces of the impact specimens were observed by metalloscope, stereomicroscope and electron probe. The experimental results indicate that boron gives a significant increase in impact toughness, especially in low temperature impact toughness, though it leads to an unremarkable increase in strength and plasticity. For instance, the absorbed energy at -40°C reaches up to 126J from 15J by 8ppm boron addition, and the ductile-brittle transition temperature declines by 20°C. It is shown that boron has a beneficial effect on grain refinement. The fracture mechanism is transited from cleavage fracture to dimple fracture due to boron addition.


2019 ◽  
Vol 269 ◽  
pp. 06003
Author(s):  
Herry Oktadinata ◽  
Winarto Winarto

Various welding methods are widely applied in large fabrication of high strength steel. However, commonly the problem occurs where a coarse grain is formed near fusion zone causing reduce the impact toughness due to the weld joint become brittle. Ductility and toughness in a coarse grain heat affected zone (CGHAZ) is low due to the formation of coarsening grain size. The objective of this research is to investigate the microstructure evolution, impact toughness and fracture appearance at sub-zero temperatures of the high strength steel arc welded. The steel that used in this experiment is a HY-80 steel welded by gas metal arc welding (GMAW) with a mixture of argon and carbon dioxide (90%Ar and 10%CO2) and ER100S solid wire. Microstructure observation and Charpy V-notch (CVN) tests were performed on the weld joint which consist of base metal (BM), heat affected zone (HAZ), and weld metal (WM). The CVN tests on the HY-80 steel plate at various temperatures (20, -20, -60 and -80 °C) show impact toughness decrease when the test temperature decrease. The CVN tests on the HY-80 weld joint at a temperature of 80 °C show the lowest impact toughness was measured at WM (61 J) and followed fusion line-FL (101 J) with brittle fracture appearance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (2) ◽  
pp. 212
Author(s):  
Yuxin Cao ◽  
Xiangliang Wan ◽  
Feng Zhou ◽  
Hangyu Dong ◽  
Kaiming Wu ◽  
...  

The present study was envisaged to investigate the role of La content on the particle, microstructure and toughness in the simulated coarse-grained heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) of high-strength low-alloy steels. Three steels with La content of 0.016 wt.%, 0.046 wt.% and 0.093 wt.% were prepared and simulated in a 100 kJ/cm heat input welding thermal cycle. Subsequently, the particle and microstructure of selected specimens were characterized and the impact absorb energy was measured at −20 °C. The results indicated that the La2O2S inclusions in 0.016 wt.%-La steel were gradually modified to LaS-LaP in 0.046 wt.%-La steel and to LaP in 0.093 wt.%-La steel. A higher fraction of acicular ferrite was obtained in the simulated CGHAZ of 0.016 wt.%-La steel, since the inclusion of La2O2S was more powerful to induce the formation of acicular ferrite. Furthermore, the fraction of M-A constituents in the simulated CGHAZ increased with increasing La content. The impact toughness in the simulated CGHAZ of 0.016 wt.%-La steel was the highest, owing to the high fraction of the fine-grained acicular ferrite and low fraction of M-A constituent.


2013 ◽  
Vol 762 ◽  
pp. 711-716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Risto O. Laitinen ◽  
David A. Porter ◽  
L. Pentti Karjalainen ◽  
Pasi Leiviskä ◽  
Jukka Kömi

Physical simulation of the most critical sub-zones of the heat-affected zone is a useful tool for the evaluation of the toughness of welded joints in high-strength and ultra-high-strength steels. In two high-strength offshore steels with the yield strength of 500 MPa, the coarse grained, intercritical and intercritically reheated coarse grained zones were simulated using the cooling times from 800 to 500 °C (t8/5) 5 s and 30 s. Impact and CTOD tests as well as microstructural investigations were carried out in order to evaluate the weldability of the steels without the need for expensive welding tests. The test results showed that the intercritically reheated coarse grained zone with the longer cooling time t8/5=30 s was the most critical sub-zone in the HAZ due to the M-A constituents and coarse ferritic-bainitic microstructure. In 6 mm thick ultra-high-strength steel Optim 960 QC, the coarse grained and intercritically reheated coarse grained zones were simulated using the cooling times t8/5 of 5, 10, 15 and 20s and the intercritical zone using the cooling times t8/5 of 5 and 10 s in order to select the suitable heat input for welding. The impact test results from the simulated zones fulfilled the impact energy requirement of 14 J (5x10 mm specimen) at -40 °C for the cooling times, t8/5, from 5 to 15 s, which correspond to the heat input range 0.4-0.7 kJ/mm (for a 6 mm thickness).


2015 ◽  
Vol 816 ◽  
pp. 743-749 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Long Yang ◽  
Xiao Dong Tan ◽  
Yun Bo Xu ◽  
Zhi Ping Hu ◽  
Yong Mei Yu ◽  
...  

Based on TMCP and UFC technology, the microstructures and impact toughness of low carbon bainitic steel were studied in this paper. The bainite morphology and fracture surfaces of Charpy impact specimens were observed by SEM, and mechanical properties of bainitic steel were measured by tensile and impact test. The results showed that the yield and tensile strengths of steel were 804MPa and 1015MPa, and elongation was 15.7% when the rolling was finished in the austenite recrystallization region. The steel rolled below Tnr temperature obtained tht yield strength of 930 MPa, tensile strength of 1090 MPa and elongation of 16.2%. However, the impact toughness was deteriorated in the steel rolled above Tnr temperature while the excellent impact toughness existed in the steel rolled below Tnr temperature. The impact toughness of steel rolled below Tnr temperature was 140J at-60°C, while the impact toughness of 15J at the same temperature was obtained for the steel rolled above Tnr temperature. The large cleavage fracture region on the fracture surface occured with the decrease of tested temperature in the steel rolled above Tnr temperature and inevitably reduced the impact toughness, while the main ductile fracture existed in the steel rolled below Tnr temperature at the same temperature. The rolling process of steel can strongly affect impact toughness of low carbon bainitic steel. Hence, the different rolling processes can adjust the occurrence of cleavage fracture and ductile fracture in order to improve the impact toughness.


Metals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1783
Author(s):  
Henri Tervo ◽  
Antti Kaijalainen ◽  
Vahid Javaheri ◽  
Mohammed Ali ◽  
Tuomas Alatarvas ◽  
...  

The presence of acicular ferrite (AF) in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of steels used offshore is generally seen as beneficial for toughness. In this study, the effects of varying fractions of AF (0–49 vol.%) were assessed in the simulated, unaltered and coarse-grained heat-affected zones (CGHAZ) of three experimental steels. Two steels were deoxidized, with one using Ti and the other using Al. The characterization was carried out by using electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry, electron backscatter diffraction and X-ray diffraction. The fraction of AF varied with the heat input and cooling time applied in the Gleeble thermomechanical simulator. AF was present in one of the Ti-deoxidized steels with all the applied cooling times, and its fraction increased with increasing cooling time. However, in other materials, only a small fraction (13–22%) of AF was present and only when the longest cooling time was applied. The impact toughness of the simulated specimens was evaluated using instrumented Charpy V-notch testing. Contrary to the assumption, the highest impact toughness was obtained in the conventional Al-deoxidized steel with little or no AF in the microstructure, while the variants with the highest fraction of AF had the lowest impact toughness. It was concluded that the coarser microstructural and inclusion features of the steels with AF and also the fraction of AF may not have been great enough to improve the CGHAZ toughness of the steels investigated.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document