294 Chin.J.Met Sci. Technol., Vol.8, 1992 Effects of B and Ti on the Toughness of HSLA Steel Weld Metals” By SI Zhongyao (%#ik)"" , WANG Zhaoging (%36i)"* , LIU Peng (31 ay" YU Dehua GRAS)" > and LIU Lei (#t ABSTRACT Effects of microalloying Ti and Bon the microstructures and low temperature toughness of manual metal are (MMA) deposits were invest gated, Weld metals containing 200-300 ppm Ti and 29-60 ppm B deposited by manual coated clec- trodes provided an optimum low temperature toughness. The addition of B in weld metals low. ered the 7» transformation temperature which promoted the acicular ferrite (AF) transformation. Solid solutioned B suppressed grain boundary ferrite as well as side plate ferrite formation and benefited the acicular ferrite formation. Titanium protected B from oxidizing as well as nitriding and formed Ti-Mn silicate inclusions. Ultra~high volt age electron microscope analyses showed that TiO structure in the Ti-Mn silicate inclusions was the favorable nucleation site for acicular ferrite forma- tion. KEYWORDS: toughness, acicular ferrite, HSLA steel, weld metals, addition of B and Ti 1. Introduction With the wide application of HSLA steel to offshore engineering exploration, pressure vessel fabrication and other impor- iant industrial constructions, weld metal with sufficient low temperature toughness is required increasingly. Therefore, it is in ur- gent need to develop a covered electrode + Manuscript received December 29. 1991 #4 Tnstitute of Metal Research, Academia Sinica Shenyang, 110015, China +. * Capital Iron and Steel Company, Beijing, 100053, China + To whom correspondence should be addressed my with ultra-low hydrogen and _ high toughness. An investigation on the effect of microalloying elements on the toughness of HSLA steel MMA weld metal would pro- vide a theoretical basis for the development of such a covered electrode. Since 1970's, many researchers have studied the effect of microalloying elements including Ti, B, Zr, Mo. V. Al and RE on the toughness of weld metals deposited by SAW and MIG. Some investigators re- ported that the addition of Ti and B could improve the toughness of the weld metal [1,2]. This paper is to study the effect of Ti and B on the toughness of HSLA steel MMA weld metal. 2. Experimental Materials and Procedure The experimental covered electrodes were made by using HO8A core wire and CaO-CaF,-SiO, basic slag as a coating Titanium and boron were deposited in the weld metal from the electrode coating con- taining Fe-Ti and Fe-B alloys. Five exper- imental covered electrodes were designed to produce weld metals with various B content and little change of other alloy elements. Chemical compositions of the weld metals are listed in Table 1. Welding was conducted using 20 mm thick ASTM A537-1 steel plates. The chemicat composition and me- chanical property are shown in Table 2. Ex- perimental plates were welded in conformity with the requirement of American Bureau of Shipping using weld current of 170-180 A (AC), are voltage of 23~25 V and heat input of 18-21 kJ /em. 3. Results and Discussion The effect of B on the low temperature toughness of weld metals is shown in Fig. It indicates ‘that the increase of B contentMet Sci.Technol., Vol.8, 1992 295 Table 1 Chemical composition of experimental weld metals (in wt~%) No. C Si Mn s P Ni Ti B ° N 1 0.059 0.26 1.38 0.009 0.015 0.580.020 0.0000 0.032 0.017 2 0.054 0.28 1.33 0.008 0.013 0.600.021 0.0029 0.032.016 3 0.057 0.26 «1.24 «= 0.010 0.014. 0.56 = 0.021 0.0052 0.031. 0.015 4 0.056 032 1.26 0.010 0.013 0.600.028 0.0081 0.034 0.015 50.054 0.23. 137 0.010 0.012 0.590.024 0.0100 0.034_—_—0.016 ‘Table 2 Chemical composition and mechanical property of ASTM AS37-I steel plate CMa Si Ss Pp ocu Ni Vv Nb YS UTS EL CYN wie MPa MPa % — J.-s0 O11 14 064 0.005 0.01 0.17 0.19 0.06 0.025 37052037 with certain amount of Ti will raise the ab- sorbed energy of the weld metal. The maxi- mum absorbed energy of the weld metal was obtained when B was about 52 ppm. The addition of appropriate content of B and Ti in the weld metal could improve the low temperature toughness remarkably. The optimum contents are 29-60 ppm B and 200-300 ppm Ti. ol The optical microstructure on the top QO 20 «40 BOBO bead was shown in Fig.2. It shows clearly B ppm that the coarse microstructure of the weld Fig.1 Effect of B on the weld metal toughness metal without B consists of continuous g 8 Absorbed energy, J & Fig.2_ Microstructures on the top beads of the weld metal. (a) B=0; (b) B= 52 ppm: (c) B= 100 ppm296 Chin.J.Met.Sci. Technol, Vol.8, 1992 Fig.3 Metallographs of AF at high magnification. (a) B=0 ppm (b) B= 52 ppm 100 109) o Bs/B +0 +808 Jaa 60 a no 20 20 ol 1. 0204060 80 100 Bs ppm Fig.4 Relationship between solid solutioned B, and the total B Table 3 Effect of B on 3-* 2 transformation tem. perature at cooling rate of 30 /s ppm 0 29 2100 re 740 720680570. grain boundary ferrite, long side plate ferrite, a few acicular ferrites and granular bainite (Fig.2a). This kind of microstructure would aggravate weld metal toughness. The microstructures of weld metals with B con- tent 29-52 ppm were obviously refined [Fig.2(b)]. The continuous grain boundary ferrite became discontinuous polygonal ferrite. Side plate ferrite disappeared com- pletely and a large amount of fine acicular ferrite appeared within the columnar grains. Such microstructures provided an excellent low temperature toughness. When B content raised to 81 ppm, the microstructure coarsened, hence the weld metal toughness lowered. When B content reached to 100 ppm, a mixed microstructure consisting of bainite, martensite and ferrite was observed and the weld metal toughness lowered re- markably [Fig.2(c)]. Microscopic examina- tion under higher magnification revealed that the acicular ferrite in the weld metal without B was coarser and the angle of in- tersection of acicular ferrites was low in comparison with that in the weld metal con- taining 52 ppm B (Fig.3). No apparent dif- ference of inclusion size and density with va- riations in B content was observed under the optical microscope. Boron in weld metals ex. ists in two forms, i.e. solid solutioned boron (B,) and combined boron (B,) such as Fe,(C,B), BN and Fe,,(C.B),. Figure 4 plots the ratios of B, or B, to the total boron against total boron. The highest ratio of B,/ B corresponding to the lowest ratio of B./B at 52 ppm total B concentration would give an optimum toughness of weld metal. Boron diffused into. the prior austenite grain boundary and lowered the grain boundary energy. hence it decreased the favorable nucleating sites and retarded the formation of grain boundary ferrites, eliminated the side plate ferrites and in the meantime promoted acicular ferrite forma tion. TEM observation of abstracted dupli-; cate of specimen with 100 ppm B discovered ; that fine Fe,(C.B), precipitated both in the |Chin.J.Met Sci-Technol.. Vol.8, 1992 297 Fig.S Acicular ferrite induced by the spherical clusion (A site) () 726) (0001 (0° . (364 {220% Ton Fig.6 Electron diffraction of TiO structure. (a) diffraction pattern: (b) index identification grains and the grain boundaries. Such kind of boride would embrittle the grain bounda- ries under certain conditions (3]. Boron con- tent in HSLA steel weld metal lowered » >a transformation temperature (Table 3) which provides a relative high driving force for acicular ferrite formation. Figure 5 shows that acicular ferrite morphology is characterized by the high an- gle of intersection between acicular ferrite grains, high dislocation density and some substructures in the acicular ferrite grains. These fine acicular ferrite structures pro- mote weld metal toughness because they could efficiently impede crack propagation It should be noted that there were dif ferent viewpoints on acicular ferrite nucleat- ing sites. North et al. considered TiN as acicular ferrite nucleating sites [4]. Moire et al. proposed that TiO would be the most po- tential sites for the nucleation of acicular ferrite 5} and Ricks _ preferred oxide-sulphide inclusions for the nucleation sites of acicular ferrite [6]. Because of large difference of the thermal coefficients of ex- pansion between MnO-SiQ,~Al,0;__inclu- sion and austenite, a high thermal stress would cause plastic deformation in the austenite grain adjacent to the inclusion. The lattice distortion near the dislocations would promote nucleation, crystallization and growth of acicular ferrite [7}, therefore enhance the y-~ a transformation. Mori pointed out that low values of disregistry be- tween the inclusions and acicular ferrite could benefit acicular ferrite nucleation [5]. Therefore, TiO would be the most potential site for acicular ferrite nucleation because of its lower value of disregistry [8]. The extensive observation by TEM showed that acicular ferrite nucleated to the spherical inclusions in the size of 0.2-0.8 yim. The composition of inclusion analyzed by energy dispersive X-ray analysis is S 1.929, Ti 6.191, Mn 57.598, Ca 0.185, Fe 16.777, Al 2.918, which composed TiO-MnO-SiO,Al,O, — complex inclu- sions. The result of electron diffraction of the above inclusion from 1000 kV electron microscope showed that TiO structure in the Ti-tich zone of the Ti-Mn silicate inclu- sions was the favorable site for acicular ferrite nucleation (see Fig.6) 4. Conclusions (Q) Weld metals containing 200-300 ppm Ti and 29-60 ppm B deposited by MMA provide an optimum low temperature toughness.298 Chin.J. Met Sci-Technol., Vol8, 1992 (2) The low temperature toughness is related to the B content and the microstructure of the weld metals. The addi- tion of B in the weld metals lowers the yr transformation temperature and benefits acicular ferrite nucleation. Solid solutioned Bis likely to suppress the formation of grain boundary ferrite, retards the growth of side plate ferrite and promotes acicular ferrite formation. (3) Titanium can protect B from oxi- dizing as well as nitriding and form Ti-Mn silicate inclusions. Ultra“high voltage elec- tron microscope analyses showed that TiO structure in the Ti-rich zone of the Ti-Mn silicate inclusions was the favorable site for the acicular ferrite nucleation. ay Q 3 @ oO 6) a wy REFERENCES H Suzuki; IW Doe. 1-83-71, 1971 LR.Stillet al.; Afet. Constr., 1978. 10(7), 338. 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