Enhanced Toughness and Ductility of Friction Stir Welded SA516 Gr.70 Steel Joint via Post-Welding Annealing

The SA516 Gr.70 steel possessing excellent toughness and plasticity has been widely used in the cryogenic field. However, the appearance of coarse bainite in the heat affected zone (HAZ) of the fusion welded joint deteriorates the toughness and ductility. In this work, 4.5 mm thick SA516 Gr.70 steel was joined using shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) and friction stir welding (FSW), respectively, and the microstructure and mechanical properties of joints were investigated in detail. The Charpy energy in the HAZ in the FSW joint was 80 J/cm², which was higher than that of the HAZ in the SMAW joint (60 J/cm²) and due to microstructure refinement. In addition, the total elongation (TE) of the SMAW joint was 17.5%, which was higher than that of the FSW joint (12.1%) and caused by a wider nugget zone with high hardness. The post-welding annealing was used to improve the toughness and ductility of the SMAW and FSW joints, and the microstructure and mechanical properties of the joints after annealing were analyzed. The toughness in the HAZ of the SMAW and FSW joints were 80 and 103 J/cm², and the TE of the SMAW and FSW joints were 18.6% and 25.2%, respectively. Finally, the as-annealed FSW joints exhibited excellent toughness and ductility. The abovementioned excellent mechanical properties were primarily attributed to the appearance of tempering martensite, decrease in dislocation density, and fine grain.