A study on HAZ behaviour in 800 MPa cold rolled and hot rolled steel weld

In the automotive sector, the demand for advanced high strength steels (AHSS) is increasing day by day. Based on the application, cold rolled and hot rolled steels are used for various components in a vehicle body. Typically, cold-rolled grades with dual-phase, DP780 steel is used in the form of welded blanks. Hot rolled grades with Ti-Nb microalloy content, like HS800 steel are used in as long members. Welding is an important step to be considered in the design of materials for mass production as required in the automobile sector. In this investigation, Pulsed Gas Metal Arc Welding (P-GMAW) is carried out on both steels with a solid filler wire of strength 800 MPa. Static tensile tests indicated that failure in both steels welds occurred in the heat-affected zone region. The crack initiation and propagation behaviour were compared in both steels. In DP780 steels, the presence of the acicular ferrite and acicular martensite resisted the crack initiation and propagation in the weld region whereas, the chaotic nature of the acicular ferrite in HS800 steel. Microstructural studies revealed that the reason for heat affected zone (HAZ) failure in HS800 steel is due to the presence of hard TiN particles with a size of more than 1 lm which causes decohesion in the matrix. In DP780 steel failure is due to the presence of tempered martensite in the subcritical heat affected zone (SCHAZ). This study divulges the influence of filler wire chemistry, dilution, and welding parameters on cold rolled and hot rolled AHSS steels used in the automotive industry. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.