• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.65-73
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• 2011

Microstructural characteristics of two high strength (600 MPa & 800 MPa) weld metals produced by flux-cored arc welding process (FCAW) were evaluated. The 600 MPa grade weld metal was consisted of 75% acicular ferrite and 25% ferrite which was formed at relatively high temperature (grain boundary ferrite, widmanstatten ferrite, polygonal ferrite). However, the 800 MPa grade weld metal was composed of about 85% acicular ferrite and 15% low temperature forming phases (bainite, martensite). The prior austenite grain size of 800 MPa grade weld metal was decreased by solute drag force. The compositions and sizes of inclusions which are the dominant factors for the formation of acicular ferrite were analyzed by a transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In both 600 MPa and 800MPa grade weld metals, the inclusions were mainly consisted of Ti-oxide and Mn-oxide, and the average size of inclusions was $0.7{\mu}m$. The 800 MPa grade weld metal exhibited higher tensile strength and similar toughness compared with the 600 MPa grade weld metal. This result is mainly due to a higher fraction of low temperature products and a lower fraction of grain boundary ferrite in the 800 MPa grade weld metal.

• International Journal of Korean Welding Society
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.40-45
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• 2003

A series of experiments has been carried out to investigate the effect of titanium, boron and nitrogen on the microstructure and toughness of simulated heat affected zone (HAZ) in quenched and tempered (QT) type 490MPa yield strength steels. For acquiring the same strength level, the carbon content and carbon equivalent could be lowered remarkably with a small titanium and boron addition due to the hardenability effect of boron during quenching process. Following the thermal cycle of large heat input, the coarsened grain HAZ (CGHAZ) of conventional quenched and tempered (QT) type 490MPa yield strength steels exhibited a coarse bainitic or ferrite side plate structure with large prior austenite grains. While, titanium and boron bearing QT type 490MPa yield strength steels were characterized by the microstructure in the CGHAZ, consisting mainly of the fine intragranular ferrite microstructure. Toughness of the simulated HAZ was mainly controlled by the proper Ceq level, and the ratio of Ti/N rather than titanium and nitrogen contents themselves. In the titanium­boron added QT steels, the optimum Ti/N ratio for excellent HAZ toughness was around 2.0, which was much lower than the known Ti/N stoichiometric ratio, 3.4. With reducing Ti/N ratio from the stoichiometric ratio, austenite grain size in the coarse grained HAZ became finer, indicating that the effective fine precipitates could be sufficiently obtained even with lower Ti/N level by adding boron simultaneously. Along with typical titanium carbo­nitrides, various forms of complex titanium­ and boron­based precipitates, like TiN­MnS­BN, were often observed in the simulated CGHAZ, which may act as stable nuclei for ferrite during cooling of weld thermal cycles

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.408-411
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• 2002

Effect of in-situ vibration on the properties of A-grade steel SMA weldment has been investigated. Welding was performed on the steel fixed at the experimental jig under the mechanical vibration of a given frequency. The applied frequency varied from 39 to 43.5 Hz (harmonic frequency). For weldments formed under the vibration with a sub-harmonic frequency, both the columnar width of the weld metal and the prior austenite grain size of the HAZ near the fusion line clearly decreased. This indicates that the vibration increase the cooling rate after welding. Vibration effect was also found at the weld metal formed at the center region of the weldment. The weld metal showed liner microstructure both in columnar zone and in equiaxed zone with thinner grain boundary ferrite. However mechanical properties of the weld metal did not exactly follow the microstructural changes developed under the vibration. The weld metal formed under the vibration revealed higher yield and tensile strength but lower ductility and impact toughness, compared with the conventional weld metal.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.811-818
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• 2020

Y-containing CLAM steels were melted via vacuum induction melting and electroslag remelting. In this study, the evolution, microstructure, and mechanical properties of the alloy inclusions (ESR-1 (0 wt.% Y), ESR-2 (0.016 wt.% Y) and ESR-3 (0.042 wt.% Y)) were investigated. Further, the number of inclusions in ESRed steel was observed to obviously decrease, and the distributions were more uniform. The fine Y-Al-O inclusions (1-2 ㎛) were the main inclusions in ESR-2. The addition of Y affected the prior austenite grain size (PAGZ), increasing the tensile strength at test temperature. Low ductile-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) was obtained because of the fine PAGZ and dispersive inclusions. For the ESRed CLAM steel with 0.016 wt.% Y, the yield strengths were 621 MPa at 20 ℃ and 354 MPa at 600 ℃ in air. Further, the uniform elongation and elongation of the ESR-2 alloy were 5.5% and 20.1% at 20 ℃, respectively. Meanwhile, the DBTT tested using full-size Charpy impact specimen (55 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm) was reduced to -83 ℃.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.76-80
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• 2012

In this study, the effect of the welding current on the hardness characteristics and microstructure in the resistance spot welding of 1GPa grade cold-rolled DP steel was investigated, Also, correlation between the hardness and microstructure was discussed. In spite of the change in the welding current, the hardness distributions near weld was similar. the hardness in the HAZ and the fusion zone was higher than that of the base metal and the hardness in the fusion zone was variated with the location. Especially, the hardness of HAZ adjacent to the base metal showed maximum value, and softening zone in the base metal adjacent to HAZ was found. With the increasing of welding current, there were no difference in maximum hardness and average hardness in the fusion zone were, but the hardness of the softening zone reduced. The difference in the hardness in each location of weld due to grain size of prior austenite. The softening of the base metal occurred by tempering of the martensite.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.28-35
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• 1989

It was reported that the toughness for welded region was influenced by various factors such as the gradient for prior austenite grain size, the variation of microhardness and the characteristic microstructure depending on distance from the fusion boundary. Therefore, in order to evaluate the fracture strength of the weldment in which the microstructures change continuously, it is important to assess the peculiar strength of each microstructure in welded region. It was known that the small punch(SP) test technique which was originally developed to study the irradiation damage effect for the structures of nuclear power plant was also useful to investigate the strength evaluating of nonhomogeneous materials. In this paper, by means of a small punch test technique the possibility of evaluating strength of parent and welded region in SS41 and SM53B steels was investigated. The obtained results are summerized as follows: 1) The small punch test which showed markedly the ductile-brittle transition behavior in this experiment may be applied to evaluation for the fracture strength of welded region. 2) It was shown that the ductile-brittle regime lied in Region III(plastic membrane stretching region) of the flow characteristics observed in SP test. 3) The SP test technique which shows a more precipitous energy change transition behavior than the other test technique is able to estimate the more precise transition temperature. 4) It could be seen that in comparision with the structure of parent the structure of weld HAZ in SS41 steel was improved while it in SM53B steel was deteriorated.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.139-145
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• 2022

Reheat treatment process of mold is necessary when partial machining of the mold is required, such as shape correction for an existing mold. If defects such as cracks or significant deterioration of mechanical properties of the mold occur during reheat treatment, it is impossible to reuse the mold. In this study, reheat treatment was performed up to two times for STD11 tool steel, and microstructure and mechanical properties according to the reheat treatment were evaluated. Carbide fraction and grain size of prior austenite were almost unchanged after the reheat treatment. Hardness and impact toughness increased significantly after QT treatment, and these properties were maintained without significant change even after the reheat treatment. It is concluded that up to two iterations of reheat treatment does not cause deterioration of properties of STD11 tool steel. Based on these results, a mold for a face-lifted front bumper was manufactured through machining and reheat-treating of an existing mold.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.207-213
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• 2022

In this study, variations in the microstructure and hardness of a low-carbon SCM415 steel with austenitizing temperature and cooling rate are investigated. When the austenitizing temperature is lower than the A₁ temperature (738.8 ℃) of the SCM415 steel, the microstructures of both the air-cooled and water-cooled specimens consist of ferrite and pearlite, which are similar to the microstructure of the initial specimen. When heat treatment is conducted at temperatures ranging from the A₁ temperature to the A₃ temperature (822.4 ℃), the microstructure of the specimen changes depending on the temperature and cooling rate. The specimens air- and water-cooled from 750 ℃ consist of ferrite and pearlite, whereas the specimen water-cooled from 800 ℃ consists of ferrite and martensite. At a temperature higher than the A₃ temperature, the air-cooled specimens consist of ferrite and pearlite, whereas the water-cooled specimens consist of martensite. At 650 ℃ and 700 ℃, which are lower than the A₁ temperature, the hardness decreases irrespective of the cooling rate due to the ferrite coarsening and pearlite spheroidization. At 750 ℃ or higher, the air-cooled specimens have smaller grain sizes than the initial specimen, but they have lower hardness than the initial specimen owing to the increased interlamellar spacing of pearlite. At 800 ℃ or higher, martensitic transformation occurs during water cooling, which results in a significant increase in hardness. The specimens water-cooled from 850 ℃ and 950 ℃ have a complete martensite structure, and the specimen water-cooled from 850 ℃ has a higher hardness than that water-cooled from 950 ℃ because of the smaller size of prior austenite grains.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.7
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• pp.2376-2385
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• 2022

Two groups of oxide dispersion-strengthened reduced-activation ferritic/martensitic steels (A and B) were prepared by adding Y, Ti, and Zr into steels through vacuum induction melting to investigate the inclusions, microstructures, mechanical properties of the alloys. Results showed that particles with Y, Ti, and Zr easily formed. Massive, Zr-rich inclusions were found in B steel. Density of micron inclusions in A steel was 1.42 × 10¹⁴ m^-3, and density of nanoparticles was 3.61 × 10¹⁶ m^-3. More and finer MX carbides were found in steel tempered at 650 ℃, and yield strengths (YS) of A and B steel were 714±2 and 664±3.5 MPa. Thermomechanical processing (TMP) retained many dislocations, which improved the mechanical properties. YSs of A and B treated by TMP were 725±3 and 683±4 MPa. The existence of massive Zr-rich inclusions in B steels interrupted the continuity of the matrix and produced microcracks (fracture), which caused a reduction in mechanical properties. The presence of fine prior austenite grain size and inclusions was attributed to the low DBTTs of the A steels; DBTTs of A650 and A700 alloy were -79 and -65 ℃. Tempering temperature reduction and TMP are simple, readily useable methods that can lead to a superior balance of strength and impact toughness in industry applications.