Influence of Long-Term Subcritical Annealing on the Unalloyed Steel Welded Joint Microstructure

The article presents changes in the microstructure of hot-rolled unalloyed structural steel after the arc welding process and in the state after long-term exposure to 600 °C during operation. These studies enable a clear assessment of the effects of long-term exposure to elevated temperature relative to the as-welded condition, which has not been reported. The microstructure examination was carried out on welded joints in eight different zones of the joint. Studies have shown that the welding thermal cycle causes significant changes in the microstructure in the area of the base material heated above the A1 temperature—the heat-affected zone (HAZ)—and in the weld area in the case of multi-pass welding. The long-term exposure of the subcritical temperature of 600 °C on the welded joint leads to the phenomenon of cementite spheroidization in the pearlite in all zones of the joint, while preserving the band structure of the steel after rolling and the structural structure. In the case of the weld, acicular and side-plate ferrite disappearance was observed.