Os aços inoxidáveis duplex são ligas Cr-Fe-Ni-Mo, que possuem uma microestrutura balanceada austenita-ferrita, e com excelentes propriedades mecânicas e de resistência à corrosão. Estas características os fazem muito utilizados nas industrias química, petroquímica, de papel, alimentícia e farmacêutica. O processamento destes aços geralmente envolve processos de soldagem, os quais devem ser elaborados cuidadosamente. Durante os ciclos térmicos experimentados na soldagem na zona afetada pelo calor, dependo do tempo de permanência no intervalo de temperaturas entre 650°C-950°C, podem ser precipitadas fases intermetálicas, como a fase sigma, que prejudicam as propriedades mecânicas e de resistência à corrosão. Três ligas comerciais de aços inoxidáveis duplex (AID) e superduplex (AISD) de denominação UNS S32304(AID), UNS S32750(AISD) e UNS S32760(AISD) foram submetidos a soldagem multipasse e a simulações de ciclos de soldagem na zona afetada pelo calor de temperatura baixa (ZACTB). As simulações foram realizadas em um dilatômetro e em um equipamento Gleeble®. Foram feitas comparações entre as microestruturas obtidas nas soldas reais e nos corpos-de-prova simulados. As microestruturas foram analisadas através de microscopia ótica e microscopia eletrônica de varredura. Foram também analisadas as fases precipitadas através de difração de Raios-X de resíduos extraídos, química e eletroliticamente, das amostras simuladas. Realizaram-se ensaios de corrosão intergranular e de polarização cíclica, para determinar o comportamento dos materiais à corrosão após a soldagem. Achou-se um bom acordo entre as microestruturas das soldas reais e as microestruturas simuladas. Encontrou-se que o aço UNS S32304 não precipitou nenhuma fase. No entanto, nos aços UNS S32750 e UNS S32760 foram encontradas fases precipitadas nos contornos de grão ferrítico. Essas fases foram identificadas como sigma e Cr2N. Entre estes dois últimos achou-se que o aço mais susceptível à precipitação de fases é o UNS S32760, provavelmente pela presença do W. Quanto ao comportamento à corrosão, não se observou nenhuma variação nos potenciais de pite após a simulação, enquanto que os potenciais de proteção sofreram uma queda comparando-se aos materiais na condição como-recebidos. / Duplex stainless steels are Cr-Fe-Ni-Mo alloys. They possess balanced austenitic/ ferritic microstructure, excellent mechanical and corrosion resistance properties. Thus, these characteristics make them very used in chemical, petrochemical, cellulose, food and pharmaceutical industries. The processing of these steels generally involves welding processes, which should be carried out carefully. Depending on time from 650°C to 950°C temperature range during thermal cycles in heat affected zone, intermetallic phases can be precipitated, as sigma phase for instance. As a consequence, mechanical and corrosion resistance might be impaired. Three duplex (DSS) and superduplex (SDSS) stainless steel alloys, with denomination of UNS S32304 (DSS), UNS S32750 (SDSS), and UNS S32760 (SDSS), were submitted to real multipass welding and welding thermal cycles simulations of low temperature heat affected zone. The simulations were accomplished in a dilatometer and in a Gleeble® equipment. They were made comparisons among microstructures obtained in actual welds and simulated welding thermal cycles. Microstructures were analyzed by optical and electronic microscopy. X-ray diffraction analyses of extracted residues were studied. Tests of intergranular corrosion and cyclic potentiodynamic polarization were performed. Results indicated good agreement between actual welding and thermal cycles simulated microstructures. UNS S32304 steel did not precipitate any intermetallic phase. On the other hand, in UNS S32750 and UNS S32760 steels were found precipitated phases in the ferritic grain boundary. Those phases were identified as sigma and Cr2N. UNS S32760 were more susceptible phase precipitation, probably due to tungsten as an additional alloying element in this steel. Corrosion results indicated no observed variation in pitting potentials of simulated samples, meanwhile pitting protection potentials suffered a fall compared to materials in the as received condition.

Os aços inoxidáveis duplex (AIDs) são materiais com um excelente desempenho tanto mecânico como à corrosão. Inúmeras pesquisas tem sido desenvolvidas para aprimorar a soldabilidade destas ligas. Algumas transformações de fase, que são passíveis de ocorrer durante o processo de soldagem, podem prejudicar seriamente o desempenho das juntas. Foram simuladas microestruturas da região da zona afetada pelo calor submetida a temperaturas elevadas (ZACTE), utilizando um modelo proposto de fluxo de calor. Abordaram-se aspectos fundamentais da precipitação de austenita secundária, de nitreto de cromo e as suas interações na ZACTE de soldas multipasse. Finalmente, foram realizados testes de tenacidade e de resistência à corrosão para avaliar o efeito das transformações de fase estudadas no desempenho das juntas soldadas. Os tratamento térmicos e simulações da ZACTE foram realizadas num equipamento GleebleÒ. As microestruturas foram analisadas mediante microscopia ótica e eletrônica de varredura e de transmissão. Junto com a microscopia eletrônica foram realizadas microanálises químicas das fases estudadas. Baseando-se nos resultados obtidos, verificou-se que nem todos os AIDs são susceptíveis de ferritizar. Este fato tem uma grande influência no comportamento metalúrgico e na soldabilidade destes aços. Quanto aos aspectos fundamentais da metalurgia destes aços, observou-se uma estreita interação entre a precipitação da austenita secundária e os nitretos de cromo, chegando-se a propor um mecanismo de nucleação da austenita secundária intragranular a partir dos nitretos. Por último, foi constatado que o efeito deletério da austenita secundária intragranular na resistência à corrosão pode ser evitado mediante a adequada elaboração do procedimento de soldagem. / Duplex stainless steels (DSS) have excellent mechanical and corrosion properties. Many researches have been developed regarding the weldability of these alloys. There are some phase transformations that take place during the welding process, which may impair the welded joint behavior. High temperature heat-affected zone (HTHAZ) microstructures were simulated using a proposed heat flow model. Fundamental aspects of the secondary austenite and chromium nitride precipitation, and its interactions in the HTHAZ of multipass welds, were studied. In addition, toughness and corrosion tests were done to evaluate the influence of the studied phase transformations on the weld behavior. A GleebleÒ system was used to do the heat treatments and HTHAZ simulations. The microstructures were analyzed by means of optic and electron microscopy. Along with the electron microscopy it was done chemical microanalysis of the studied phases. Based on results, it was verified that not all DSSs can be ferritized. This fact has a strong influence on metallurgical behavior and weldability of these alloys. Regarding to the metallurgical fundamental aspects of these steels, it was observed a remarkable interaction between secondary austenite and chromium nitride precipitation. Thus, it was proposed a mechanism of intragranular secondary austenite precipitation from chromium nitrides. It was also verified, how the deleterious effect of intragranular secondary austenite in the corrosion resistance can be avoided by means of appropriate welding procedures.

Em geral, os requisitos essenciais exigidos para uma liga metÃlica utilizada em atividades ligadas à industria petroquÃmica sÃo resistÃncia mecÃnica, tendo em vista os diversos esforÃos aos quais os materiais serÃo submetidos, e resistÃncia à corrosÃo, devido a severidade ambiental ao qual os materiais serÃo expostos. O aÃo inoxidÃvel duplex (AID) vem conquistando cada vez mais espaÃo no setor petroquÃmico justamente por possuir tais requisitos citados acima. Atribuem-se suas altas resistÃncias à corrosÃo e mecÃnica à sua microestrutura balanceada em aproximadamente 50% de ferrita e 50% de austenita. O presente trabalho estudou a influÃncia de diversas condiÃÃes de soldagem sobre o balanÃo de fases de um aÃo inoxidÃvel duplex UNS S31803. Para tanto quatro tÃcnicas de quantificaÃÃes foram utilizadas para medir a fraÃÃo volumÃtrica de ferrita para as diversas condiÃÃes empregadas. AlÃm disso, uma propriedade mecÃnica (dureza) e uma propriedade de resistÃncia à corrosÃo (corrosÃo intergranular) foram avaliadas em funÃÃo da energia de soldagem empregada. Por fim, um estudo qualitativo acerca da precipitaÃÃo de compostos intermetÃlicos oriundos da soldagem foi realizado. Os resultados mostraram que o efeito da energia de soldagem sobre a fraÃÃo volumÃtrica de ferrita foi bem marcante no metal de solda, porÃm para a zona afetada pelo calor (ZAC) e o metal de base este efeito nÃo foi tÃo pronunciado. Ainda em relaÃÃo à fraÃÃo volumÃtrica de ferrita, foi constatado que esta à mais afetado pela largura do corpo de prova que pelo meio de resfriamento pÃs-soldagem. Em geral, tanto a dureza como a resistÃncia à corrosÃo intergranular nÃo sofreram influÃncia quando as diversas condiÃÃes de soldagem foram comparadas. Por fim, apesar de ter ocorrido a precipitaÃÃo de compostos intermetÃlicos, contatou-se que esta foi de pequena intensidade. / In general, the essential requirements for a metal alloy used inactivities are linked to the petrochemical industry mechanical strength, in view of the many efforts to which the materials are subjected, and corrosion resistance due to severe environment to which the materials are exposed. The duplex stainless steel (AID) has been gaining more space in the petrochemical industry precisely because it has such requirements mentioned above. Are attributed to their high resistance to corrosion and its mechanical balanced microstructure by approximately 50% to 50% ferrite and austenite. This work studied the influence of different welding conditions on the balance of phases of a duplex stainless steel UNS S31803. For both techniques of four measurements were used to measure the volume fraction of ferrite for the various conditions employed. Moreover, the mechanical properties (hardness) and corrosion resistance property (intergranular) were measured by the energy welding employed. Finally, a qualitative study about the precipitation of intermetallic compounds derived welding was performed. The results showed that the effect of heat input on the volume fraction of ferrite was well marked in the weld metal, but for the heat-affected zone (HAZ) and base metal this effect was not as pronounced. Still on the volume fraction of ferrite, it was found that this is more affected by the width of the body of evidence by means of cooling after welding. In general, both the hardness and resistance to intergranular corrosion when not influenced by the different welding conditions were compared. Finally, although there was precipitation of intermetallic compounds, is contacted to this was mild.

O presente trabalho avalia e compara os resultados da tenacidade à fratura da zona termicamente afetada (ZTA) de soldas múltiplos passes por meio de ensaios de CTOD. Para este estudo, foi utilizado um aço alta resistência e baixa liga (ARBL) resistente à corrosão ambiental. As soldas foram realizadas com insumo de calor de 30 e 50 kJ/cm em um chanfro 1/2 K. Os resultados dos ensaios de CTOD mostraram que a solda produzida com maior insumo de calor apresenta tenacidade à fratura mais elevada. A análise microestrutural revelou que as microestruturas de elevada dureza e baixa tenacidade, formadas na ZTA de granulação grosseira, para a condição de 30 kJ/cm, deram lugar às microestruturas de tenacidade mais elevada, para o insumo de calor de 50 kJ/cm. / In this work the fracture toughness results of the heat affected zone (HAZ) in a multiple pass welds using a crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) concept were evaluated and compared. It was used an ambiental resistent high strengh low alloy steel. The welds were carried out using a heat input of 30 and 50 kJ/cm in a bevel preparation 1/2 K. The results of CTOD testing showed that increasing heat input, caused an improvement in the weldments fracture toughness. Microstructural analysis revealed that the high hardness and low toughness microstructures formed at coarse grain HAZ, near fusion line, for welding condition 30 kJ/cm were changed to higher toughness microstructure using a heat input of 50 kJ/cm.

Inconel 738 (IN 738), like other precipitation-hardened nickel-base superalloys that contain a substantial amount of Al and Ti, is very difficult to weld due to its high susceptibility to heat-affected zone (HAZ) cracking during conventional fusion welding processes. The cause of this cracking, which is usually intergranular in nature, has been attributed to the liquation of various phases in the alloy, subsequent wetting of the grain boundaries by the liquid and decohesion along one of the solid-liquid interfaces due to on-cooling tensile stresses. To address the problem of liquation cracking in weldments, recent developments in welding research have resulted in supposedly exclusive solid-state friction joining processes, such as linear friction welding (LFW), for joining crack susceptible structural alloys. The objective of this work was therefore to investigate the weldability of the difficult-to-weld IN 738 superalloy by LFW and to analyze the resulting microstructural changes in the alloy due to the welding process. LFW was performed on Linear Friction Welding Process Development System (PDS) at the Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Centre of the Institute for Aerospace Research, National Research Council (NRC) of Canada. In order to study and decouple the effect of non-equilibrium thermal cycle and imposed compressive stress during the joining, physical simulation of the LFW process was performed by using Gleeble 1500-D Thermo-Mechanical Simulation System at the University of Manitoba. Detailed microstructural study of welded and Gleeble-simulated materials was carried out. Correlation between the simulated microstructure and that of the weldments was obtained, in that, a significant grain boundary liquation was observed in both the simulated specimens and actual weldments due to non-equilibrium reaction of second phase particles, including the strengthening gamma prime phase. These results show that in contrast to the general assumption of LFW being an exclusively solid-state joining process, intergranular liquation, caused by non-equilibrium phase reaction(s), occurred during the process. However, despite a significant occurrence of liquation in the alloy, no HAZ cracking was observed. Nevertheless, the result showed that crack-free welding by linear friction welding is not due to preclusion of grain boundary liquation as has been commonly assumed and reported. Instead, resistance to cracking can be related to the counter-crack-formation effect of the imposed strain and to a concept observed and reported for the first time in this work, which is strain-induced rapid solidification. Furthermore, microstructural evolution during joining cannot be understood without considering the concept of non-equilibrium liquation reaction and strain-induced rapid solidification of the metastable liquid, which are carefully elucidated in this thesis.

In this study, microstructural, micro hardness evaluation and residual stress distribution, of low carbon steel after single pass gas metal arc welding technique (GMAW) were investigated. The goal of this investigation were to reveal the microstructures, micro hardness, residual stress distribution and tensile strength of welded joints by using welding current as varying parameter. In order to realize this objective, welded plate of low carbon steel with thickness of 2.5mm and 250mm long by 200mm wide were welded together with different welding current of 70A, 100A through MIG process. Four different parts of samples were tried. The first part of samples was annealed in a furnace to a temperature of 750 and allowed to cool in air before welding. While the second was not heated, third and fourth trials were heated to a temperature of 200˚C and 580˚C respectively after the welding and allowed cooling in air. Nikon optic microscope and CSM micro hardness testing instrument were used to determine the microstructure of the weld bead and HAZ of the samples, and hardness tests were carried out at different zones of welded joint. Micro hardness behavior was observed by using CSM instrument using 20N load for indentation, which reveals the correlation between hardness, elasticity and plasticity on the heat affected zone (HAZ) and weld bead of the welded plates. The samples were subjected to tensile strength and the distribution of residual stress of the weld. Tensile strength test... [to full text] / Šiame darbe aprašomi mikrostruktūros, mikrokietumo nustatymo bei liekamųjų įtempimų pasiskirstymo tyrimai mažo anglingumo plienuose po lankinio suvirinimo. Tyrimo tiksla - nustatyti suvirintos jungties mikrostuktūros ir mikrokietųmo priklausomybę nuo suvirinimo srovės, kaip kintamo dydžio. Remiantis užduotimi buvo suvirintos 2.5 mm storio, 250 mm ilgio ir 200 mm pločio mažaanglio plieno plokštės, naudojant skirting dydžio (70A ir 100A) suvirininant apsauginių dujų aplinkoje (MIG) srovę. Buvo paruoštos keturios partijos bandinių. Pirmoji partija, proies suvirinant, buvo atkaitinta 750°C temperatųroje, ir ataušintas ore. Tuo tarpu antroji partija nebuvo apdorojama, o trečioji ir ketvirtoji atleista 200 C° ir 580°C temperatūroje ir atvėsinta ore. Suvirinimo vonelės ir erminio poveikio zonos mikrostruktūrai tirti bei mikrokietumui nustatyti buvo naudotas Nicon optinis mikroskopas bei CSM mikrokietumo bandymų įrenginys. Matuojant CSM įrenginiu, 20N įspaudimo apkrova, buvo pastebėtas įdomus kietuvo būvis, kuris atskleidė ryšį tarp kietumo, elastingumo ir plastiškumo esantį suvirintų plokštelių terminio poveikio zonoje bei suvirinimo vonelėje. Buvo matuojamas suvirintų bandinių stiprumas tempiant ir liekamųjų įtempimų pasiskirstymas. Tempimo stiprumo bandymų duomenys parodė ducharakteringus suirimo atvejus – plastiio-elastinio bei trapaus tipo. Liekamųjų įtempimų bandymų rezultati neparodė rėikšmingos liekamųjų įtempimų įtakos pasirinktomis sąlygomis suvirintuose bandiniuose.

Inconel 738 (IN 738), like other precipitation-hardened nickel-base superalloys that contain a substantial amount of Al and Ti, is very difficult to weld due to its high susceptibility to heat-affected zone (HAZ) cracking during conventional fusion welding processes. The cause of this cracking, which is usually intergranular in nature, has been attributed to the liquation of various phases in the alloy, subsequent wetting of the grain boundaries by the liquid and decohesion along one of the solid-liquid interfaces due to on-cooling tensile stresses. To address the problem of liquation cracking in weldments, recent developments in welding research have resulted in supposedly exclusive solid-state friction joining processes, such as linear friction welding (LFW), for joining crack susceptible structural alloys. The objective of this work was therefore to investigate the weldability of the difficult-to-weld IN 738 superalloy by LFW and to analyze the resulting microstructural changes in the alloy due to the welding process. LFW was performed on Linear Friction Welding Process Development System (PDS) at the Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Centre of the Institute for Aerospace Research, National Research Council (NRC) of Canada. In order to study and decouple the effect of non-equilibrium thermal cycle and imposed compressive stress during the joining, physical simulation of the LFW process was performed by using Gleeble 1500-D Thermo-Mechanical Simulation System at the University of Manitoba. Detailed microstructural study of welded and Gleeble-simulated materials was carried out. Correlation between the simulated microstructure and that of the weldments was obtained, in that, a significant grain boundary liquation was observed in both the simulated specimens and actual weldments due to non-equilibrium reaction of second phase particles, including the strengthening gamma prime phase. These results show that in contrast to the general assumption of LFW being an exclusively solid-state joining process, intergranular liquation, caused by non-equilibrium phase reaction(s), occurred during the process. However, despite a significant occurrence of liquation in the alloy, no HAZ cracking was observed. Nevertheless, the result showed that crack-free welding by linear friction welding is not due to preclusion of grain boundary liquation as has been commonly assumed and reported. Instead, resistance to cracking can be related to the counter-crack-formation effect of the imposed strain and to a concept observed and reported for the first time in this work, which is strain-induced rapid solidification. Furthermore, microstructural evolution during joining cannot be understood without considering the concept of non-equilibrium liquation reaction and strain-induced rapid solidification of the metastable liquid, which are carefully elucidated in this thesis.

[pt] O objetivo principal desta pesquisa foi caracterizar o fenômeno de corrosão localizada na região da junta soldada de elos de amarras do tipo ORQ utilizados em sistemas de ancoragem offshore. Para tal, foram selecionados elos de amarras retirados de serviço ao final de sua vida útil programada e sem sinais de corrosão localizada (elos sem corrosão) e elos de amarras que tiveram abreviada sua vida útil em função de corrosão localizada (elos com corrosão). Inicialmente, promoveu-se a determinação das características microestruturais, na qual se destacou o intenso bandeamento microestrutural de ferrita/perlita, bem como as propriedades mecânicas e de fratura das juntas soldadas em ambas as condições. Em seguida, ensaios eletroquímicos avaliaram a susceptibilidade à corrosão das diferentes regiões da junta soldada. Os resultados mostraram a zona termicamente afetada como anódica, com alta taxa de corrosão em elos com corrosão, enquanto que, em elos sem corrosão, esta mesma região foi catódica, com baixa velocidade de corrosão. Após tais ensaios, a zona termicamente afetada dos elos com corrosão foi submetida a diferentes tratamentos térmicos visando a diminuição de sua taxa de corrosão. O tratamento térmico de recozimento, prévio à têmpera e revenido, foi importante para a diminuição da taxa de corrosão desta região. Finalmente, as juntas soldadas em ambas as condições foram analisadas por difração de raios-X, que evidenciou a presença de partículas de segunda fase contendo níquel e cromo na zona termicamente afetada dos elos com corrosão. Tais partículas foram apontadas, possivelmente, como causadoras do endurecimento e da maior susceptibilidade à corrosão desta região. / [en] The purpose of this work was to characterize the localizated corrosion phenomenom in the weld region of offshore mooring chains type ORQ. In this sense, a number of chain links were selected after finishing their projected life time without corrosion signs (chains without corrosion) as well as chain links which showed a reduced life time caused by localizated corrosion (chains with corrosion). Initially, a microetructural characterization, that revealed a strong ferrite-pearlite banding, as well as mechanical testing were carried out for both material´s conditions. In the sequence, eletrochemistry tests evaluated the corrosion susceptibility of the different regions of the weld joint. The results showed that the heat affected zone concerning the chains with corrosion was the anodic region, with high corrosion rate, while the same region on the not corroded chains was the cathodic one, with low corrosion rate. After that, the heat affected zone regarding the corroded chains was subjected to different heat treatments aiming to reduce its corrosion rate. The annealing heat treatment, previous to quenching and tempering, was considered important in order to decrease the corrosion rate of this region. Finally, the welded joints in both conditions were analyzed by means of X-ray diffraction, which pointed to the presence of second phase particles containing nickel and chromium in the heat affected zone of the corroded chains. The hardening and the high corrosion susceptibility showed by this region was attributed for these particles.

Na presente dissertação foram investigadas as propriedades mecânicas e microestruturais, antes e após o processo de soldagem, dos aços ZSTE380 e DOGAL800, que são aços de alta resistência e baixa liga (ARBL), além do aço convencional ZAR230. O principal objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar possíveis modificações nessas propriedades e verificar a possibilidade de substituir o aço convencional por um dos aços ARBL. Por serem mais resistentes os aços ARBL podem ser usados em elementos estruturais menos robustos, o que reduz o peso e a emissço de gases poluentes dos veículos. Primeiramente, verificaram-se diferentes extensões da zona termicamente afetada para os três aços soldados, onde é observada a maior extensão no DOGAL800 e a menor no ZAR230. A análise microestrutural revelou o crescimento do tamanho de grão austenítico em relação ao metal base nessa região para os aços ZSTE380 e DOGAL800, gerando um pronunciado aumento da resistência devido à transformação martensítica. O caso mais marcante ocorreu no DOGAL800, em cuja zona termicamente afetada observou-se a formação de martensita de baixo carbono, que é uma fase dura do aço, porém de baixa ductilidade. Os perfis de microdureza indicaram que não houve uma alteração significativa na dureza da zona termicamente afetada no ZAR230, enquanto que para o DOGAL800 observa-se um considerável aumento na mesma, confirmando a formaçao de martensita. Os limites de escoamento determinados pelos ensaios de tração não apresentaram diferenças significativas entre os corpos de prova com e sem solda se analisados de forma global, porém um ensaio de microtração, isso seria revelado. Contudo, nos ensaios de fadiga dos corpos de prova sem solda observou-se uma maior resistência à fadiga para os aços DOGAL800 e ZSTE380 em relação ao ZAR230. Após o processo de soldagem, os aços ARBL apresentam uma significativa redução da resistência a fadiga, estando abaixo da resistência à fadiga do ZAR230 para ensaios acima de um milhão de ciclos. Os resultados apresentados são explicados com base na relação entre as características microestruturais e propriedades mecânicas dos aços antes e após a soldagem. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-05-21T16:18:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Felipe Perini.pdf: 4638294 bytes, checksum: 04b47e3d737143948a0776e96d6588a1 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-21T16:18:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Felipe Perini.pdf: 4638294 bytes, checksum: 04b47e3d737143948a0776e96d6588a1 (MD5) / In the present work we investigated the mechanical and microstructural proprieties of the ZSTE380 and DOGAL800 high strength low alloys steels (HSLA), comparing to the conventional ZAR230 steel, before and after welding. The main purpose is to detect possible modifications on these steels during the welding process, and to verify the possibility of replacing the conventional ZAR230 steel by one of the HSLAs. Since HSLA steels possess higher mechanical resistance, they can be used in less robust structures, which reduce the weight of the automobiles, and consequently reduce the emission of pollutant gases. We observed different extensions of the heat-affected zone for the three welded steels, with a higher extension in the DOGAL800 and the smaller extension in the ZAR230. Microstructural analysis revealed austenite grain growth in the heat-affected zone, in relation to the base metal in this region for the steels ZSTE380 and DOGAL800, becoming a remarkable increase of resistance due to martensite transformation. The most remarkable case happened in the DOGAL800, where we observed formation of low carbon martensite in the heat-affected zone, being this a harder phase of the steel, but with low ductility. The microhardness profiles indicated that it did not happen a significant change in hardness of the heat-affected zone of the ZAR230, while for the DOGAL800 it is observed a considerable increase in hardness, corroborating the hypothesis of martensite formation. The yield strength obtained form stress-strain curves didn?t revealed any significant differences between welded and without weld samples, if analyzed in a global way, but in a microtensile test, it would be reveled. The samples without weld submitted to the high-cycle fatigue test presented different fatigue resistance, where the DOGAL800 showed the greatest fatigue resistance, followed by the ZSTE380 and finally the ZAR230. However after the welding process we observed a significant reduction in the fatigue resistance of the HSLA steels, even below the ZAR230 resistance for tests above 1 million cycles. The results were explained relating the microstructure properties and the mechanical properties of the three steels, before and after welding.

Na presente dissertação foram investigadas as propriedades mecânicas e microestruturais, antes e após o processo de soldagem, dos aços ZSTE380 e DOGAL800, que são aços de alta resistência e baixa liga (ARBL), além do aço convencional ZAR230. O principal objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar possíveis modificações nessas propriedades e verificar a possibilidade de substituir o aço convencional por um dos aços ARBL. Por serem mais resistentes os aços ARBL podem ser usados em elementos estruturais menos robustos, o que reduz o peso e a emissço de gases poluentes dos veículos. Primeiramente, verificaram-se diferentes extensões da zona termicamente afetada para os três aços soldados, onde é observada a maior extensão no DOGAL800 e a menor no ZAR230. A análise microestrutural revelou o crescimento do tamanho de grão austenítico em relação ao metal base nessa região para os aços ZSTE380 e DOGAL800, gerando um pronunciado aumento da resistência devido à transformação martensítica. O caso mais marcante ocorreu no DOGAL800, em cuja zona termicamente afetada observou-se a formação de martensita de baixo carbono, que é uma fase dura do aço, porém de baixa ductilidade. Os perfis de microdureza indicaram que não houve uma alteração significativa na dureza da zona termicamente afetada no ZAR230, enquanto que para o DOGAL800 observa-se um considerável aumento na mesma, confirmando a formaçao de martensita. Os limites de escoamento determinados pelos ensaios de tração não apresentaram diferenças significativas entre os corpos de prova com e sem solda se analisados de forma global, porém um ensaio de microtração, isso seria revelado. Contudo, nos ensaios de fadiga dos corpos de prova sem solda observou-se uma maior resistência à fadiga para os aços DOGAL800 e ZSTE380 em relação ao ZAR230. Após o processo de soldagem, os aços ARBL apresentam uma significativa redução da resistência a fadiga, estando abaixo da resistência à fadiga do ZAR230 para ensaios acima de um milhão de ciclos. Os resultados apresentados são explicados com base na relação entre as características microestruturais e propriedades mecânicas dos aços antes e após a soldagem. / In the present work we investigated the mechanical and microstructural proprieties of the ZSTE380 and DOGAL800 high strength low alloys steels (HSLA), comparing to the conventional ZAR230 steel, before and after welding. The main purpose is to detect possible modifications on these steels during the welding process, and to verify the possibility of replacing the conventional ZAR230 steel by one of the HSLAs. Since HSLA steels possess higher mechanical resistance, they can be used in less robust structures, which reduce the weight of the automobiles, and consequently reduce the emission of pollutant gases. We observed different extensions of the heat-affected zone for the three welded steels, with a higher extension in the DOGAL800 and the smaller extension in the ZAR230. Microstructural analysis revealed austenite grain growth in the heat-affected zone, in relation to the base metal in this region for the steels ZSTE380 and DOGAL800, becoming a remarkable increase of resistance due to martensite transformation. The most remarkable case happened in the DOGAL800, where we observed formation of low carbon martensite in the heat-affected zone, being this a harder phase of the steel, but with low ductility. The microhardness profiles indicated that it did not happen a significant change in hardness of the heat-affected zone of the ZAR230, while for the DOGAL800 it is observed a considerable increase in hardness, corroborating the hypothesis of martensite formation. The yield strength obtained form stress-strain curves didn?t revealed any significant differences between welded and without weld samples, if analyzed in a global way, but in a microtensile test, it would be reveled. The samples without weld submitted to the high-cycle fatigue test presented different fatigue resistance, where the DOGAL800 showed the greatest fatigue resistance, followed by the ZSTE380 and finally the ZAR230. However after the welding process we observed a significant reduction in the fatigue resistance of the HSLA steels, even below the ZAR230 resistance for tests above 1 million cycles. The results were explained relating the microstructure properties and the mechanical properties of the three steels, before and after welding.