The Assessment of Selected Properties of Welded Joints in High-Strength Steels

The use of technologically advanced structural materials entails the necessity of adjusting typical welding processes to special requirements resulting from the limited weldability of certain material groups. Difficulties obtaining high-quality joints may be the consequence of deteriorated mechanical properties and structural changes in materials (beyond requirements of related standards). One of the aforementioned materials is steel characterised by a guaranteed yield point of 1300 MPa, where high strength is obtained through the addition of slight amounts of carbide-forming elements and the application of complex heat treatment processes. A heat input during welding may worsen the aforesaid properties not only in the weld but also in the adjacent material. The tests discussed in the article revealed that the crucial area was that heated below a temperature of 600°C, where the hardness of the material decreased from approximately 520 HV to 330 HV.