The heat input into the material during welding significantly affects the properties of high-strength steels in the near-weld zone. A zone of hardness decrease forms, which is called the soft zone. The width of the soft zone also depends on the cooling time t8/5. An investigation of the influence of welding parameters on the resulting properties of welded joints can be performed by thermal physical simulation. In this study, the effect of the cooling rate on the mechanical properties of the heat-affected zone of the steel S960MC with a thickness of 3 mm was investigated. Thermal physical simulation was performed on a Gleeble 3500. Three levels of cooling time were used, which were determined from the reference temperature cycle obtained by metal active gas welding (MAG). A tensile test, hardness measurement, impact test with fracture surface evaluation, and microstructural evaluation were performed to investigate the modified specimen thickness. The shortest time t8/5 = 7 s did not provide tensile and yield strength at the minimum required value. The absorbed energy after recalculation to the standard sample size of 10 × 10 mm was above the 27 J limit at −40 °C. The hardness profile also depended on the cooling rate and always had a softening zone.

Ultrasonic impact peening was applied on welded joints manufactured from Strenx 700 MC high strength low alloy steel with the aim to improve the fatigue properties. Three different surface treatment parameters were tested, which resulted in transformation of the near-surface tensile residual stresses in the weld metal and heat affected zone to compressive residual stress field, while maximal values from −400 MPa up to −800 MPa were reached. The highest fatigue life improvement was reached by the double peening with the 85 N contact force, where the fatigue limit for N = 108 cycles increased from 370 MPa to 410 MPa.

This article provides an overview of the influence of welding parameters and filler material on changes in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of thermo-mechanically controlled processed (TMCP) steel welded joints. The research focused on evaluating the effect of heat input and cooling rate on the width of the soft zone, which significantly affects the mechanical properties of welded joints. The negative effect of the soft zone is more pronounced as the thickness of the material decreases. Therefore, the object of this research was a 3-mm-thick sheet of S960MC steel welded by gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and metal-cored arc welding (MCAW) technology. Variable welding parameters were reflected in different heat input and cooling rate values, which led to a change in the properties of the HAZ and thus the mechanical properties of the welded joints. The changes in the HAZ were analyzed by microscopic analysis and mechanical testing. The measured results showed a significant effect of heat input on the cooling rate, which considerably affected the width of the soft zone in the HAZ and thus the overall mechanical properties of the welded joints.

In this paper are presented results of mechanical properties evaluation of the thin sheets welds made of the S960MC TMCP steel, which were executed using the GMAW procedure with different process parameters. The microstructural changes in the heat affected zone (HAZ) were evaluated, as well. The microstructural observation revealed significant changes in the HAZ and the three main zones, coarse grain, fine grain and intercritical (CGHAZ, FGHAZ and ICHAZ) were identified in the HAZ for both sets of tested welding parameters. Evaluation of the micro-hardness showed significant reduction of the micro-hardness in the ICHAZ, for both tested states, and the ICHAZ was identified as the most critical area of the whole welded joint. Results of the tensile tests revealed significant reduction of mechanical properties regardless of the welding parameters.

High-strength steels are used more than general structural steel due to their combination of properties such as high strength, good toughness and weldability. They are mainly used in the manufacture of heavy vehicles for the mining industry, cranes, transportation, etc. However, welding these grades of steel brings new challenges. Also, a simulation for welding high-strength steel is required more often. To insert a material database into the simulation program, it is necessary to conduct investigations using CCT (Continuous Cooling Transformation) diagrams, welded joints research, and more. To investigate the behavior of S960MC steel during heating and cooling, we used dilatometry analysis supported by EBSD (Electron Backscatter Diffraction) analysis. A CCT diagram was constructed. The transformation temperatures of Ac1 and Ac3 increase with increasing heating rate. The Ac1 temperature increased by 54 °C and the Ac3 temperatures by 24 °C as the heating rate increased from 0.1 °C/s to 250 °C/s. The austenite decomposition temperatures have a decreasing trend in the cooling phase with increasing cooling rate. As the cooling rate changes from 0.03 °C/s to 100 °C/s, the initial transformation temperature drops from 813 °C to 465 °C. An increase in the cooling rate means a higher proportion of bainite and martensite. At the same time, the hardness increases from 119 HV10 to 362 HV10.