HAZ Characterization and Mechanical Properties of QP980-DP980 Laser Welded Joints

The QP980-DP980 dissimilar steel joints were fabricated by fiber laser welding. The weld zone (WZ) was fully martensitic structure, and heat-affected zone (HAZ) contained newly-formed martensite and partially tempered martensite (TM) in both steels. The super-critical HAZ of the QP980 side had higher microhardness (similar to 549.5 Hv) than that of the WZ due to the finer martensite. A softened zone was present in HAZ of QP980 and DP980, the dropped microhardness of softened zone of the QP980 and DP980 was Delta 21.8 Hv and Delta 40.9 Hv, respectively. Dislocation walls and slip bands were likely formed at the grain boundaries with the increase of strain, leading to the formation of low angle grain boundaries (LAGBs). Dislocation accumulation more easily occurred in the LAGBs than that of the HAGBs, which led to significant dislocation interaction and formation of cracks. The electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) results showed the fraction of LAGBs in sub-critical HAZ of DP980 side was the highest under different deformation conditions during tensile testing, resulting in the failure of joints located at the sub-critical HAZ of DP980 side. The QP980-DP980 dissimilar steel joints presented higher elongation (similar to 11.21%) and ultimate tensile strength (similar to 1011.53 MPa) than that of DP980-DP980 similar steel joints, because during the tensile process of the QP980-DP980 dissimilar steel joint (similar to 8.2% and 991.38 MPa), the strain concentration firstly occurred on the excellent QP980 BM. Moreover, Erichsen cupping tests showed that the dissimilar welded joints had the lowest Erichsen value (similar to 5.92 mm) and the peak punch force (similar to 28.4 kN) due to the presence of large amount of brittle martensite in WZ and inhomogeneous deformation.