Investigation of Beam Welding Technologies Effect on the Properties of Welded Joints of S960MC Steel

The work is focused on welding of fine-grained ultra-high-strength steel S960MC by laser beam welding and electron beam welding technologies. For a given type of steel, when the heat input is exceeded, the mechanical properties of welded joints will deteriorate. As a result, using beam welding technologies to limit the amount of heat input is recommended. Several butt welds were made, and mechanical tests and macroscopic analyses were performed to determine the impact of welding parameters on mechanical properties. Using beam welding technologies, the value of heat input was reduced by up to 73% compared to gas metal arc welding. When compared to a gas metal arc welded joint, the width of the soft zone was reduced by 69 to 79%. This resulted in a considerable reduction in the width of the soft zone, which was reflected in a 24% increase in yield strength and a 23% increase in tensile strength compared to gas metal arc welding.

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This research was funded by APVV, grant number APVV-20-0427; KEGA, grant number KEGA 008ŽU-4/2022; VEGA, grant number VEGA 1/0044/22 and Grant System of University of Zilina No. 1/2021 (13857).