Welding thermal cycle-triggered precipitation processes in steel S700MC subjected to the thermo-mechanical control processing

This study presents tests concerned with welding thermal process-induced precipitation processes taking place in 10 mm thick steel S700MC subjected to the Thermo-Mechanical Control Process (TMCP) with accelerated cooling. The thermomechanical processing of steel S700MC leads to its refinement, structural defects and solutioning with hardening constituents. Tests of thin foils performed using a transmission electron microscope revealed that the hardening of steel S700MC was primarily caused by dispersive (Ti,Nb)(C,N) precipitates (being between several and less than twenty nanometers in size). In arc welding, depending on a welding method and linear energy, an increase in the base material in the weld is accompanied by the increased concentration of hardening microagents in the weld. The longer the time when the base material remains in the liquid state, the greater the amount of microagents dissolved in the matrix. During cooling, such microagents can precipitate again or remain in the solution. An increase in welding linear energy is accompanied by an increase in the content of hardening phases dissolved in the matrix and, during cooling, by their another uncontrolled precipitation in the form of numerous fine-dispersive (Ti,Nb)(C,N) precipitates of several nm in size, leading to a dislocation density increase triggered by type 2 internal stresses.