Effects of weld metal property and fraction on the toughness of welding joints of a 8%Ni 980 MPa high strength steel

This work investigated the variations of Charpy V toughness which was measured in various parts of welding joints of a 980 MPa steel. The welding joints were composed of multi-pass weld metal, heat affected zones (HAZs) and base metal. Two types of weld metals, one with inferior toughness and the other with comparable toughness to the base metal, were used to reveal the effects of weld metal property and fraction on the toughness of the welding joint as a whole. The notches of Charpy V specimens were located at various sections of the welding joints where the ligaments comprised various fractions of weld metal. The results revealed that the weld metal with inferior toughness, even in a fraction as low as 20%, caused remarkable deterioration on the impact toughness of the welding joint. The weld metal with comparable toughness had little effect on the properties of the welding joint. The microstructures and fracture surfaces were observed to analyze the mechanism of the inferior toughness in a MAG weld metal.