Lenka Kuzmikova

Role of Ti and N in line pipe steel welds

Abstract High strength line pipe steels exhibit a combination of excellent toughness and high strength achieved through microalloy additions and thermomechanical controlled processing. During welding, severe thermal cycles experienced by the heat affected zone (HAZ) result in precipitate coarsening/dissolution and subsequent grain growth. This significantly reduces toughness in this region. It is well known that small Ti additions are utilised to control grain growth in the HAZ through grain boundary pinning action of TiN precipitates. Because of a lack of systematic and controlled study, it has been difficult to quantify the effect of TiN in the variety of steels. Hence, the optimum levels proposed in the literature are inconsistent and even contradict each other when compared. This paper mainly reviews the effect of different levels of Ti, N and Ti/N ratios on steels and pipes manufactured using different processes, with particular focus on the HAZ toughness.

The Effect of Chemical Composition on Microstructure and Properties of Intercritically Reheated Coarse-Grained Heat-Affected Zone in X70 Steels

The current study investigates the effect of different levels of Ti, N, and Ti/N ratios on microstructure and properties in the intercritically reheated coarse-grained heat-affected zone (ICCGHAZ) of two-pass submerged arc welds in API 5L grade X70 pipe. Gleeble simulation was employed to reproduce the ICCGHAZ of actual welds. Hardness and Charpy V-notch (CVN) tests were performed on the simulated samples. The microstructure of simulated ICCGHAZ was characterized by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). LePera color etching technique was employed to identify and quantify the martensitic–austenitic (M–A) constituent. Results show that the simulated ICCGHAZ exhibited extremely low toughness, but in the studied range of Ti and N, there was no correlation with Ti/N ratio. The beneficial effect of near-stoichiometric Ti/N ratio observed in coarse-grained heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) did not translate to ICCGHAZ. This was because of the negative effect of the blocky M–A constituent formed on prior austenite grain boundaries.

Influence of Ti/N ratio on simulated CGHAZ microstructure and toughness in X70 steels

Abstract Three API 5L X70 steels with different Ti and N contents and otherwise identical chemistry were selected to investigate the effect of Ti/N ratio on the toughness in coarse grained heat affected zone (CGHAZ). A Gleeble 3500 thermomechanical simulator was used to simulate the thermal profile of CGHAZ of double submerged arc welding process. The microstructure was examined by optical microscopy. Statistics of CGHAZ grain coarsening were compiled by measuring the prior austenite grain size. Toughness of the simulated CGHAZ regions was evaluated by Charpy V-notch testing at −20 and −40°C. Morphology of the impact fracture surface was investigated using SEM. Steel B with Ti/N ratio of 3·22 (slightly below stoichiometric) showed slightly higher toughness in the simulated CGHAZ due to higher volume fraction of austenite grains less than 80 μm in diameter.

Grain Coarsening Characteristics of Modern Nb Microalloyed Steels

Modern steelmaking technologies utilizing microalloyed steel designs have been responsible for enormous economic benefits for both the steelmaker and fabricator. What has not been acknowledged is the environmental benefit that high strength steels have produced in terms of reduced steel usage in major infrastructure projects. The judicial use of microalloying has the potential to further reduce total tonnage requirements while delivering enhanced operational performance and service life. Various projects around the world have begun to recognize these recent microalloying developments. This paper will present the grain coarsening behavior of the new generation of Nb bearing steels, which have been used in major international steel fabrication projects.

Control of Weld HAZ Properties in Modern High Strength Pipeline Steels

Critical performance of modern high strength linepipe is related to the ability of the steel to maintain mechanical properties in the weld heat affected zone (HAZ). The region most susceptible to mechanical property degradation is the coarse grained HAZ, however in multipass welds, the intercritically reheated CGHAZ (ICCGHAZ) also presents challenges to maintain toughness.Currently Ti is employed to minimise austenite grain coarsening through the grain boundary pinning action of TiN precipitates. This is effective because of the high thermal stability of TiN but control of the precipitate size distribution is very much dependent on alloy design and processing conditions to ensure final weld HAZ properties, particularly toughness. This can be difficult to maintain and alternative methods are required to further improve performance of the weldments.It is now evident that increased additions of Nb in modern high temperature processed (HTP) steels have demonstrated increased control of HAZ microstructures with improved fracture toughness [1, 2]. The present paper details the microstructure - property relationship of two pipe steel grades with different alloy designs. Evaluation of the critical CGHAZ was achieved by simulation techniques, calibrated using real weld thermal cycles, to determine the influence of alloy design and specifically level of Nb on weld zone properties.The results reveal that the fracture toughness of the simulated CGHAZ in the HTP steel is superior to that of a conventional microalloyed pipeline steel grade. Toughness was related to the distribution of martensite-austenite (M-A) constituent and the effective grain size which appeared to correspond to prior austenite grain size as evidenced by examination of cleavage facet size (CFS) on fractured Charpy specimens.Copyright

Development of safe optimized welding procedures for high strength Q&T steel welded with austenitic consumables

High strength quenched and tempered (Q&T) steels offer obvious economic benefits originating from their advantageous strength to price and weight ratios. These steels are usually welded using ferritic consumables and for this combination the risk of hydrogen assisted cold cracking (HACC) is high. The use of austenitic stainless steel (ASS) consumables has great potential to significantly improve this issue. Yet, there are no guidelines for determination of safe level of preheat for welding ferritic steels with ASS consumables. For this reason manufacturers adopt this parameter from procedures developed for conventional ferritic consumables thus significantly limiting the benefits ASS consumables are capable to deliver. Productivity could be further enhanced by identifying the upper interpass temperature threshold, thus reducing the stand-off times. Aim of this work is to develop safe highly optimised procedures for welding of high strength Q&T steel with ASS consumable.

Optimization of welding parameters for repairing NiAl bronze components

The objective of this study is to determine an optimal welding procedure that can be implemented to repair damaged Nickel Aluminium Bronze (NAB) components. NAB is commonly used in marine applications where components are subject to a constant corrosive environment and high stresses. Research into ideal NAB microstructure for a marine application, was performed in order to gain a baseline for experimental analysis of potential welding procedures. The results indicated that the welding repair can be performed with a wide range of heat input. The effect of post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) on the microstructure and mechanical properties in the heat affected zone (HAZ) and weld metal was also investigated in this research. The dominant microstructure in weld metal at as-welded condition is coarse Widmanstatten type structure with high hardness; post-weld heat treatment resulted in significant grain refinement and hardness reduction in weld metal.