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Effect of heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of structural steel-mild steel composite plates fabricated by explosion welding

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Abstract

Two dissimilar steel plates, structural steel and mild steel, were joined by explosion welding to form a composite. The composite was then heat-treated by quenching at 840°C for 30 min followed by tempering at 200°C for 3 h. The microstructure was investigated under an optical microscope and a scanning electron microscope. The mechanical properties were measured using Vickers microhardness and Charpy impact tests. The results show a deformed interface with typical wave features at the welding zone, but no defects were observed. Moreover, the ferrite in the parent plate in the weld zone was elongated due to the strong plastic deformation from the explosion. After heat treatment, the hardness of the flyer plate (structural steel) was over HV0.2 800, while that of the parent plate (mild steel) was HV0.2 200. The increase in hardness was due to the presence of martensite. Moreover, the average impact energy was increased from 18.5 to 44.0 J following heat treatment; this is because of the formation of recrystallized grains at the weld interface, which is due to the dynamic recovery and local recrystallization, and the strong elemental diffusion that occurred between the two plates.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Mr. Wenzhong Dong of Xi’an Huaxing Electric Furnace Limited Company for his help in welding samples, Assoc. Prof. Li Jiang and Dr. Xiyuan Yao of Materials Science and Engineering Innovation Practice Parent, Northwestern Polytechnical University for their help in materials characterization. This work is financially supported by the State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing of Northwestern Polytechnical University (2019-QZ-01).

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Correspondence to Wen-ya Li.

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Zhang, Em., Zhao, Ym., Wang, Zm. et al. Effect of heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of structural steel-mild steel composite plates fabricated by explosion welding. Int J Miner Metall Mater 27, 1115–1122 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-020-1986-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-020-1986-3

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