• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.83-88
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• 2000

Variation of welded-joint hardness and tensile strength of a accelerated-cooled fine-grained ferritic-pearlitic steel with heat input was investigated. In a weld heat-affected zone, a softened zone was formed and it had lower hardness than that of a base metal. While the width of a softened zone increased continuously with an increase of heat input up to 100kJ/cm. the minimum hardness in a softned zone was almost constant after a continuos decrease up to 60KJ/cm. Because of a softened zone, the welded-joint was fractured in the HAZ and its maximum reduction of tensile strength was about 20%. Measured welded-joint tensile strength and calculated minimum tensile strength in a welded-joint was almost same, which means that the plastic restraint of a softened zone did not occur in this experiment. It is believed that as a softened zone width-to-specimen thickness ratio is as high as 2~6 in this experiment, the plastic restraint effect does not occur. Theoretical analysis shows that the plastic restraint effect occurs only when the ratio is below 0.5.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.80-82
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• 1998

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.56 no.11
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• pp.796-804
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• 2018

The Charpy impact toughness of the heat affected zone (HAZ) of electro gas welded 390 MPa yield strength grade steel, manufactured by a thermo mechanically controlled process, was investigated. The effects of added Nb on the toughness of the steel and the factors influencing scatter in toughness are discussed in the present work. It was observed that adding Nb to the steel led to the deterioration of HAZ toughness. The presence of soluble Nb in the HAZ increased its hardenability and resulted in a larger amount of low toughness bainitic microstructure. Microstructural observations in the notch root area revealed the significant role of different microstructures in the area. In the presence of a larger amount of bainitic microstructures, the HAZ exhibited a lower Charpy toughness with a larger scatter in toughness. A softened zone with a lower hardness than the base metal was formed in the HAZ. However, theoretical analysis revealed that the presence of the zone might not be a problem in a real welded joint because of the plastic restraint effect enforced by surrounding materials.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.499-504
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• 2002

The microstructural change associated with the hardness profile in friction stir welded, age-hardenable 6005 Al alloy had been evaluated. Frictional heat and plastic flow during friction stir welding created the fine recrystallized grain (Stir Zone, SZ), the elongated and recovered grain (Thermo-Mechanical Affected Zone, TMAZ) in the weld zone. Heat affected zone (HAZ), which could be only identified by hardness test because there is no difference in the grain structure compared with that of the base metal, was formed beside the weld zone. A softened region had been formed near the weld zone during friction stir welding process. The softened region was characterized by the dissolution and coarsening of the strengthening precipitate during the friction stir welding. The sound joints of 6005 Al alloys were successfully formed under a wide range of the friction stir welding conditions.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.73-78
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• 2008

In this paper, research was the variation of microstructure and mechanical properties of clad(A4045/A3003) Al alloy sheet by gas tungsten arc welding. Tensile properties of the gas tungsten arc welding joint decreased because of the softened heat affected zone(HAZ). The hardness of HAZ was lower than that of base metal, because relieved the work hardening effect of the welding heat. Hardness distribution of the weld zone with the base metal appears similarly, but the hardness of HAZ decreased remarkably. The microstructure in the weld zone of A4045 clad layer was formed a coarse columner grains of Si-rich. In the case of large weld heat input, the Si of the A4045 were diffused and until A3003 weld zone they decreased the strength.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.59-64
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• 2002

Effects of the aging treatments on the microstructure and strength of heat affected zone(HAZ) in the welds of a age-hardened Al-Mg-Si alloy, 5N01-T5, were investigated. The base metal aging treatments before MIG welding were conducted at 423K to 473K for 28.8ks Post weld heat treatment(PWHT) to recover the HAZ strength was performed at 448K for 28.8ks. Microstructure observations, hardness measurements and tensile tests were conducted to study properties of the MIG weld joints. The position of the softest region in HAZ where the hardness insufficiently recovered after natural aging and PWHT was at a distance of approximately 15mm from the center of the fusion zone. Hardness of the softest regions after natural aging and PWHT decreased with increase in the base metal aging temperature. TEM observation clarified that strengthening ${\beta}$"(Mg$_2$Si) precipitates and coarse ${\beta}$′ precipitates affected the hardnes of HAZ. Incomplete recover of hardness in HAZ after PWHT was caused by the precipitating of non-hardening ${\beta}$′ phase during the weld thermal cycle. In order to examine the effects of weldheat input and welding speed, the laser weld joints were also investigated and compared with the MIG weld ones. Laser welding had the narrower width of the softened regions in HAZ compared with MIG welding. The hardness of the softest regions of the laser welds after PWHT was higher than that of the MIG welds. Quantitative relations between hardness of the softest region and base metal aging temperature were obtained for both welding processes. Accordingly, the equations to estimate the strength of the weld joints after PWHT with varying base metal temperatures were proposed for MIG welding and laser welding.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.55-65
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• 1999

Metallurgical factors influencing toughness of the Intercritically Reheated Coarse-Grained Heat Affected Zone (ICCG HAZ) of multiple welded SA508-cl.3 Reactor Pressure Vessel Steel were evaluated. The recrystallized austenite formed along the prior austenite grain boundaries and late interfaced on heating to the intercritical range was transformed to bainite and/or martensite during cooling. The newly formed martensite always included some retained austenite(M-A constituents). The characteristics(amount, hardness, density, and size) of M-A constituents were found to be strongly associated with both peak temperature and cooling time(△t8/5(2)) of last pass. Toughness in the ICCG HAZ was deteriorated with increasing amount of M-A constituents which was increased with increasing the last peak temperature within the intercritical temperature range. Meanwhile, for the same intercritical peak temperature, toughness was decreased with increasing cooling time. When cooling time was short, the dominant factor influencing toughness of the ICCG HAZ was amount of M-A constituents. However, when cooling time was lengthened, the hardness difference between M-A constituents and softened matrix(tempered martensite) was found to be the dominant factor.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.522-527
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• 2002

The microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir welded OFC plates with 2mm in thickness were examined with the changing welding parameters such as welding speed, rotation speed in this study. The sounding welding conditions was acquired at the optimum welding conditions of the 41mm/min to 61mm/min of welding speed at 1250 rpm of rotation speed. The microstructure of weld zone was divided into four parts such as the base metal region (EM), thermal mechanical affected zone (TMAZ), heat affected zone (HAZ), stir zone (SZ). The grain size in the SZ and the width of weld nugget were increased with increasing welding speed. The hardness profiles of the base metal were distributed about 80HV. The HAZ is a slightly softened region of about 60~75 HV relative to the base metal. The hardness profiles of the SZ were higher than that of base metal. The tensile strength was increased with increasing welding speed. In case increasing rotation speed, tensile strength was decreased. The maximum tensile strength was about 220:MPa which was 110% of joint efficience of that of base metal at 41mm/min of welding speed, 1250rpm of rotation speed.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2014

FCAW(Flux Cored Arc Welding), SAW(Submerged Arc Welding), EGW(Electro Gas Welding), and three-pole SAW are applicable in manufacturing the offshore wind tower. In this paper, mechanical properties of these welded-joints for TMCP steels were evaluated in all above welding processes. The tensile strength of welded-joints for all the welding methods satisfied the standard guideline (KS D 3515). No cracking on weldment was found after the bending test. Changes of weldedments hardness with welding processes were observed. In a weld HAZ (heat-affected zone), a softened HAZ-zone was formed with high heat input welding processes (SAW and EGW). However, the welded-joint fractures were found in the base metal for all cases and small decrease in welded-joint strength was caused by a softened zone. The multi-pole SAW welds exhibited similar mechanical properties comparing to the one with one-pole SAW process.