Microstructure and mechanical properties of fiber laser welded joints of ultrahigh-strength steel 22MnB5 and dual-phase steels

This study was to analyze the microstructure, microhardness, tensile and fatigue performance of the welded joints performed by a fiber laser on 22MnB5 and dual-phase steels (DP590, DP980) in similar and dissimilar combinations. The result shows that the weld zone (WZ) basically consisted of lath martensite. The HAZ in these steels can be divided into 3 parts: quenched, incomplete quenched, and tempered region. The WZ had the highest hardness, and a soft zone existed in the HAZ of all steels. Inside the WZ of the dissimilar welded joints, two hardness subregions were observed due to the difference in the alloying elements of these steels. Tensile specimens of the 22MnB5-22MnB5 and 22MnB5-DP980 welded joints were all broken in HAZ, while the 22MnB5-DP590 welded joints failed in the DP590 base metal (BM). The BM had a higher fatigue life than the welded joints, and the fatigue failure of the 22MnB5 similar and 22MnB5-DP980 dissimilar welded joints respectively occurred in the HAZ and DP980 BM. The fatigue fracture contained 3 parts: crack initiation, crack propagation, and the final fast fracture region.