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Influence of flash butt welding parameters on microstructure and mechanical properties of HSLA 590CL welded joints in wheel rims

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Abstract

The object of the present investigations was to evaluate the effect of flash butt welding parameters on microstructures and mechanical properties of HSLA 590CL welded joints in wheel rims by adjusting welding parameters separately. The amount of Widmanstatten ferrites and bainite in the weld metal, and grain size were observed with the adjustment of welding parameters. The tensile strength of welded joints met the strength requirement of wheel rims steels, but the tensile strength and tensile fracture were different in different welding parameters. Micro-hardness distributions of welded joints in different welding parameters were similar, that is the maximum micro-hardness occurred in the weld and micro-hardness decreased from the weld to base metal. A certain degree of softening phenomenon was found in the heat affected zone (HAZ), which should result from the heat input in the flash butt welding. Two failure mechanisms of wheel rims in the expanding process were investigated. The first type fractured at the HAZ and showed ductile fracture characteristics, the crack initiation located at the thinning location. The second type fractured at the weld and showed brittle fracture characteristics.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51305144), Fujian Provincial Natural Science Foundation (2015J01203), Science and Technology Planning Project of Xiamen City under grant (3502Z20113020), Promotion Program for Young and Middle-aged Teacher in Science and Technology Research of Huaqiao University (ZQN-PY203), Science and Technology Key Planning Project of Fujian Province (2008H0085).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Special Energy Manufacturing, Huaqiao University, Xiamen, 361021, China

    Ping Lu, Zhixin Xu, Kaiyong Jiang & Yang Shu

  2. Xiamen Key Laboratory of Digital Vision Measurement, Huaqiao University, Xiamen, 361021, China

    Ping Lu, Zhixin Xu, Kaiyong Jiang & Yang Shu

  3. Xiamen sunrise metal co., Ltd., Xiamen, 361100, China

    Feng Ma

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  1. Ping Lu
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  2. Zhixin Xu
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  3. Kaiyong Jiang
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  4. Feng Ma
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Correspondence to Ping Lu.

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Lu, P., Xu, Z., Jiang, K. et al. Influence of flash butt welding parameters on microstructure and mechanical properties of HSLA 590CL welded joints in wheel rims. Journal of Materials Research 32, 831–842 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2016.509

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2016.509

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