Effects of oxides on tensile and charpy impact properties and fracture toughness in heat affected zones of oxide-containing API X80 linepipe steels

This study is concerned with effects of complex oxides on acicular ferrite (AF) formation, tensile and Charpy impact properties, and fracture toughness in heat affected zones (HAZs) of oxide-containing API X80 linepipe steels. Three steels were fabricated by adding Mg and O₂ to form oxides, and various HAZ microstructures were obtained by conducting HAZ simulation tests under different heat inputs. The no. of oxides increased with increasing amount of Mg and O₂, while the volume fraction of AF present in the steel HAZs increased with increasing the no. of oxides. The strengths of the HAZ specimens were generally higher than those of the base metals because of the formation of hard microstructures of bainitic ferrite and granular bainite. When the total Charpy absorbed energy was divided into the fracture initiation and propagation energies, the fracture initiation energy was maintained constant at about 75 J at room temperature, irrespective of volume fraction of AF. The fracture propagation energy rapidly increased from 75 to 150 J and saturated when the volume fraction of AF exceeded 30 pct. At 253 K (-20 °C), the total absorbed energy increased with increasing volume fraction of AF, as the cleavage fracture was changed to the ductile fracture when the volume fraction of AF exceeded 45 pct. Thus, 45 vol pct of AF at least was needed to improve the Charpy impact energy, which could be achieved by forming a no. of oxides. The fracture toughness increased with increasing the no. of oxides because of the increased volume fraction of AF formed around oxides. The fracture toughness did not show a visible correlation with the Charpy absorbed energy at room temperature, because toughness properties obtained from these two toughness testing methods had different significations in view of fracture mechanics.