N-induced microstructure refinement and toughness improvement in the coarse grain heat-affected zone of a low carbon Mo–V–Ti–B steel subjected to a high heat input welding thermal cycle

Abstract In the coarse grain heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) of a low carbon Mo–V–Ti–B steel subjected to a simulative welding thermal cycle with a heat input as high as 75 kJ/cm, the influence of an increase in nitrogen content from 0.0085 to 0.0144 wt% on the microstructures and impact properties of the steel was comparatively estimated using Gleeble-3800 simulation, microstructure characterization and impact testing. With a rise in the nitrogen content, the number of fine and coarse particles also increased. An increase in the number of fine precipitates can effectively pin the prior austenite grain (PAG) boundary and inhibit the grain growth, resulting in the refinement of PAG in the CGHAZ. The intragranular and intergranular V-containing coarse particles effectively promoted the nucleation of intragranular acicular ferrite (IGAF) and grain boundary polygonal ferrite (GBPF). Accordingly, the contents of heterogeneously-nucleated IGAF and polygonal ferrite (PF) increased; however, the bainite content decreased with a rise in N content, leading to a prominent microstructure refinement in this CGHAZ with a high heat input. Furthermore, the nitrogen addition led to the formation of finer and more dispersed martensite-austenite (M/A) constituents in the CGHAZ. Therefore, the impact toughness of this CGHAZ was enhanced. This can be attributed to the microstructure refinement of the CGHAZ, which in turn was ascribed to an increasing nitrogen.