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Abstract
High strength weld metal consists of various
microstructural constituents such as grain boundary
ferrite, acicular ferrite, ferrite side plate etc. Among
them, acicular ferrite has been well documented to be
beneficial for improving both strength and toughness but
others to be detrimental to them. However, the effect of
those constituents on the cold crack susceptibility has not
been clearly understood. This paper was prepared to
emphasize the importance of microstructural contribution
on the hydrogen-induced cold cracking (HICC) that
occurs in the weld metals. Two FCA welding wires were
prepared to have same level of tensile strength but to
have different weld microstructure by controlling the Ni
content in the wire. HICC susceptibility of those two
consumables was evaluated by multi-pass weld metal
cold cracking test. The diffusible hydrogen content was
varied by adding different amount of hydrogen gas in the
shielding gas. As a result of this study, it was
demonstrated that microstructural modification with the
decreased proportion of grain boundary ferrite and thus
the increase of acicular ferrite improved cold crack
resistance of weld metal significantly and resulted in the
accomplishment of preheat-free welding for 600 Mpa
strength level at the diffusible hydrogen level of 4.5
ml/100g. In the discussion, the beneficial effect of
acicular ferrite against HICC will be addressed based on
the microstructural characteristics of acicular ferrite.
Keywords: High Strength Weld Metal, Cold Cracking,
Weld Microstructure, Grain Boundary Ferrite, Acicular
Ferrite, Diffusible Hydrogen
1. Introduction
Due to the improved resistance to HAZ cracking
achieved in the modern high strength steels such as
TMCP steels and HSLA steels, their weld metals become
more prone to suffer from cold cracking problems than
the HAZ of base metal does. In particular, weld metal
cracking (WM cracking) has been reported to become a
major limiting factor in the preheat-free application of
advanced high strength steels [1]-[3]. Accordingly, the
cold cracking phenomena in high strength weld metals
(2)
Materials
0Ni WM
C
.05
Si
.55
Mn
1.17
Ni
0.0
Cr
.03
1.5Ni WM
.05
.42
1.37
1.5
.03
BM
.08
.30
1.54
2. Experimental Procedure
For evaluating the microstructural aspect of weld metal
cold cracking in the 500 MPa strength level, two
different flux cored wires specified as AWS E71T-1 (1.4
mm in diameter) were employed. Both of them are
similar in composition except in Ni content. The FCAW
weld metal made with a commercial wire was called as
0%Ni-FCAW as it contains nil in Ni. The experimental
weld deposits made with new design was referred to as
1.5%Ni-FCAW as it contained about Ni of about 1.5%.
Table 1 shows the chemical compositions of their weld
metals deposited in the multi-pass weld metal cracking
test specimens described in the next section. Each set of
wires were fabricated to have various levels of HD by
changing the moisture content of the flux within the
wires; that is, by changing the sintering temperature of
some of the flux ingredients. After fabrication, HD
content of weld metal was measured by gas
chromatograph method following the procedure of AWS
specification [14].
Multi-pass weld metal cracking test was conducted using
specimens shown in Fig. 1. Steel plates of 50 mm
thickness were machined to have a 25 mm deep Vgroove with 60-deg included angle and then were
restraint-welded on the H-type jig made with 25 mm
thick plate in order to prevent any distortion of the plate.
3. Results
3.1 Weld metal microstructure
As expected, microstructure of as-deposited FCAW weld
metals was composed with three major constituents such
as grain boundary ferrite (GF), acicular ferrite (AF) and
ferrite with second phase (FS) but the proportion of each
constituent is quite different between 0%Ni and 1.5%Ni
weld metals. Quantitative analysis preformed by point
counting method [15] showed that the weld
microstructure made by 0%Ni wire contains GF of 19%
and AF of 54%. With the addition of 1.5% Ni, the
proportion of GF dropped down to 6% and AF increased
to over 80%. The balance of the microstructure in each
case was found to be predominantly FS. Mechanical tests
have been conducted for both wires using all weld metal
test coupons and their results were quoted in Table 2.
Material
Hardness (HRB)
Yield St.
(MPa)
Tensile St.
(MPa)
0%Ni
95.3
579
611
1.5%Ni
97.7
610
628
00C
-200C
-400C
0%Ni
58
57
27
1.5%Ni
94
97
90
Welding direction
4. Discussions
The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of
weld microstructure on the cold cracking behavior in
ferritic weld metals and then to propose a appropriate
parameter that can be employed for evaluating the
microstructural effect on WM cracking. In multi-pass
welds, it is well known that WM cracking can occur
either in perpendicular to the surface (vertical crack) or
at angle of 45 deg to welding direction (Chevron crack)
with a tendency to change from Chevron to vertical crack
as the weld metal strength increases [18]. In the present
study, all the cracks found in FCA weld metals studied
were found to be formed in Chevron-type and the
occurrence of this crack was depending on weld
microstructure, HD content and the preheating
temperature. At the same level of HD content, as 0%Ni
wire requires higher preheating temperature than
1.5%Ni, it could be concluded that 0%Ni weld is more
susceptible to cold cracking than 1.5%Ni deposit. This
conclusion is quite opposite to the expectation that has
been described in the introduction of this paper.
According to equations (1) and (2), 0%Ni deposit would
be less susceptible than 1.5%Ni as it has lower Pcm and
lower tensile strength (Table 1 and 2). However, this was
not the case in the present study. It means both equations
are no longer valid for explaining the present result and
the parameters like Pcm (or CE) or weld metal strength
cannot represent the microstructural effect on WM
cracking appropriately. This discrepancy arises
presumably because equation (1) did not care about the
characteristics of weld microstructure that is quite
different from that of HAZ and because equation (2)
mainly concerns about vertical cracks that generally
develops in the higher strength welds of tensile strength
over 700MPa. Hence, some other parameter must be
considered for proper explanation of the present result.
In the course of this study, it was demonstrated that
HICC found in present FCA welds were Chevron-type
cracks which have been known to be developed
following GBF. The mechanism by which Chevron crack
develops relating with GF has been suggested by many
workers [18]-[20]. They claimed that the high
longitudinal residual stresses developed in welded joint
led to plastic deformation in the softer region of grain
boundary ferrite and then the small incipient cracks
which form as a result interconnect under the shear
stresses acting at an angle of 45 deg. Therefore, if the
Chevron cracking is the main type of cracking, it is quite
reasonable to conclude that GF phase facilitates cold
(b)
References
5. Conclusions
Multi-pass weld metal cracking tests were carried out to
evaluate the effect of weld metal microstructure on cold
cracking resistance of ferritic weld deposit using two sets
of FCAW wires which are different in Ni content (0%Ni
and 1.5%Ni) and thus are different in weld
microstructure, especially in %GF. From the
experimental results, following conclusions could be
made.
1) At the same level of HD content, the 1.5%Ni deposit
showed substantially better resistance to cold cracking
than 0%Ni and this difference was attributed mainly to
the variation in weld microstructure between these two
welds.
2) Microscopic analysis showed that all the cracks
observed were Chevron-type cold cracks in which GF
phase plays an important role as it provides with the
preferential route for crack propagation. This fact
justified the superior resistance of 1.5%Ni deposit as its
microstructure contained smaller amount of GF
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