Development in oxide metallurgy for improving the weldability of high -strength low-alloy steel-Combined deoxidizers and microalloying elements

The mechanisms of oxide metallurgy include inducing the formation of intragranular acicular ferrite(IAF)using micron-sized inclusions and restricting the growth of prior austenite grains(PAGs)by nanosized particles during welding.The chaotically oriented IAF and refined PAGs inhibit crack initiation and propagation in the steel,resulting in high impact toughness.This work summarizes the com-bined effect of deoxidizers and alloying elements,with the aim to provide a new perspective for the research and practice related to im-proving the impact toughness of the heat affected zone(HAZ)during the high heat input welding.Ti complex deoxidation with other strong deoxidants,such as Mg,Ca,Zr,and rare earth metals(REMs),can improve the toughness of the heat-affected zone(HAZ)by re-fining PAGs or increasing IAF contents.However,it is difficult to identify the specific phase responsible for IAF nucleation because ef-fective inclusions formed by complex deoxidation are usually multiphase.Increasing alloying elements,such as C,Si,Al,Nb,or Cr,con-tents can impair HAZ toughness.A high C content typically increases the number of coarse carbides and decreases the potency of IAF formation.Si,Cr,or Al addition leads to the formation of undesirable microstructures.Nb reduces the high-temperature stability of the precipitates.Mo,V,and B can enhance HAZ toughness.Mo-containing precipitates present good thermal stability.VN or V(C,N)is ef-fective in promoting IAF nucleation due to its good coherent crystallographic relationship with ferrite.The formation of the B-depleted zone around the inclusion promotes IAF formation.The interactions between alloying elements are complex,and the effect of adding dif-ferent alloying elements remains to be evaluated.In the future,the interactions between various alloying elements and their effects on ox-ide metallurgy,as well as the calculation of the nucleation effects of effective inclusions using first principles calculations will become the focus of oxide metallurgy.

Effect of rare earth and alloying elements on the thermal conductivity of austenitic medium manganese steel

The influence of different contents of Cr, Mo, and rare earth element(RE) additives on the thermal conductivity of austenitic medium manganese steel was studied and discussed. The results show that the addition of Cr in medium manganese steel can improved the ordering of C–Mn atomic clusters, so as to improve the steel's thermal conductivity. However, Cr will lead to precipitation of a great deal of carbides in medium manganese steel when its content is greater than 4wt%. These carbides would aggregate around the grain boundary, and as a result, the thermal conductivity is decreased. By the addition of Mo whose content is about 2wt%, spherical carbides will be formed, thus improving the thermal conductivity of the medium manganese steel. The interaction between rare earth elements and alloying elements will raise both the thermal conductivity and the wear-resisting property of medium manganese steel.

Effect of Alloying Elements on Thermal Wear of Cast Hot-Forging Die Steels

The effect of main alloying elements on thermal wear of cast hot-forging die steels was studied. The wear mechanism was discussed. The results show that alloying elements have significant influences on the thermal wear of cast hot-forging die steels. The wear rates decrease with an increase in chromium content from 3% to 4% and molybdenum content from 2% to 3%, respectively. With further increase of chromium and molybdenum contents, chromium slightly reduces the wear resistance and molybdenum severely deteriorates the wear resistance with high wear rate. Lower vanadium/carbon ratio （1.5-2.5） leads to a lower wear resistance with higher wear rate. With an increase in vanadium/carbon ratio, the wear resistance of the cast steel substantially increases. When vanadium/carbon ratio is 3, the wear rate reaches the lowest value. The predominant mechanism of thermal wear of cast hot-forging die steels are oxidation wear and fatigue delamination. The Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 or lumps of brittle wear debris are formed on the wear surface.

Effect of Rare Earth Elements on Austenite Growth Dynamics of Steel 9Cr2Mo

The growth dynamics of austenite grain was investigated in steel 9Cr2 Mo with different rare earth(RE)element addition.The results show that austenite grains of steel 9Cr2 Mo can be refined and their growth can be restrained by adding a certain amount of RE.According to the results,the n and Q were calculated and the mechanism of the refinement of austenite grains was discussed.

Effect of stabilizing elements Nb and Ti on the microstructure and properties of low carbon ferritic stainless steel

The effect of stabilizing elements, such as Nb and Ti, on the microstructure and properties of low carbon ferritic stainless steel （FSS） has been investigated. The results of the Thermo-calc simulation have shown that the interstitial elements, such as C and N, may be completely stabilized by the addition of Nb and Ti. With the increase of Nb and Ti contents ,the α ＋ γ two phases gradually transfer to a single α-phase under a high temperature condition ,and the content of the carbide M23 C6 gradually decreases. The microstructure has indicated that the combined addition of Nb and Ti can promote the recrystallization of the band structure and form more uniform equiaxed grains. Also, with the increase of Nb and Ti contents,the elongation, the r-value and the corrosion resistance of cold-rolled and annealed sheets are improved prominently. In comparison with the effect of Ti ,the addition of Nb is more beneficial to the increase of r-value and the corrosion resistance.

Alloying Elements in High Speed Steels

Effects of alloying elements,Si,Nb,Ti,W,Mo,V,Al and rare earth metals on the microstructure and properties of high speed steels(HSSs) have been reviewed.More attention is paid to effects of Si on the secondary hardening and V on the morphology of eutectic carbides in HSSs.A lot of work has been carried out on the behavior of alloying elements in HSSs in the past decade,and some new types of HSSs containing silicon,aluminum or rare earth metals have been successfully developed in the world.

Constitutive Behavior of the Interface between UHPC and Steel Plate without Shear Connector:From Experimental to Numerical Study

The application of ultra-high performance concrete(UHPC)as a covering layer for steel bridge decks has gained widespread popularity.By employing a connection without a shear connector between the steel plate and UHPC,namely,the sandblasted interface and the epoxy adhesive with sprinkled basalt aggregate interface,the installation cannot only be simplified but also the stress concentration resulting from the welded shear connectors can be eliminated.This study develops constitutive models for these two interfaces without shear connectors,based on the interfacial pull-off and push-out tests.For validation,three-point bending tests on the steel-UHPC composite plates are conducted.The results indicated that the proposed bilinear traction-separation model for the sandblasted interface and the trapezoidal traction-separation model for the epoxy adhesive with sprinkled basalt aggregate interface can generally calibrate the interfacial behavior.However,the utilization of the experimentally determined pure shear strength underestimates the load-carrying capacity of the composite plates in the case of three-point bending tests.By recalling the Mohr-Coulomb criterion,this underestimation is attributed to the enhancement of the interface shear strength by the presence of normal stress.

Improving creep strength of the fine-grained heat-affected zone of novel 9Cr martensitic heat-resistant steel via modified thermo-mechanical treatment

The infamous type Ⅳ failure within the fine-grained heat-affected zone (FGHAZ) in G115 steel weldments seriously threatens the safe operation of ultra-supercritical (USC) power plants.In this work,the traditional thermo-mechanical treatment was modified via the replacement of hot-rolling with cold rolling,i.e.,normalizing,cold rolling,and tempering (NCT),which was developed to improve the creep strength of the FGHAZ in G115 steel weldments.The NCT treatment effectively promoted the dissolution of preformed M_(23)C_(6)particles and relieved the boundary segregation of C and Cr during welding thermal cycling,which accelerated the dispersed reprecipitation of M_(23)C_(6) particles within the fresh reaustenitized grains during post-weld heat treatment.In addition,the precipitation of Cu-rich phases and MX particles was promoted evidently due to the deformation-induced dislocations.As a result,the interacting actions between precipitates,dislocations,and boundaries during creep were reinforced considerably.Following this strategy,the creep rupture life of the FGHAZ in G115 steel weldments can be prolonged by 18.6%,which can further push the application of G115 steel in USC power plants.

Microscopic defects formation and dynamic mechanical response analysis of Q345 steel plate subjected to explosive load

As the basic protective element, steel plate had attracted world-wide attention because of frequent threats of explosive loads. This paper reports the relationships between microscopic defects of Q345 steel plate under the explosive load and its macroscopic dynamics simulation. Firstly, the defect characteristics of the steel plate were investigated by stereoscopic microscope(SM) and scanning electron microscope(SEM). At the macroscopic level, the defect was the formation of cave which was concentrated in the range of 0-3.0 cm from the explosion center, while at the microscopic level, the cavity and void formation were the typical damage characteristics. It also explains that the difference in defect morphology at different positions was the combining results of high temperature and high pressure. Secondly, the variation rules of mechanical properties of steel plate under explosive load were studied. The Arbitrary Lagrange-Euler(ALE) algorithm and multi-material fluid-structure coupling method were used to simulate the explosion process of steel plate. The accuracy of the method was verified by comparing the deformation of the simulation results with the experimental results, the pressure and stress at different positions on the surface of the steel plate were obtained. The simulation results indicated that the critical pressure causing the plate defects may be approximately 2.01 GPa. On this basis, it was found that the variation rules of surface pressure and microscopic defect area of the Q345 steel plate were strikingly similar, and the corresponding mathematical relationship between them was established. Compared with Monomolecular growth fitting models(MGFM) and Logistic fitting models(LFM), the relationship can be better expressed by cubic polynomial fitting model(CPFM). This paper illustrated that the explosive defect characteristics of metal plate at the microscopic level can be explored by analyzing its macroscopic dynamic mechanical response.

Effect of Typical Elements on the Heredity of Hot-rolled and Annealed Texture in Non-oriented Electrical Steel

Macroscopic texture and microscopic orientation in hot-rolled and annealed sheets of nonoriented electrical steel were studied by XRD and EBSD techniques. The microstructure of hot-rolled and annealed samples was studied by OM. Experimental results indicate that a strong heredity is observed in texture evolution between hot-rolled texture and annealed texture. Typical elements have a large effect on the recrystallization microstructure and texture distribution. The texture distribution through thickness is highly affected by recrystallization in hot rolled sheets. The recrystallization is boosted by Si and Al. Goss grains originate from cracked initial 〈100〉 columnar grains. {110}〈112〉, {112}〈111〉 and {111}〈112〉 grains are related to Goss grains. In subsurface lay of hot rolled sheets, Al can strengthen Goss texture and weaken copper-type texture. {112}〈111〉 texture and {110}〈112〉 texture are strengthened by Si. In the central layers, {100}〈001〉 texture and {111}〈121〉 texture are weakened by Al. {100}〈011〉 texture is increased by Al. Si can increase the proportion of γ-fiber texture and decrease that of {100}〈011〉 texture. In annealed texture, {100}〈001〉 texture and Goss texture are decreased by Al and Si. γ-fiber texture is increased by Si and {111}〈121〉 texture is preferentially increased by Al. The recrystallized grain size is increased and iron loss of annealed sheets is reduced by Al and Si, which means that the magnetic properties are optimized by the Al and Si content.

Influence of Trace Alloying Elements on Corrosive Resistance of Cast Stainless Steel

The influences of trace alloying elements niobium, vanadium and zirconium on the corrosive resistance of 18 8 type cast stainless steel have been studied in detail by orthogonal design experiments. The results show that zirconium is mainly in the form of compound inclusions, which is unfavorable to promote the corrosive resistance of the cast stainless steel. It can alleviate the disadvantageous influence of carbon addition on corrosive resistance when some elements such as vanadium and niobium exist in the steel, and niobium has a remarkable influence on the intergranular corrosive resistance but unobvious on the pitting corrosion, and vanadium has a slightly favorable influence on the corrosive resistance of the steel.

EFFECTS OF RARE EARTH ELEMENTS ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF AUTO-TEMPERING AND DECOMPOSITION OF MARTENSITE FOR A LOW CARBON Si-Mn-V STEELS

The effect of rare earth metals(REM)on the characteristics of auto-tempering and decomposition of martensite for low-carbon and low-alloy steels(20SiMn2V and 20SiMn2VRE)was investigated using TEM,dilatometer and microhardness test.Results show that both ε.and θ carbides,during auto-tempering, may precipitate from the low-carbon martensite matrix at the same time in the 20SiMn2V steel,however,the precipitation of the ε-carbides can be inhibited by the REM contained in the 20SiMn2 VRE steel,resulting in change of the type of precipitated carbides and decrease of the extent of auto-tempering.The“in-situ”ob- servations show that the decomposition of martensite is also inhibited by the REM contained in the 20SiMn2 VRE steel during low temperature tempering.

EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH AND NONLINEAR FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS ON NEW TYPE JOINT BETWEEN COLUMN AND STEEL BEAM OF CONCRETE-FILLED RECTANGULAR STEEL TUBULAR

Experimental results of new type joints between the column and the. steel beam of concrete-filled rectangular steel tubular （CFRT） under reversed cyclic loads are presented. The earthquake resistant capacity of the joint is influenced by infilled concrete, stiffener length and relative dimensions of column and beam. It is found that the hysteresis curves obtained in the experiment are full and the joints have a good energy dissipation capacity. The nonlinear finite element models are also used to analyze the hysteresis behavior of the joints under reversed cyclic loads using ANSYS 8.0. The influences of the stiffener length and the infilled concrete are analyzed. Analytical results show that the stiffener length and the infilled concrete are critical for the joints. Furthermore, the skeleton curves of the finite element models are in good agreement with those of experiments.

Finite element simulation and optimal analysis of surfacing on steel orthotropic bridge deck

To analyze the stress state of steel orthotropic deck pavement and provide reference for the design of the overlay, the inner stress state and strain distribution of surfacing under the load of the deformation of the whole bridge structure and tyre load are analyzed by the finite element method of submodeling. Influence of surfacing modulus on the strain state of the overlay is analyzed for the purpose of the optimal design of the overlay structure. Analysis results show that the deformation of the whole bridge structure has no evident influence on the stress state of the overlay. The key factor of the overlay design is the transverse tensile strain in the overlay above the upper edge of web plate of rib. The stress state of the overlay is influenced evidently by the modulus of rigidity transform overlay. And the stress state of the overlay can be optimized and lowered by increasing the modulus and thickness of rigidity transform overlay, The fatigue test has been done to evaluate the fatigue performance and modulus of different deck pavement materials such as epoxy asphalt, SBS modified asphalt, rosphalt asphalt which can provide reference for deck pavement structure design.

Construction analysis on integral lifting of steel structure by the vector form intrinsic finite element

A newnumerical method based on vector form intrinsic finite element（VFIFE） is proposed to simulate the integral lifting process of steel structures. First, in order to verify the validity of the VFIFE method, taking the steel gallery between the integrated building and the attached building of Nanjing M obile Communication Buildings for example, the static analysis was carried out and the corresponding results were compared with the results achieved by the traditional finite element method. Then, according to the characteristics of dynamic construction of steel structure integral lifting, the tension cable element was employed to simulate the behavior of dynamic construction. The VFIFE method avoids the iterative solution of the stiffness matrix and the singularity problems. Therefore, it is simple to simulate the complete process of steel structure lifting construction.Finally, by using the VFIFE, the displacement and internal force time history curves of the steel structures under different lifting speeds are obtained. The results show that the lifting speed has influence on the lifting force, the internal force, and the displacement of the structure. In the case of normal lifting speed, the dynamic magnification factor of 1. 5 is safe and reasonable for practical application.

Element distribution and difusion behavior in Q&P steel during partitioning

Carbon, manganese, and silicon distribution in quenching and partitioning （Q＆P） steel during partitioning process was investigated to reveal the diffusion behavior. The microstructure and chemical composition were analyzed by means of scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, and three-dimensional atom probe. It is shown that the studied Q＆P steel consisted of martensite laths and thin, film-like retained austenite showing extraordinary phase transformation stability. Carbon atoms mostly diffused to the retained austenite from martensite at a higher partitioning temperature. In the experimental steel partitioned at 400℃ for 10-60 s, carbides or cementite formed through carbon segregation along martensite boundaries or within the martensite matrix. As a result of carbon atom diffusion from martensite to austenite, the carbon content in martensite could be ignored. When the partitioning process completed, the constrained carbon equilibrium （CCE） could be simplified. Results calculated by the simplified CCE model were similar to those of CCE, and the difference between the two optimum quenching temperatures, where the maximum volume fraction of the retained austenite can be obtained by the Q＆P process, was little.

Investigation on the explosive welding mechanism of corrosion-resisting alu-minum and stainless steel tubes through finite element simulation and experi-ments

To solve the difficulty in the explosive welding of corrosion-resistant aluminum and stainless steel tubes, three technologies were proposed after investigating the forming mechanism through experiments. Then, a 3D finite element model was established for systematic simulations in the parameter determination. The results show that the transition-layer approach, the coaxial initial assembly of tubes with the top-center-point the detonation, and the systematic study by numerical modeling are the key technologies to make the explosive welding of LF6 aluminum alloy and 1Cr18Ni9Ti stainless steel tubes feasible. Numerical simulation shows that radial contraction and slope collision through continuous local plastic deformation are necessary for the good bonding of tubes. Stand-off distances between tubes （D1 and D2） and explosives amount （R） have effect on the plastic deformation, moving velocity, and bonding of tubes. D1 of 1 mm, D2 of 2 mm, and R of 2/3 are suitable for the explosive welding of LF6-L2-1Cr18Ni9Ti three-layer tubes. The plastic strain and moving velocity of the flyer tubes in-crease with the increase of stand-off distance. More explosives （R2/3） result in the asymmetrical distribution of plastic strain and non-bonding at the end of detonation on the tubes.

Finite element investigation of steel built-up shear links subjected to inelastic deformations

Non-linear finite element models accounting for large displacements have been used to investigate the behavior of steel built-up shear links that had previously been tested using large-scale experiments. The links were designed using steel grades with yield points ranging from high to low strengths. The objectives of the numerical analyses were to further investigate the non-linear behavior and to correlate the numerical results with experimental observations. Elasto-plastic as well as cyclic stress-strain material properties were incorporated to study the influence of material behavior on the overall shear link response. Non-linear monotonie analyses of the shear links incorporating the cyclic stress-strain steel properties resulted in similar trends in the response as the backbone curves recorded from the physical experiments. The numerical models of built-up shear links utilizing structural grade steels closely correlated to the experimentally recorded shear strength. Models utilizing low yield point steels overestimated the shear strength, which was caused by the characteristics of cyclic behavior of those steels. The detailed numerical models also allowed for investigation of the plastic strain demands on the different components of the link. It was shown that finite element models combined with appropriate stress-strain relationship may be used with confidence to check the design of shear links of different steel grades and sectional geometries.

Effect of aluminium element on microstructure and properties of weld metal of 960 MPa steel

A kind of self-protective flux cored wire has been developed for joining 960 MPa high strength steel. Weld metal containing different aluminium elements contents was obtained by changing the content of aluminum powder in the composition of the flux core. The strength and toughness of weld metal were tested by tensile test and impact test at different temperatures, and the influence mechanism of aluminium element on the microstructure and mechanical properties of weld metal was analyzed by means of metallographic microstructure observation and scanning electron microscope observation. The results show that aluminium element content on impact ductility of weld metal of 960 MPa high strength steel is great, but the influence on tensile strength and elongation of weld metal is little. With increasing aluminium element contents of weld metal, the impact energy of weld metal increases at first and then decreases, the best aluminium element content of weld metal is 0.2 wt.%. Aluminium oxide is easy to be formed in weld metal with low aluminium element contents, and the aluminium oxide can easily become nucleation particle for acicular ferrite. It is conducive to formation more acicular ferrite and will improve impact absorbing energy of weld metal. Aluminium nitride will easily formed in weld metal with high aluminium element content, and the coarse ferrite microstructure appears in weld metal and reduces impact energy of weld metal.

Finite Element Analysis of the Steel Reinforced Plastic Pipe

The steel reinforced plastic pipe is a kind of green environmental protection pipelines with double-sides corrosionresisting and better withstanding to medium working pressure. The structure and technical process of this pipe are described briefly in this paper, and the finite element analysis has been done for the sake of understanding the distributions of stress and displacement inside this pipe under hydrostatic pressure. The analysis results are very important for safety application of the steel reinforced plastic pipe.