Hybrid laser arc welding of thick high-strength pipeline steels of grade X120 with adapted heat input
2020,
Üstündag, Ömer,
Gook, Sergej,
Gumenyuk, Andrey,
Rethmeier, Michael
The influence of heat input and welding speed on the microstructure and mechanical properties of single-pass hybrid laser arc welded 20 mm thick plates of high-strength pipeline steel X120 were presented. The heat input was varied in the range of 1.4 kJ mm-1 to 2.9 kJ mm-1, while the welding speed was changed between 0.5 m min-1 and 1.5 m min-1. A novel technique of bath support based on external oscillating electromagnetic field was used to compensate the hydrostatic pressure at low welding velocities. A major advantage of this technology is, that the welding speed and thus the cooling time t8/5 can be variated in a wide parameter window without issues regarding the weld root quality. The recommended welding thermal cycles for the pipeline steel X120 can be met by that way. All tested Charpy-V specimens meet the requirements of API 5 L regarding the impact energy. For higher heat inputs the average impact energy was 144 ± 37 J at a testing temperature of -40 °C. High heat input above 1.6 kJ mm-1 leads to softening in the weld metal and heat-affected-zone resulting in loss of strength. The minimum tensile strength of 915 MPa could be achieved at heat inputs between 1.4 kJ mm-1 and 1.6 kJ mm-1.