1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 2 Central Iron & Steel Research Institute, Beijing 100081
Cite this article:
Tongbang AN,Zhiling TIAN,Jiguo SHAN,Jinshan WEI. EFFECT OF SHIELDING GAS ON MICROSTRUCTURE AND PERFORMANCE OF 1000 MPa GRADE DEPOSITED METALS. Acta Metall Sin, 2015, 51(12): 1489-1499.
The use of high strength low alloy steels provides several potential advantages including lower weight, lower manufacturing costs, and ease of handling and transport. The progress in steel manufacturing technology has continually called for new developments in welding processes and consumables to produce weld metal deposits with mechanical properties essentially equivalent to the base metal. Controlling the weld metal microstructures as well as raising the welding productivity is critical factor for the development of weld metal of high strength steel to secure satisfactory mechanical properties and to reduce production costs. In order to meet the demand to apply 1000 MPa class steel to the fabrication of large scale steel structures, a weld wire for the 1000 MPa class steel has been under development to obtain the required strength and toughness, which depend primarily on the microstructure. In this work, the effects of shielding gas composition on the microstructure and properties of 1000 MPa grade deposited metals produced by metal active gas (MAG) welding have been investigated. The shielding gas employed was a mixture of argon (Ar) and carbon dioxide (CO2) (5%~30%), and the weld heat input was 13 kJ/cm. The properties of deposited metal with shielding gas of 80%Ar+20%CO2 is the best, the yield strength is 980 MPa, meanwhile, its Charpy absorbed energy at room temperature and -40 ℃ are 72.6 and 52 J, respectively. The results show that the microstructure of the deposited metal, consisting primary of low carbon martensite and a few parallel bainite plate, became more interweaved bainitic packets as the CO2 content of the shielding gas was increased. The initial bainite nucleated at austenite grain boundaries and subsequent bainite plates can form at the oxide inclusions of intragranular, which presented an intersected configuration and the microstructure was refined. The content of bainite palte and distribution morphology of martensite/bainite is the intrinsic reason attributed to mechanical properties of deposited metals. The content of bainite for deposited metal has an optimal proportion and more isn't necessarily better. It was also found that the area fraction, the size and the compositions of oxide inclusions in deposited metals were changed with increasing CO2 content. The deposited metal as using 70%Ar+30%CO2 has the minimum toughness because more large size oxide inclusions formed which are known to be harmful to the toughness.
Fig.3 TEM images of martensite/bainite lath structure of deposited metal by metal active gas welding with Ar+5%CO2 (a) and Ar+20%CO2 (b), and bright field (c) and dark field (d) images of residual austenite in deposited metals with Ar+20%CO2 (Inset in Fig.3d is the SAED pattern of residual austenite)
Fig.4 EBSD orientation maps of the martensite/bainite block substructure in the deposited metal with different shielding gases and inverse pole figure (insets)
Fig.7 Variations of B50 and Ms of deposited metals as function of CO2 content in the shielding gas (B50—temperature above which bainitic transformation never proceeds over 50% in volume, Ms—starting temperature of martensitic transformation)
Fig.8 TEM (a) and SEM (b) images of bainite plates growing from one inclusion (Ar+20%CO2)
Fig.9 Low (a) and locally high (b) magnified SEM images of typical cleavage fracture of deposited metals at
-40 ℃
Shielding gas
Mn
Si
Ti
Al
S
O
Ar+5%CO2
29.57
1.89
48.87
5.73
0.39
13.55
Ar+10%CO2
34.11
3.52
40.19
7.81
0.53
13.84
Ar+20%CO2
36.68
11.17
32.97
4.80
0.95
13.43
Ar+30%CO2
37.65
9.80
31.82
3.55
1.66
15.52
Table 3 Chemical compositons of inclusions in deposited metals
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