The Intragranular Ferrite Plate and the Nucleating inclusions in ,HAZ of X-60 Pipe Steel

In order to improve the IIAZ toughness of X-60 pipe steel, the intragranular ferrite plate (IFP) technology was used. The characteristics of IFP is claimed to be much fine ferrite plates appear inside the original austenite grains. By means of suitable Re, Zr, Ti additions in a bath with a higher initial oxygen potential, a good control of the peak temperature and the cooling rate during welding simulation, one can get a %IFP in volume over 50%, and the toughness gets up from 55 J to 160 J. It was found that the inclusions most effective in nucleating IFP are some deformable complex silicates which either entrap Re, Zr, Ti oxides or contain these elements. The greater the number of the evenly distributed and effectively nucleating inclusions, the more the %IFP in volume, and the finer the microstructure of the HAZ, so the better the relevant toughness. Generally, these silicates bahave as fine spheres along a line. The present authors revealed that these fine spheres result from the remelting of the shuttle- like silicates due to heating in the process of welding simulation. These silicates used to get a higher sulphur capacity, so MnS deposits might be observed on the periphery of the silicates. IFP was proved to be directly rooted in the [Mn] depleting zone which locates beside MnS deposits.