A study of the continous cooling behaviour and effect of preheat and interpass temperature on the HAZ of high strength quenched and tempered steel

In this study, the continuous cooling phase transformation behaviour of a quenched and tempered armour steel was investigated. A continuous cooling transformation diagram was constructed providing valuable information for predicting microstructural evolution and mechanical properties at different cooling rates during actual welding fabrication. Welding trials were carried out utilising flux-cored arc welding technique in combination with an austenitic stainless steel consumable. The effect of various preheat and interpass temperatures on cooling rate and consequently on the heat affected zone microstructure and mechanical properties of multipass welds were investigated.