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Eliminating the Brittleness Constituent to Enhance Toughness of the High-Strength Steel Weld Heat-Affected Zone Using Electropulsing

The evolution of the martensite–austenite (MA) constituent in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of high-strength steel FH690 welds when subjected to electropulsing (EP) treatment was investigated herein, with the aim of eliminating brittle MA to enhance toughness. The features induced by EPT were correla...

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Autores principales: Chen, Zhanglan, Xiong, Yunfeng, Li, Xiaowen, Li, Zongmin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8953774/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35329583
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma15062135
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author Chen, Zhanglan
Xiong, Yunfeng
Li, Xiaowen
Li, Zongmin
author_facet Chen, Zhanglan
Xiong, Yunfeng
Li, Xiaowen
Li, Zongmin
author_sort Chen, Zhanglan
collection PubMed
description The evolution of the martensite–austenite (MA) constituent in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of high-strength steel FH690 welds when subjected to electropulsing (EP) treatment was investigated herein, with the aim of eliminating brittle MA to enhance toughness. The features induced by EPT were correlated with the microstructure and fractography through scanning electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction analyses, together constituting an impact property evaluation. The Charpy V-notch impact results showed EPT could improve toughness of the HAZ from 34.1 J to 51.8 J (the calibrated value was 46 J). Examinations of EP-treated microstructure showed a preferred Joule heating: at the site of the MA constituent, the cleavage fractography introduced by the MA constituent was substituted with ductile dimples with various sizes. Decreases in grain size of 40% and 47% for the matrix and the retained austenite, respectively, were achieved; while for regions without the MA constituent, microstructural modification was negligible. The temperature rise at sample surface was less than 60 °C. The mechanism behind this favorable Joule heating for the MA constituent was correlated with the electrical properties of the MA constituent in contrast with martensite matrix. The toughness enhancement of the HAZ was thus attributed to the elimination of the coarse MA constituent. The present investigation suggested that electropulsing, characterized as a narrow-duration current, is a promising method for preferred elimination of brittle factors and thus improving the toughness of HAZ of high-strength steel within a limited region with a width less than 2 mm.
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spelling pubmed-89537742022-03-26 Eliminating the Brittleness Constituent to Enhance Toughness of the High-Strength Steel Weld Heat-Affected Zone Using Electropulsing Chen, Zhanglan Xiong, Yunfeng Li, Xiaowen Li, Zongmin Materials (Basel) Article The evolution of the martensite–austenite (MA) constituent in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of high-strength steel FH690 welds when subjected to electropulsing (EP) treatment was investigated herein, with the aim of eliminating brittle MA to enhance toughness. The features induced by EPT were correlated with the microstructure and fractography through scanning electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction analyses, together constituting an impact property evaluation. The Charpy V-notch impact results showed EPT could improve toughness of the HAZ from 34.1 J to 51.8 J (the calibrated value was 46 J). Examinations of EP-treated microstructure showed a preferred Joule heating: at the site of the MA constituent, the cleavage fractography introduced by the MA constituent was substituted with ductile dimples with various sizes. Decreases in grain size of 40% and 47% for the matrix and the retained austenite, respectively, were achieved; while for regions without the MA constituent, microstructural modification was negligible. The temperature rise at sample surface was less than 60 °C. The mechanism behind this favorable Joule heating for the MA constituent was correlated with the electrical properties of the MA constituent in contrast with martensite matrix. The toughness enhancement of the HAZ was thus attributed to the elimination of the coarse MA constituent. The present investigation suggested that electropulsing, characterized as a narrow-duration current, is a promising method for preferred elimination of brittle factors and thus improving the toughness of HAZ of high-strength steel within a limited region with a width less than 2 mm. MDPI 2022-03-14 /pmc/articles/PMC8953774/ /pubmed/35329583 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma15062135 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Chen, Zhanglan
Xiong, Yunfeng
Li, Xiaowen
Li, Zongmin
Eliminating the Brittleness Constituent to Enhance Toughness of the High-Strength Steel Weld Heat-Affected Zone Using Electropulsing
title Eliminating the Brittleness Constituent to Enhance Toughness of the High-Strength Steel Weld Heat-Affected Zone Using Electropulsing
title_full Eliminating the Brittleness Constituent to Enhance Toughness of the High-Strength Steel Weld Heat-Affected Zone Using Electropulsing
title_fullStr Eliminating the Brittleness Constituent to Enhance Toughness of the High-Strength Steel Weld Heat-Affected Zone Using Electropulsing
title_full_unstemmed Eliminating the Brittleness Constituent to Enhance Toughness of the High-Strength Steel Weld Heat-Affected Zone Using Electropulsing
title_short Eliminating the Brittleness Constituent to Enhance Toughness of the High-Strength Steel Weld Heat-Affected Zone Using Electropulsing
title_sort eliminating the brittleness constituent to enhance toughness of the high-strength steel weld heat-affected zone using electropulsing
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8953774/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35329583
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma15062135
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