Comparison of Fracture Toughness in the Coarse-Grain Heat-Affected Zone of X80 Pipelines Girth-Welded under Conventional and Ultra-Low Heat Input

The coarse-grain heat-affected zones (CGHAZs) of X80 girth-welded steel pipelines are prone to embrittlement, which has an extremely adverse effect on their structural integrity. In the present work, the fracture behavior of the CGHAZs of X80 girth welds under the conditions of conventional and ultra-low heat input was studied. The fracture toughness of CGHAZs was evaluated using the crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) test at -10 °C, and the fracture behavior mechanism of CGHAZs were clarified by analyzing microstructural characteristics at prefabricated fatigue cracks containing fracture cloud image, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) figures. The results illustrate that the average fracture toughness (CTOD) value of the ultra-low heat input CGHAZ is 0.6 mm, and the dispersion of CTOD values is small, while the CTOD value of conventional heat input is only 0.04 mm. The ultra-low heat input makes the high-temperature residence time of the coarse-grained region short, reduces the proportion of prior austenite grain boundaries, and inhibits the formation of strip-like bainite and island-like M-A components. The reduction of these deleterious ductile microstructures increases the plastic reserve and deformation capacity of the CGHAZ.