Effect of post-weld heat treatment on microstructure and mechanical properties of welded joints of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy

6061 aluminum alloy T-joints were welded by double-pulsed MIG welding process. Then, the post-weld heat treatment was performed on the welded T-joints. The weld microstructure under different aging temperature and time was investigated by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The mechanical properties were examined by hardness test and tensile test. The results showed that the micro-hardness was sensitive to heat treatment temperature and time. Increasing temperature was beneficial to the shortening of peak aging time. There were a large number of dislocations and few precipitates in the welded joints. With the increase of post-weld heat treatment temperature and time, the density of dislocation decreased. Meanwhile, the strengthening phase precipitated and grew up gradually. When the post-weld heat treatment temperature increased up to 200℃, large Q' phases were observed. And they were responsible for the peak value of the micro-hardness in the welded joints.

Effect of post-weld heat treatment on microstructure and properties of Ti-23Al-17Nb alloy laser beam welding joints

The mechanical properties of Ti-23Al-17Nb (mole fraction,%) laser beam welding alloy joint at room temperature are comparable to that of the base materials.However,the strength and ductility of the as-welded joint deteriorate seriously after high temperature circulation.The effect of post-welded heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the joint was investigated.The heat treatment was taken at 980 ℃ for 1.5 h,then furnace cooling and air cooling were performed separately.The results indicate that proper post-welded heat treatment improves the ductility of the joint at high temperature.

Effect of post-weld heat treatment on joint properties of dissimilar friction stir welded 2024-T4 and 7075-T6 aluminum alloys

The effect of post-weld heat treatment on dissimilar friction stir welded AA7075 and AA2024 joints was studied. After welding in constant parameters, solution heat treatment and various aging treatments were given to the welded joints. Microstructural and phase characterizations were done using optical microscope, SEM, FE-SEM, XRD and EDS techniques. Finally, mechanical properties of post-weld heat treated joints were evaluated and compared with as-welded joints. Results show that both 2024-T6 and 7075-T6 post-weld heat treatment procedures considerably improve the mechanical strength of the welded joint, with higher strength obtained for the 7075-T6 procedure, in comparison with the as-welded joint. This is explained by the formation of fine precipitates during the aging process, despite the abnormal grain growth. Fracture occurs at the interface between thermo-mechanical affected zone（TMAZ） and heat affected zone（HAZ） on the retreating side（AA7075） of as-welded joint, while by applying post-weld heat treatment fracture location shifts towards the stir zone（SZ） of the welded joint. Also, for post-weld heat treated samples, fracture surface is predominantly inter-granular, while in as-weld joint, fracture surface is mostly trans-granular. This is explained by dissolution and coarsening of precipitates within grains in post-weld heat treated joints.

Effect of Post-weld Heat Treatment on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Friction Stir Welded SSM7075 Aluminium Alloy

7XXX series aluminium alloys generally present low weldability by fusion welding methods because of the sensitivity to weld solidification cracking, vaporization of strengthening alloys and other defects in the fusion zone. Friction stir welding（FSW） can be deployed successfully with aluminium alloys. We presented the effect of post-weld heat treatment（PWHT） on the microstructure and mechanical properties of SSM7075 joints. Semi solid plates were butt-welded by FSW at a rotation speed of 1110 r/min, welding speeds of 70 and 110 mm/min. Solution treatment, artificial aging, and T6（solution treatment and artificial aging combined） were applied to the welded joints, each with three samples. It was found that the T6 joints at the speed of 70 mm/min yielded the highest tensile strength of 459.23 MPa. This condition best enhanced the mechanical properties of FSW SSM7075 aluminium alloy joints.

Microstructure characterization of electron beam welded joints of Ti_3Al after post-weld heat treatment

The effect of post-weld heat treatment on the microstructure characterization of electron beam welded(EBW) joints of Ti3Al-Nb was investigated.The results show that the microstructure of the weld is predominantly metastable,the columnar crystal metastructure of B2 phase.The microstructure morphology of the weld is significantly influenced by the method of the heat treatment.The microstructure of the weld is laminar structure(Widmanstaten structure) consisted of interphase α2 and B2 after post-weld heat treatment of 1000 ℃/2 h.The mechanism of the post-weld heat treatment makes the hardness distribution of joints homogeneous,but makes the whole joint somehow softened.

Effect of Post-weld Heat Treatment on Microstructure and Fracture Toughness of 30CrMnSiNi2A Steel Welded Joints

The electron beam local post-weld heat treatment (EBLPWHT) is a rather new method that provides the advantages of high precision, flexibility and efficiency, energy saving and higher productivity. This paper studies the effect of two post-weld heat treatment processes on the microstructure, mechanical properties and fracture toughness of an electron beam welded joints in 30CrMnSiNi2A steel. EBLPWHT, in a vacuum chamber, immediately after welding and a traditional furnace whole post-weld heat treatment (FWPWHT) were compared. The experimental results show that, after EBLPWHT treatment, the main microstructure of weld was changed from coarse acicular martensite into lath martensite, HAZ was changed from lath martensite, bainite into lower bainite, and base metal was changed from ferrite and pearlite into upper bainite and residual austenite. The microstructures of different zones of joints in FWPWHT condition were tempered sorbite. The properties of welded joints can be improved by the EBLPWHT in some extent, and especially largely for the fracture toughness of welded joints. However the value of fracture toughness of base metal is comparatively low, so appropriate heat treatment parameters should be explored in the future.

Influence of post-weld heat treatment on microstructure and properties in heat-affected zone of KMN steel joint

The influence of temperature during post-weld heat treatment on the microstructure and properties of KMN steel joints was investigated. The results reveal that after heat treatment, the martensite transformed to tempered sorbite, causing the softening of the resultant joints. XRD test shows that the residual austenite content decreased obviously when the joint was heattreated at 550 ℃ and 580 ℃, which degraded the impact toughness of heat-affected zone （ HAZ）. When the heat treatment temperature increased further, the dispersion strengthening from the precipitation of alloying elements improved the impact toughness of HAZ. The aggregation and coarsening of carbide also contributed to the improvement of impact toughness of HAZ.

NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF RESIDUAL STRESSES IN TITANIUM ALLOY DURING ELECTRON BEAM LOCAL POST-WELD HEAT TREATMENT

The distributions of temperature and residual stresses in thin plates of BT20titanium alloy are numerically analyzed by three-dimensional finite element software duringelectron beam welding and electron beam local post-weld heat treatment (EBLPWHT). Combined withnumerical calculating results, the effects of different EBLPWHT mode and parameters, including heattreating position, heating width and heating time, on the distribution of welding residual stressesare analyzed. The results show that, the residual tensile stresses in weld center can be largelydecreased when the weld is heat treated at back preface of the plate. The numerical results alsoindicated that the magnitude of the residual longitudinal stresses of the weld and the zone vicinityof the weld is decreased, and the range of the residual longitudinal stresses is increased alongwith the increase of heating width and heating time.

A new post-weld heat treatment to improve toughness of 9Cr-1Mo steel weld metals

9Cr-1Mo ferritic steels have been used in the conventional power generation plants due to their excellent creep resistance. However, one of the main obstacles in welding 9Cr-1Mo steels is the formation of undesirable coarse columnar grains in weld metal whieh ean severely compromise the toughness. A new post-weld heat treatment （PWHT） is developed in the present work. Unlike the conventional processes in which the post-weld heat treatment is carried out below Ac1 , the use of temperatures above the Ac1 of 9Cr-1Mo alloy is considered. The new PWHT at a temperature above Ac1 improves the toughness of 9Cr-1Mo weld metals effectively. The improvement in toughness is mainly due to refinement and homogenization of mierostruetures. Key words

Analysis on mechanical properties of nickel-iron steel after post-weld heat treatment

X-ray diffraction was utilized to measure the residual stress of 45 mm UNS N08810 plates after post-weld heat treatment at temperatures of 680℃ and 900℃, which showed reductions of 86.9% and 71.6% in the residual stress, respectively. This indicates that post-weld heat treatment can play a significant role in reducing residual stress, while no significant effects on tensile stress and micro-hardness of the welding joint were observed after treatment.

Influence of post-weld heat treatment on the microstructure and hardness of laser weld seams on hot-rolled TRIP 800 steel

The transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) steels effect occurs because of the martensitic transformation of retained austenite during plastic deformation,and it provides the steel with excellent strength and ductility.While welding remains a vital part of auto body manufacturing,the weldability of TRIP steels is problematic,and this prevents its adoption for many applications in the automotive industry.This present work studies the effects of welding and post-weld heat treatment on the microstructure of TRIP steels.It is found that the microstructures of the fusion zone and the heat affected zone (HAZ) are changed after high-temperature heat treatment.Hardness tests revealed that fusion zone hardness decreased with increasing of temperatures in the post-weld heat treatment on the laser weld seam.The rolling performance of the welding seam and the seam of post-weld heat treatment were also studied.

Effect of Post-weld Heat Treatment on Mechanical Characteristics of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy Welded Joints

Tungsten inert gas（TIG） welding was performed on 2.7 mm thick commercial extruded AZ31 B magnesium alloy plates. We investigated the effect of post-weld heat treatment（PWHT） on the microstructure, mechanical properties and precipitated phase of the weld joints. The results showed that during the annealing treatment（200 ℃-1 h, 250 ℃-1 h, 300 ℃-1 h, 350 ℃-1 h, 400 ℃-1 h, and 450 ℃-1 h）, the average grain size in the weld seam was the minimum after annealing at 400 ℃ for 1 hour, and then abnormally grew up after annealing at 450 ℃ for 1 hour. The mechanical properties enhanced when the joints were processed from 200 ℃-1 h to 400 ℃-1 h but sharply decreased with increasing annealing temperature. In contrast to the annealing treatment, solution treatment（250 ℃-10 h, 300 ℃-10 h, 350 ℃-10 h, 400 ℃-10 h, and 450 ℃-10 h） exhibited a better ductility but a slight deterioration in tensile strength. Especially speaking, no eutectic compounds（such as Mg17 Al12） were observed in the weld seam. The supersaturated Al atoms were precipitated in a coarse spherical shape dispersed in the weld seam. The precipitated Al atoms dissolved in the matrix substances at the condition（400 ℃-1 h） or（250 ℃-10 h）. The solution treatment caused grain coarsening and precipitated Al atoms dissolved in the weld seam substantially, which resulted in a drop in micro-hardness at the weld seam compared to the area of the annealed joints.

Enhancement of mechanical properties of GTAW joints for ZC63 magnesium alloy by post-weld heat treatment

To further improve the microstructure and mechanical properties of gas tungsten arc welded(GTAW)welded joints for ZC63 magnesium alloy,post-weld heat treatment is carried out.It is found that the majority of the MgZnCu phase in the fusion zone(FZ)is dissolved in theα-Mg matrix under suitable heat treatment conditions.The remainder is diffusely distributed as rods or granules at the grain bound-aries.The excessive heat treatment temperature(460℃)leads to abnormal grain growth(AGG)in the FZ.The substructure gradient between the abnormally grown grains and the surrounding small grains pro-vides the driving force for AGG.Meanwhile,the dissolution of the MgZnCu phase weakens the hindering effect of the second phase on grain boundary migration,setting the stage for AGG.In addition,the detri-mental impact of the continuous MgZnCu phase on the mechanical properties of the welded joint is also lessened by its dissolution.The ultimate tensile strength(UTS),yield strength(YS)and elongation(EL)of the welded joints are 255 MPa,119 MPa and 27.0%,respectively,under the post-weld heat treatment process of 440℃×12 h.The welding coefficient of the welded joint reaches 97.0%,satisfying the service criteria set forth by the mechanical properties of the welded joints.

Microstructure,mechanical properties and post-weld heat treatments of dissimilar laser-welded Ti_(2)AlNb/Ti60 sheet

Dissimilar joining of Ti_(2)AlNb and Ti60 rolled sheet was performed by laser beam welding.The microstructures and mechanical properties of as-welded and post-weld heat-treated Ti_(2)AlNb/Ti60 joints were investigated by microstructure observation and mechanical properties testing.The fusion zone(FZ)of the as-welded joint consisted of B_(2)/βmatrix and small S2 balls.The heataffected zones HAZ-Ti_(2)AINb and HAZ-Ti60 for the aswelded joint were characterized asα_(2)+B_(2)/β+O andα'+α+β+S_(2),respectively.The tensile strength and elongation of as-welded sheet were 597.5 MPa and 6.2%at650℃,respectively.Most of the plastic deformation was taken place at the side of Ti60 alloy.With the increase in the heat treatment temperature,the anchoring strength between each other of B_(2)/βgrains was enhanced by the precipitated lamellarα'and O grains at the FZ.The depth of the fracture dimples increased with the heat treat temperature increasing.The heat-treated welding joint at970℃presented a good balance of the tensile strength and plasticity,where the tensile strength and the elongation were enhanced to 669.7 MPa and 7.1%at 650℃,respectively.

Influence of heat treatment on microstructure,mechanical and corrosion behavior of WE43 alloy fabricated by laser-beam powder bed fusion

Magnesium(Mg)alloys are considered to be a new generation of revolutionary medical metals.Laser-beam powder bed fusion(PBF-LB)is suitable for fabricating metal implants withpersonalized and complicated structures.However,the as-built part usually exhibits undesirable microstructure and unsatisfactory performance.In this work,WE43 parts were firstly fabricated by PBF-LB and then subjected to heat treatment.Although a high densification rate of 99.91%was achieved using suitable processes,the as-built parts exhibited anisotropic and layeredmicrostructure with heterogeneously precipitated Nd-rich intermetallic.After heat treatment,fine and nano-scaled Mg24Y5particles were precipitated.Meanwhile,theα-Mg grainsunderwent recrystallization and turned coarsened slightly,which effectively weakened thetexture intensity and reduced the anisotropy.As a consequence,the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength were significantly improved to(250.2±3.5)MPa and(312±3.7)MPa,respectively,while the elongation was still maintained at a high level of 15.2%.Furthermore,the homogenized microstructure reduced the tendency of localized corrosion and favoredthe development of uniform passivation film.Thus,the degradation rate of WE43 parts was decreased by an order of magnitude.Besides,in-vitro cell experiments proved their favorable biocompatibility.

Interface property of dissimilar Ti-6Al-4V/AA1050 composite laminate made by non-equal channel lateral co-extrusion and heat treatment

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of processing parameters and subsequent heat treatments on the microstructures and bonding strengths of Ti-6Al-4V/AA1050 laminations formed via a non-equal channel lateral co-extrusion process.The microstructural evolution and growth mechanism in the diffusion layer were discussed further to optimize the bonding quality by appropriately adjusting process parameters.Scanning electron microscopes(SEM),energy dispersive spectrometer(EDS),and X-ray diffraction(XRD)were used to characterize interfacial diffusion layers.The shear test was used to determine the mechanical properties of the interfacial diffusion layer.The experimental results indicate that it is possible to co-extrusion Ti-6Al-4V/AA1050 compound profiles using non-equal channel lateral co-extrusion.Different heat treatment processes affect the thickness of the diffusion layer.When the temperature and time of heat treatment increase,the thickness of the reaction layers increases dramatically.Additionally,the shear strength of the Ti-6Al-4V/AA1050 composite interface is proportional to the diffusion layer thickness.It is observed that a medium interface thickness results in superior mechanical performance when compared to neither a greater nor a lesser interface thickness.Microstructural characterization of all heat treatments reveals that the only intermetallic compound observed in the diffusion layers is TiAl_(3).Due to the inter-diffusion of Ti and Al atoms,the TiAl_(3) layer grows primarily at AA1050/TiAl_(3) interfaces.

Role of alloying and heat treatment on microstructure and mechanical properties of cast Al-Li alloys:A review

Due to the prominent advantages of low density,high elastic modulus,high specific strength and specific stiffness,cast Al-Li alloys are suitable metallic materials for manufacturing complex large-sized components and are ideal structural materials for aerospace,defense and military industries.On the basis of the microstructural characteristics of cast Al-Li alloys,exploring the role of alloying and micro-alloying can stabilize their dominant position and further expand their application scope.In this review,the development progress of cast Al-Li alloys was summarized comprehensively.According to the latest research highlights,the influence of alloying and heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties was systematically analyzed.The potential methods to improve the alloy performance were concluded.In response to the practical engineering requirements of cast Al-Li alloys,the scientific challenges and future research directions were discussed and prospected.

Effect of heat treatment on the microstructure,mechanical properties and fracture behaviors of ultra-high-strength SiC/Al-Zn-Mg-Cu composites

A high-zinc composite,12vol%SiC/Al-13.3 Zn-3.27 Mg-1.07Cu(wt%),with an ultra-high-strength of 781 MPa was success-fully fabricated through a powder metallurgy method,followed by an extrusion process.The effects of solid-solution and aging heat treat-ments on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the composite were extensively investigated.Compared with a single-stage sol-id-solution treatment,a two-stage solid-solution treatment(470℃/1 h+480℃/1 h)exhibited a more effective solid-solution strengthen-ing owing to the higher degree of solid-solution and a more uniform microstructure.According to the aging hardness curves of the com-posite,the optimized aging parameter(100℃/22 h)was determined.Reducing the aging temperature and time resulted in finer and more uniform nanoscale precipitates but only yielded a marginal increase in tensile strength.The fractography analysis revealed that intergranu-lar cracking and interface debonding were the main fracture mechanisms in the ultra-high-strength SiC/Al-Zn-Mg-Cu composites.Weak regions,such as the SiC/Al interface containing numerous compounds and the precipitate-free zones at the high-angle grain boundaries,were identified as significant factors limiting the strength enhancement of the composite.Interfacial compounds,including MgO,MgZn2,and Cu5Zn8,reduced the interfacial bonding strength,leading to interfacial debonding.

Numerical simulation on directional solidification and heat treatment processes of turbine blades

Study on turbine blades is crucial due to their critical role in ensuring the efficient and reliable operation of aircraft engines.Nickel-based single crystal superalloys are extensively used in the hot manufacturing of turbine blades due to their exceptional high-temperature mechanical properties.The hot manufacturing of single crystal blades involves directional solidification and heat treatment.Experimental manufacturing of these blades is time-consuming,capital-intensive,and often insufficient to meet industrial demands.Numerical simulation techniques have gained widespread acceptance in blade manufacturing research due to their low energy consumption,high efficiency,and rapid turnaround time.This article introduces the modeling and simulation of hot manufacturing in single crystal blades.The discussion outlines the prevalent mathematical models employed in numerical simulations related to blade hot manufacturing.It encapsulates the advancements in research concerning macro to micro-level numerical simulation techniques for directional solidification and heat treatment processes.Furthermore,potential future trajectories for the numerical simulation of single crystal blade hot manufacturing are also discussed.

Customized heat treatment process enabled excellent mechanical properties in wire arc additively manufactured Mg-RE-Zn-Zr alloys

Customized heat treatment is essential for enhancing the mechanical properties of additively manufactured metallic materials,especially for alloys with complex phase constituents and heterogenous microstructure.However,the interrelated evolutions of different microstructure features make it difficult to establish optimal heat treatment processes.Herein,we proposed a method for customized heat treatment process exploration and establishment to overcome this challenge for such kind of alloys,and a wire arc additively manufactured(WAAM)Mg-Gd-Y-Zn-Zr alloy with layered heterostructure was used for feasibility verification.Through this method,the optimal microstructures(fine grain,controllable amount of long period stacking ordered(LPSO)structure and nano-scaleβ'precipitates)and the corresponding customized heat treatment processes(520°C/30 min+200°C/48 h)were obtained to achieve a good combination of a high strength of 364 MPa and a considerable elongation of 6.2%,which surpassed those of other state-of-the-art WAAM-processed Mg alloys.Furthermore,we evidenced that the favorable effect of the undeformed LPSO structures on the mechanical properties was emphasized only when the nano-scaleβ'precipitates were present.It is believed that the findings promote the application of magnesium alloy workpieces and help to establish customized heat treatment processes for additively manufactured materials.