The forging-healing of the internal porosity defects affects the tensile, impact and fatigue properties of heavy forgings. In the present work, the effect of deformation process on the microstructure in the joint area as well as the tensile strength, impact toughness and fatigue strength was studied experimentally. It is shown that the tensile strength is restored once the porosity defects were healed, and the impact toughness is recovered when the flat grain band is eliminated. The fatigue strength can be restored if a uniform grain structure can be achieved in both the joint area and the matrix, whereafter precipitate become the key factor affecting the fatigue strength. A complete healing of the porosity defects, a uniform grain structure in the joint area and the matrix, and a fully controlled precipitate are essential to guarantee the mechanical properties and in-service performance of the heavy forgings.
Keywords: defect healing; heavy forgings; mechanical properties; plastic deformation.