Simulated HAZ continuous cooling transformation diagram of a bogie steel of high-speed railway

Simulated HAZ continuous cooling transformation (SH-CCT) diagram presents the start and end points of phase transformation and the relationships of the microstructures of HAZ, temperature and cooling rates. It is often used to assess the weldability of materials. In this paper, a weathering steel Q345C which is widely used in the bogies manufacturing was studied. The cooling times from 800∘C to 500∘C (t8/5) were from 3 s to 6000 s, aiming to study the microstructures under different cooling rates. Different methods such as color metallography were used to obtain the metallography images. The results show that ferrite nucleates preferentially at the prior austenite grain boundaries and grows along the grain boundaries with a lath-like distribution when t8/5 is 300 s. Austenite transforms into ferrite, pearlite and bainite with decreasing t8/5. Pearlite disappears completely when t8/5 = 150 s. Martensite gradually appears when t8/5 decreases to 30 s. The hardness increases with decreasing t8/5. The SH-CCT diagram indicates that the welding input and t8/5 should be taken into consideration when welding. This work provides the relationships of welding parameters and microstructures.