Effect of microalloying on precipitate evolution in ferritic welds and implications for toughness

Ferritic weld metal deposited with a self-shielded arc-welding process has intentional additions of aluminum, magnesium, titanium and zirconium. This results in a complex precipitation process that has been characterized with a combination of electron microscopy techniques. This work indicates that the formation of a spinel oxide is critical for the nucleation of nitrides of zirconium and titanium and prevents the agglomeration of aluminum rich oxides and the formation of large aluminum nitrides. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy has been used to characterize the core/shell structure of the precipitates with microalloying additions. Thermodynamic modeling of the precipitate formation during solidification is consistent with the microstructural observations. The evolution of precipitate formation is critical to limit large inclusions and improve weld metal toughness.