Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of TWIP Steel Joints

 As a new type of high manganese steel, the twinning induced plasticity (TWIP) steels have attracted a growing interest in the automotive industry due to their good performance. Thin plates of TWIP steel were welded by laser beam welding (LBW) and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). The microstructure result shows that GTAW joint has obvious heat-affected zone (HAZ), while the HAZ of LBW joint is almost invisible. The X-ray diffraction result shows that the phase compositions of both joints are austenitic and no phase transition occurs. Energy dispersive spectrometry result shows that there is violent evaporation of Mn element in LBW joint, while the proportion of Mn element in GTAW joint is almost unchanged. Tensile tests and micro-hardness measurements were performed to take into account the mechanical properties of joints manufactured by the two different processes. The micro-hardness profiles of both joints present a typical saddle distribution, and the hardness of GTAW seam is lower than that of LBW seam. The failure positions of LBW joints are all located in base metal while the GTAW joints are all at the weld toe due to the softening of HAZ. By means of scanning electron microscopy, a typical ductile fracture is observed in LBW joint, while a brittle fracture with quasi-cleavage fracture characteristic is observed in GTAW joint.