Steel weld metal deposit measured properties after immediate micro-jet cooling

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present a welding process connected with micro-jet cooling. This method allowed us to guide the metallographic structure, and furthermore, the properties of the weld metal deposit. The main conclusion of this paper was that after welding with micro-jet cooling, it was possible to achieve beneficial metallographic structures that are impossible to obtain in any other way. These structures corresponded to very good mechanical properties of the welds. The research results described the influence of an artificially enhanced amount of acicular ferrite in the weld metal deposit (WMD) even above 65% when using micro-jet cooling. The results of this process were very positive due to the very high impact toughness of welds at negative temperature. The main parameters of micro-jet cooling are: cooling stream diameter (about 60 μm), gas pressure (about 0.6 MPa), the use of various gases and gas mixtures (main micro-jet gases: argon, helium, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygen, air).