Influence of Welding Thermal Cycle on Microstructure and Properties in Heat-affected Zone of X80 Pipeline Steel

Single welding thermal–cycles with different input linear energies (ILE)(15, 20, 30, 40, 50 kJ/cm) and peak temperatures (PT) (900, 1050, 1200, 1300, 1350 ℃) were simulated by MMS-300 to study the correlation of toughness and microstructure in heat-affected zone (HAZ) of a X80 pipeline. The evolution characteristics of microstructure were investigated by OM, SEM and EBSD. The results show that numerous polygonal ferrites and grain boundary ferrites appear, and the sizes apparently decrease as the heat input decreases. Heat input in single welding should be less than 35 kJ/cm to ensure well Charpy impact toughness. The toughness of course grain zone is the lowest when welding heating temperature is 1350 ℃ and it is the weakness part in welded zone. The uniformity of prior austenite grain is worsened as increasing the heat input. Moreover, the characteristics of M-A constituents and high angle grain boundaries (HAGB) are influenced by heat input and PT. In the case of low heat input and PT, higher density of HAGBs, dispersed and fine M-A constituents were observed. Otherwise, with high heat input (≥40 kJ/cm), the effective grain size is almost the diameter of prior austenite grain, and it will decrease the density of HAGB, moreover, coarse M-A constituents which are prone to crack initiation will be generated, thus, the impact toughness of the coarse grain zone will be worsened obviously in welding HAZ.