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.

Effect of welding heat input and post-welded heat treatment on hardness of stir zone for friction stir-welded 2024-T3 aluminum alloy

The microstructure and hardness of the stir zone （SZ） with different welding heat inputs were investigated for friction stir-welded 2024-T3 aluminum by transmission electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimeter and Vickers micro-hardness test. The results show that welding heat input has a significant effect on the hardness of the SZ. Under high welding heat input condition, a higher welding speed is beneficial for improving the hardness of the SZ. However, when the welding heat input is low, the hardness of the SZ elevates with increasing the rotation speed. The hardness of the SZ decreases after post-welded heat treatment due to overaging. The joints welded at 500 r/min and 100 mm/min show a high resistance to overaging. The reduction of hardness in the SZ is only 3.8%, while in other joints, the reduction is more than 10%. The morphology of strengthening precipitates plays important roles for the improvement of hardness.

Effect of Post-weld Heat Treatment on the Microstructure and Corrosion Resistance of Deposited Metal of a High- Chromium Nickel-Based Alloy

The evolution of Cr23C6 carbides in the deposited metal （DM） of a high-chromium nickel-based alloy was investigated after the post-weld heat treatment （PWHT） at 650, 750, 850, and 950 ℃, respectively. With the increase in temperature, the morphology of the Cr23C6 carbides at the grain boundaries was transformed from the continuous lamellar- like to the semi-continuous rod-like and then to the discontinuous granular. Besides, the needle-like Cr23C6 carbides precipitated from 7 matrix after PWHT at 850 ℃. The coarsening kinetics of the needle-like Cr23C6 carbides obeyed the Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner law with the growth speed of 4.93 μm3/h in length and 5.56 ×10^-3 μm3/h in width. Moreover, the ratio of the carbide length to width increased rapidly at first and then flattened as the holding time increased to 850 ℃. The results of electrochemical corrosion experiment indicated that the needled-like Cr23C6 carbides impaired the corrosion resistance of DM due to the formation of chromium depletion around the carbides.

Effects of Post-Weld Heat Treatment on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Al-12.7Si-0.7Mg Alloy Welded Joints by GMAW

In this study, 3-mm-thick hot-extruded plates of A1-12.7Si-0.7Mg alloy were used to fabricate the joints welded by gas metal arc welding. Effects of the post-weld heat treatment include solid solution treatment, water quenching, and artificial aging treatment on the microstructure, and mechanical properties of the weld joints have been investigated. Results showed that the welded joints after solid solution and artificial aging exhibited the increases in yield strength of 166 MPa and ultimate tensile strength of 148 MPa, respectively. Based on the microstructural observations, the associated mechanisms were discussed.

Precipitation Behavior and Mechanical Properties of a 16Cr-25Ni Superaustenitic Stainless Steel Weld Metal During Post-weld Heat Treatment

A 16Cr-25Ni superaustenitic stainless steel weld metal for austenitic stainless steel/ferrite heat-resistance steel dissimilar metal weld was designed and prepared through tungsten inert-gas welding.The precipitate evolution and its correlation with mechanical properties were investigated during post-weld heat treatment(PWHT)at 690℃ for up to 12 h.The primary precipitates in the as-welded weld metal were identified as Mo-rich M6C carbides in the interdendritic region and semicontinuous fine-sized M23C6 carbides along grain boundary.After PWHT,three types of precipitates coexisted in the interdendritic region:primary M6C carbides,newly precipitated Mo-rich M2X carbonitrides and some of the secondary M23C6 carbides.Additionally,mass secondary M23C6 carbides formed and coarsened along grain boundary.No undesirable intermetallic phases formed during the whole period.The M2X and interdendritic M23C6 improved the strength of the weld metal after PWHT,but the elongation and impact toughness degraded,which were mainly owing to the intergranular M23C6 carbides that changed the fracture mode from ductile transgranular mode to mixed mode of transgranular and intergranular fracture.Meanwhile,the coarsening of M2X carbonitrides may lead to the elongation loss during 8 h to 12 h.Evolution of impact toughness was also related to the M2X carbonitrides,which made the crack easier to propagate compared with austenitic matrix and contributed to the decline of impact toughness.However,due to the sluggish precipitation of M2X carbonitrides with longer holding time,the decreasing trend became slow from 4 to 12 h.The results showed that PWHT should be controlled within 8 h to obtain better combination of strength and ductility.

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.

Effects of Post-weld Heat Treatment on Microstructure, Mechanical Properties and the Role of Weld Reinforcement in 2219 Aluminum Alloy TIG-Welded Joints

In as-welded state,each region of 2219 aluminum alloy TIG-welded joint shows diff erent microstructure and microhardness due to the diff erent welding heat cycles and the resulting evolution of second phases.After the post-weld heat treatment,both the amount and the size of the eutectic structure orθphases decreased.Correspondingly,both the Cu content inα-Al matrix and the microhardness increased to a similar level in each region of the joint,and the tensile strength of the entire joint was greatly improved.Post-weld heat treatment played the role of solid solution strengthening and aging strengthening.After the post-weld heat treatment,the weld performance became similar to other regions,but weld reinforcements lost their reinforcing eff ect on the weld and their existence was more of an adverse eff ect.The joint without weld reinforcements after the post-weld heat treatment had the optimal tensile properties,and the specimens randomly crack in the weld zone.