Root formation and metallurgical challenges in laser beam and laser-arc hybrid welding of thick structural steel

Single-pass laser beam welding (LBW) of steel components with wall thickness of > 10 mm is of high interest due to enhanced productivity. Deep penetration LBW provides excessive hardness and certain quality issues such as root humping in flat position, which is associated with disability of surface tension to sustain melt dropout. High hardness is associated with fast cooling rates and shortage of filler wire transportation to the root of the fusion zone. Use of laser-arc hybrid welding (LAHW) can promote acicular ferrite by adding filler metal and additional heat input from the arc. However, LAHW may promote humping and adjustment of many parameters is required hindering its application. In this work, a 16 kW disk laser was used in butt welding of 12 mm and 15 mm thick plates with different bevelling geometries. Root humping occurred within a wide range of process parameters providing narrow process window. Twelve millimeter thick plates were successfully welded with a single-pass technique providing good quality of root by using zero air gap regardless bevelling geometry. Welding of 15 mm plates was more challenging, and the process was sensitive even with a slight parameter change. Improved results were achieved with application of small air gap. Acceptable hardness in both weld metal and heat affected zone (< 290 HV) was achieved for both plate thicknesses providing good toughness of minimum 27 J at −50°C.publishedVersio

First application of IFCB high-frequency imaging-in-flow cytometry to investigate bloom-forming filamentous cyanobacteria in the Baltic Sea

Cyanobacteria are an important part of phytoplankton communities, however, they are also known for forming massive blooms with potentially deleterious effects on recreational use, human and animal health, and ecosystem functioning. Emerging high-frequency imaging flow cytometry applications, such as Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB), are crucial in furthering our understanding of the factors driving bloom dynamics, since these applications provide community composition information at frequencies impossible to attain using conventional monitoring methods. However, the proof of applicability of automated imaging applications for studying dynamics of filamentous cyanobacteria is still scarce. In this study we present the first results of IFCB applied to a Baltic Sea cyanobacterial bloom community using a continuous flow-through setup. Our main aim was to demonstrate the pros and cons of the IFCB in identifying filamentous cyanobacterial taxa and in estimating their biomass. Selected environmental parameters (water temperature, wind speed and salinity) were included, in order to demonstrate the dynamics of the system the cyanobacteria occur in and the possibilities for analyzing high-frequency phytoplankton observations against changes in the environment. In order to compare the IFCB results with conventional monitoring methods, filamentous cyanobacteria were enumerated from water samples using light microscopical analysis. Two common bloom forming filamentous cyanobacteria in the Baltic Sea, Aphanizomenon flosaquae and Dolichospermum spp. dominated the bloom, followed by an increase in Oscillatoriales abundance. The IFCB results compared well with the results of the light microscopical analysis, especially in the case of Dolichospermum. Aphanizomenon biomass varied slightly between the methods and the Oscillatoriales results deviated the most. Bloom formation was initiated as water temperature increased to over 15°C and terminated as the wind speed increased, dispersing the bloom. Community shifts were closely related to movements of the water mass. We demonstrate how using a high-frequency imaging flow cytometry application can help understand the development of cyanobacteria summer blooms

Development and processing of low carbon bainitic steels

Abstract The aim of this work was to study systematically the effects of composition and processing on austenite grain growth and static recrystallization (SRX) kinetics, austenite decomposition under controlled cooling as well as microstructures, mechanical properties and weldability of hot rolled low carbon bainitic (LCB) steels. The results showed that the coarsening of austenite grain structure is influenced by the chemical composition. Steels with Nb-Ti alloying exhibited fine and uniform austenite grain size up to 1125 °C, whereas higher temperatures led to formation of the bimodal grain structures. However, with Nb-Ti-B microalloying, the abnormal grain growth was already observed at 1050 °C. SRX rate at roughing temperatures, determined by the stress relaxation method, was found to be retarded markedly by Mo, Nb and B alloying. For the test conditions investigated, the decomposition of austenite started in the temperature range from 780 °C to below 550 °C. All alloying elements with the exception of Nb (0.04–0.10 wt-%) decreased the phase transformation temperatures and increased the hardness of dilatometric specimens. Detailed microstructural examinations enabled the identification of 4 different ferrite morphologies: polygonal ferrite, quasi-polygonal ferrite (QF), granular bainitic ferrite (GB) and bainitic ferrite (BF), generally as a mixed microstructure consisting of 2–3 types morphologies. Consistent with the microstructures detected in dilatometric experiments, the microstructures of rolled plates comprise various combinations of low C ferrite morphologies. These microstructure types provided the yield strengths from 500 MPa up to 850 MPa in hot rolled condition and from 500 MPa to 950 MPa in heat-treated condition (600 °C/1h). The yield strengths from 500 MPa to 570 MPa were mainly related to QF microstructures in as-rolled condition, while the steels with the yield strength from 570 to 700 MPa had GB-QF microstructures. Steels with the yield strengths above 700 MPa consisted of BF. The most effective alloying element regarding the strength properties is B. Also C, Mn, Cr, Mo and Ni have strong influences, but Nb in the range of 0.05–0.10 wt-% is ineffective. Strengthening with B and Mo was detrimental to toughness. Alloying with Ni and Mn is beneficial to good strength and toughness combination. Mn, Mo, Nb and B contents mainly dictate CGHAZ toughness

Sub-sized CVN specimen conversion methodology

AbstractPresently most structural integrity assessment procedures still allow the use of Charpy-V notch impact tests as a measure of fracture toughness. The use is generally made through some more or less reliable correlations between standard Charpy-V notch energy and fracture toughness or tearing resistance. A problem arises if the structure has such a geometry that standard size Charpy-V notch specimens cannot be used. Application standards contain some guides on how to convert sub-sized specimen data to correspond to full size specimens, but these are often inaccurate and limited in their application range. Procedures like ASTM A370, BS7910 and API 579 give some advice on the use of sub-sized Charpy-V specimens but none of them cover the whole Charpy-V transition curve. Here, a new simple procedure, that is in line with BS7910, is presented. It is shown that it is applicable over the whole transition curve, thus enabling a point-wise conversion of sub-sized Charpy-V data to correspond to full size specimens. The new procedure is applicable for steel strengths ranging from 200 MPa to 1400 MPa

Applicability of the Master Curve method to Ultra High Strength Steels

Although Ultra High Strength Steels (UHSS) with nominal strengths up to 1500 MPa have been available on the market for many years, the use of these steels in the civil engineering industry is still rather uncommon. One critical point limiting the use of UHSS steels lies in their rather poorly documented fracture properties in relation to more conventional steels covered by the codes. The major concept governing the assessment of steels is the Master Curve (MC) methodology. It provides a description for the fracture toughness scatter, size effect and temperature dependence in the ductile to brittle transition region. It enables a complete characterization of brittle fracture toughness of a material based on only a few small size specimens. The method combines a theoretical description of the scatter, a statistical size effect and an empirically found temperature dependence of fracture toughness. The fracture toughness in the brittle fracture regime is thus described with only one parameter, the transition temperature T0. At this temperature the mean fracture toughness for a 25.4 mm thick specimen is 100 MPa√m. The Master Curve method as defined in ASTM E1921-13a is applicable to ferritic structural steels with yield strength between 275 MPa and 825 MPa. Very few studies have been made with respect to the applicability of the Master Curve to Ultra High Strength Steels with yield strengths in the excess of 900 MPa. This is the topic of this work. Focusing on novel directly quenched high performance steels, the applicability of the Master Curve methodology with special emphasis on the temperature dependence will be investigated. Possible improvements to the Master Curve will be proposed for further consideration.</jats:p

T₀ − T28J correlation of low-carbon ultra-high-strength quenched steels

Abstract Direct-quenched structural steels are a cost-effective ultra-high-strength solution for demanding applications. These untempered, mainly S900 and S960 grade steels can possess good impact toughness and weldability when they contain low carbon contents and have low carbon equivalents. However, it is reported that as regards brittle fracture toughness these steels do not follow the commonly used correlation between the Charpy-V impact toughness transition temperature T28J and the fracture toughness reference temperature T₀, i.e. T₀ = T28J − 18 °C. These T₀ estimates are on the unconservative side, so there is a risk of overestimating the brittle fracture toughness of these steels in structural design when relying solely on impact toughness transition temperature values. In this study, the correlation between T₀ and T28J temperatures of low-carbon ultra-high-strength martensitic and martensitic-bainitic steels in the quenched state is analyzed. In total, 78 new and re-analyzed data sets are reported i.e. data for 39 steels tested in both longitudinal and transverse orientations. These data sets are then evaluated using the procedures found in the literature. A recently updated T₀ − T28J correlation is tested and it is shown that it gives less unconservative estimates of T0 by including the effects of yield strength and upper shelf energy. Finally a new correlation between T₀ and T28J for as-quenched low-carbon steels is proposed, i.e. T₀ = 0.8*T28J + 14 °C