Thermal process influence on microstructure and mechanical behavior for friction taper plug welding in structural steel S355

The present work reports the influence of thermal process on microstructure and mechanical behavior for friction taper plug welding (FTPW) in structural steel S355. The results indicate that there is a significant decrease in total energy input and cooling time in temperature interval from 800 to 500 °C (Δt8/5) with increasing the axial force. However, the varying axial force has little effect on the peak temperature. The microstructure of weld zone contains acicular ferrite, polygonal ferrite, grain boundary allotriomorphic ferrite, and lath bainite. With decreasing total energy input and Δt8/5, the formation of lath bainite is promoted as well as the precipitation and growth of grain boundary allotriomorphic ferrite is inhibited. The hardness tends to increase with decreasing total energy input and Δt8/5. Charpy impact energy at the bonding line is almost 35 J ± 7 J for all specimens. On the other hand, Charpy impact energy at the weld zone increases gradually with decreasing total energy input and Δt8/5.