SCIENCE CHINA

Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy

• Research Paper • August 2011 Vol.54 No.8: 1447–1454
doi: 10.1007/s11433-011-4401-2

Embrittlement and toughening in CGHAZ of ASTM4130 steel

LI LiYing*, WANG Yong*, HAN Tao & LI ChaoWen
College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Dongying 257061, China

Received December 16, 2010; accepted March 17, 2011; published online July 1, 2011

In the present investigation, a thermal welding simulation technique was used to investigate the mechanical properties and mi-
crostructure features of the coarse-grained heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) of ASTM4130 steel. The effect of post welding heat
treatment (PWHT) and welding heat inputs on the toughness of CGHAZ was also analyzed. The results show that CGHAZ has
the lowest toughness, which is only 5.5%–7.1% of the base metal. CGHAZ is mainly composed of dislocation martensite, up-
per and lower bainite, and M-A constituents. But after PWHT, carbides precipitate from non-equilibrium microstructures of
CGHAZ accompanying some retained austenite which transforms into low bainite, thereby enhancing toughness over the base
metal. Therefore, the key microstructure factors affecting fracture toughness are lathlike non-equilibrium microstructure and
lowered supersaturation before and after PWHT respectively. When welding heat input is between 12 kJ/cm and 28 kJ/cm, the
mechanical properties in CGHAZ of ASTM4130 with single-pass welding can satisfy the requirements when PWHT is ap-
plied.

ASTM4130 steel, coarse-grained heat-affected zone, embrittlement, toughening

PACS: 81.20.Vj, 81.30.-t, 81.40.-z, 81.70.-q

The balance of strength and toughness in the weld heat-
affected zone (HAZ) is usually upset due to the effect of
welding thermal cycles. Generally speaking, the coarse-
grained HAZ (CGHAZ) possesses the lowest toughness
which controls the failure of welded steel structures. In this
region, the degraded fracture performance is associated with
the formation of coarse-grained microstructures, represent-
ing brittle-hard phases, such as untempered martensite and
martensite-autensite (M-A) constituents [1–3]. As one kind
of Cr-Mo steel, ASTM 4130 steel exhibits high strength-to-
weight ratio and excellent low temperature toughness, and
has been widely used in oil and gas production efforts, such
as tubing, tubular components, drilling blowout preventers,
etc. However, its weldability is not desirable due to its car-
bon equivalent CEIIW up to 0.73. In addition, since HAZ is
generally narrow and discontinuous, a welding thermal
simulator is often employed to produce a large volume of
uniform microstructure, which is suitable for assessment of
*Corresponding author (email: llying3456@163.com; wangyong@upc.edu.cn)
microstructural and mechanical properties. Therefore, the
aim of the present work is to systematically investigate the
effect of welding heat input and post weld heat treatment
(PWHT) on microstructure and low temperature impact
toughness in CGHAZ of ASTM4130 steel pipes welded
under quenched and tempered (Q&T) conditions by means
of thermal welding simulation techniques.
1 Experimental material and procedures
The ASTM4130 steel pipe used in the experiments is
141.3 mm×30 mm, and the measured chemical composi-
tion is given in Table 1.
A thermal welding simulation experiment was done us-
ing Gleeble-1500. Square bar specimens (10.5 mm×10.5
mm×80 mm) for the thermal cycle simulation were cut
along the axial direction parallel to the pipe. The specimens
were uniformly heated at 130°C/s to five peak temperatures
(Tp) corresponding to the subcritical HAZ (SCHAZ, 700°C),

© Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 phys.scichina.com www.springerlink.com
1448 Li L Y, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron
Table 1 Chemical composition of ASTM4130 steel (wt.%)
C Si Mn Cr Mo Ni S P
0.32 0.355 0.62 1.15 0.25 0.17 0.004 0.010 balance
the intercritical HAZ (ICHAZ, 800°C), the fine-grained
HAZ (FGHAZ, 950°C) and the coarse-grained HAZ
(CGHAZ, 1200°C and 1350°C). The specimens were held
at the Tp value for 2 s. The cooling rates t8/5, as defined by
the thick-plate formula, were 6.4 s, 10.6 s, and 14.9 s for
heat inputs corresponding to 12, 20, and 28 kJ/cm, respec-
tively, and the preheat temperature was 200°C.
PWHT of specimens undergoing Tp of 1350°C was car-
ried out in a box furnace. Heat treatment conformed to JB/T
6046-1992. The temperature of the treatment was 640°C,
and the holding time was 1.5 h. The heating and cooling
rates were 120°C/h and 150°C/h above 300°C, respectively.
After the simulation test, the simulated CGHAZ speci-
mens were sectioned, polished, and etched by 4% nitric
solution, following Labara [4] and two-step metallographic
etching [5]. Their microstructures were observed by an op-
tical microscope (OM), a scanning electron microscope
(SEM), and a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The
prior austenite grain was etched by a saturated picric acid
solution and observed by the OM. The impact toughnesses
were evaluated by means of a standard V-notch Charpy
specimen of 10 mm×10 mm×55 mm, and the test tempera-
ture was 30°C. Fratography results of the impact speci-
mens were analyzed by SEM. Hardness was measured un-
der the load of 10 kg and 25 g.
2 Results and discussion
2.1 Properties
The toughness and hardness of base metal (BM) are 188 J
and 252.4 HV10, respectively. The relationship of peak
temperature with Charpy energy and hardness is shown in
Figure 1. As can be seen, HAZ impact toughness signifi-
cantly decreases with increasing Tp. At Tp of 1350°C,
Figure 1 Relationship of peak temperature with Charpy energy.
August (2011) Vol. 54 No. 8
CGHAZ has the lowest toughness, which is only about
Fe
5.5% of the BM. However, hardness shows an opposite
trend compared to impact toughness. At a Tp of 1350°C,
hardness is almost two times greater than that of BM.
Data describing the properties of CGHAZ before and af-
ter PWHT are presented in Table 2. The toughness and
hardness of CGHAZ as-welded are extremely low and high
respectively, regardless of the welding heat input. However,
the toughness of CGHAZ subjected to PWHT is remarkably
increased. Moreover, the hardness obviously declines. It can
be noted that PWHT has a significant effect on the proper-
ties of CGHAZ. In addition, it is interesting to find that the
specimens having high impact toughness and hardness be-
fore PWHT show the lowest toughness and hardness after
PWHT.
2.2 Microstructures
2.2.1 Microstructure of BM
Figure 2(a) is an optical micrograph of BM. As can be seen,
BM consists of typical tempered sorbite with ferrite mor-
phology of equiaxed and strip, and the carbides are highly
dispersed on the matrix. Also, TEM analysis shows that BM
contains a small amount of lower bainite (seen in Figure
2(b)).
2.2.2 Microstructure of CGHAZ before PWHT
The microstructure of ASTM4130 steel has obviously
changed after undergoing the thermal welding cycle of Tp
1350°C and being etched by a 4% nitric solution, which is
shown in Figure 3. It can be found that CGHAZ has a mi-
crostructure of untempered lath martensite and feathery
bainite, regardless of the applied welding heat. Figure 4 is
also a group of optical micrographs of CGHAZ etched by
Labara which has been widely used for martensite identifi-
cation in dual-phase steels. The matrix is martensite, while
the other is bainite. It can be clearly observed that CGHAZ
consists of a considerable amount of feathery and acicular
bainite, regardless of the applied welding heat. But the dis-
tribution and size of acicular bainite vary with the increase
in the welding heat input. When the applied welding heat
(12 kJ/cm) is low, most acicular bainite is relatively slend
and aligned parallel to each other. Some of the acicular
bainite constituent contacts each other at an angle, and its
width slightly increases when the welding heat input further
increases.
Table 2 Properties of CGHAZ before and after PWHT
Welding heat input (kJ·cm1) 12 20 28
as-welded 13.40 10.32 10.34
Charpy energy (J)
PWHT 183.67 193.67 207.67
as-welded 547.6 489.4 435.8
Hardness (HV10)
PWHT 222.7 240.9 234
 Li L Y, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron August (2011) Vol. 54 No. 8 1449

Figure 2 Microstructure of BM. (a) Optical micrograph; (b) TEM.

The area fraction and microhardness of the microstruc-

ture resulting from Figure 4 are shown in Table 3. It can be
found that the hardness of the matrix is higher than that of
the microstructure with morphology of feather and acicular.
Therefore, it is confirmed that the matrix is martensite and
the other is bainite. Meanwhile, the area fraction of marten-
site (bainite) decreases (increases) with increasing applied
heat, for heat inputs of 12, 20, and 28 kJ/cm. This is consis-
tent with the theoretical inference that much of the micro-
structure which transformes at high temperature is obtained
since the cooling rate decreases with increasing applied Figure 3 Optical micrographs of CGHAZ as-welded etched by a 4%
heat. nitric solution. (a) 12 kJ/cm; (b) 20 kJ/cm; (c) 28 kJ/cm.
Figure 5 illustrates that the prior austenite grain of
CGHAZ is coarsened regardless of the amount of welding welding heat has no effect on the prior austenite grain size
heat applied. Calculation from GB/T 6394-2002 shows that when it increases from 12 kJ/cm to 20 kJ/cm, but when it
the average intercepts are approximately 116.19, 115.19 and increases from 20 kJ/cm to 28 kJ/cm, the prior austenite
126.39 m corresponding to welding heat inputs of 12, 20 grain size slightly increases.
and 28 kJ/cm, respectively. It is evident that the applied Taking CGHAZ with welding heat input 20 kJ/cm, as is
typically used, the fine microstructure was further investi-
gated by TEM, as shown in Figure 6. It can be found that
Table 3 Area fraction and microhardness of the microstructure
CGHAZ as-welded also contains a small amount of
Welding heat Area fraction (%) Microhardness (HV0.025) high-carbon martensite with twinned morphology charac-
input (kJ·cm1) Bainite Martensite Bainite Martensite teristic (Figure 6(a)). Figure 6(b) shows that low bainite
12 54.8 45.2 300.7 417.8 contains stacking fault substructure, which differs from
20 68.5 31.5 381.5 421.5 what is usually observed. In addition, martensite-austenite
28 76.2 23.8 322.2 376.3
(M-A) constituents (Figure 6(c)) and granular bainite
1450 Li L Y, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron
Figure 4 (Color online) Optical micrographs of CGHAZ as-welded
etched by Labara. (a) 12 kJ/cm; (b) 20 kJ/cm; (c) 28 kJ/cm.
(Figure 6(d)) appear in CGHAZ. Figure 7 depicts the mor-
phology of M-A constituents which take on a black color. It
was etched by two different steps of the etching procedure.
It is found that there is a considerable amount of M-A con-
stituents in CGHAZ of ASTM4130 steel compared with that
of other low carbon alloy steels. The reason is that
ASTM4130 steel has a relatively high carbon content in
austenite under the same welding condition, which is bene-
ficial to the formation of M-A constituents. On the other
hand, once the bainite phase transformation occurs, retained
austenite with a high carbon content usually exists because
the formation process of bainite is also the process in which
August (2011) Vol. 54 No. 8
Figure 5 Prior austenite grain of CGHAZ. (a) 12 kJ/cm; (b) 20 kJ/cm; (c)
28 kJ/cm.
carbon diffuses outside into austenite, and it will further
transform to M-A constituents when it is cooled.
2.2.3 Microstructure of CGHAZ after PWHT
Optical micrographs of CGHAZ after PWHT are shown in
Figure 8. Martensite and other non-equilibrium microstruc-
tures are decomposed to tempered martensite and fine car-
bides, regardless of the welding heat input. It can be seen
that the prior austenite grain boundaries are still visible, in
particular the change of grain size is not apparent and the
strip characteristic is still obvious. This means that the tem-
pering resistance of ASTM4130 steel is high, which is
 Li L Y, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron
Figure 6 TEM images of CGHAZ. (a) High carbon martensite; (b) low bainite; (c) M-A constituent; (d) granular bainite.
Figure 7 Morphology of M-A constituents before PWHT.
closely related to the added alloying elements Cr and Mo. In
fact, the PWHT process is the process in which recovery
and recrystallization of ferrite, as well as aggregation and
growth of carbides, occur based on the disappearance and
recombination of dislocation [6]. On one hand, carbon at-
oms in the non-equilibrium microstructure primarily pre-
cipitate in the carbon segregation area, such as grain and
lath boundaries, and then gradually transform into cementite,
so that the prior austenite boundaries are evident compared
with those before the PWHT. On the other hand, alloying
elements will be redistributed between the  matrix and
August (2011) Vol. 54 No. 8 1451
cementite; the alloying elements forming carbide will dif-
fuse into cementite to form alloy cementite, such as
(Fe,Cr)3C, (Fe,Mo)3C, or further transform to metastable
and special stable carbides. In this case, the alloy cementite
M3C is found to exist in CGHAZ. It can effectively prevent
aggregation and growth of carbides since its chemical bond
energy is higher than that of Fe3C. At the same time, recov-
ery and recrystallization of the ferrite is suppressed due to
the difficulty of carbon atom diffusion, hence, most of the
original remains in a strip shape. In addition, M-A con-
stituents are not clearly found after PWHT (Figure 9).
For detailed microstructure analysis, CGHAZ with a
welding heat input of 20 kJ/cm after the PWHT was ob-
served by TEM. From Figure 10(a), it can be found that the
temper is not sufficient since stacking fault substructure still
exists. It can also be found that dislocation density de-
creases, contrasting with that before PWHT, and Fe3N par-
ticles are confirmed to precipitate along the lath boundaries
and inside laths of low bainite. As can be seen in Figure
10(b), retained austenite transformed to low bainite, which
is located among the prior laths since Fe4N is found to be
located in the ferrite needle. The existence of Fe3N and
Fe4N may be induced by the incomplete excretion of nitro-
gen during the steelmaking process. In addition, it is noted
that part of the CGHAZ microstructure has been trans-
formed to tempered sorbite (Figure 10(c)). However, no
M-A constituent is found by TEM.
1452 Li L Y, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron
Figure 8 Optical micrographs of CGHAZ after PWHT, etched by 4%
nitric solution. (a) 12 kJ/cm; (b) 20 kJ/cm; (c) 28 kJ/cm.
2.2.4 Fractograph characterization
Typical fracture modes observed in Charpy specimens of
CGHAZ before and after PWHT are shown in Figures 11(a)
and (b). It is clear that the CGHAZ fractured surface is en-
tirely dominated by the quasi-cleavage mode before PWHT.
However, it is transformed into a ductile dimpled fracture
after PWHT. This means that impact toughness is signifi-
cantly improved due to the tempering effect of PWHT.
Semiquantitative energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS)
analysis revealed that three main elements (Ca, Cr and Mn)
were present in the process, in addition to iron.
August (2011) Vol. 54 No. 8
Figure 9 Morphology of M-A constituents after PWHT.
3 Discussion
3.1 Brittle analysis
The foregoing results show that CGHAZ toughness dra-
matically decreases when the peak temperature is 1350°C,
regardless of whether the welding heat input is applied. This
is in good agreement with conclusions drawn from studies
of most high strength low alloy (HSLA) steels. In this case,
the ASTM4130 steel CGHAZ embrittlement might be de-
scribed by the following:
(1) The prior austenite grain is coarse. The average in-
tercept of CGHAZ austenite is about 115–126 m (Figure
5). Different from normal heat treatments, the heated tem-
perature CGHAZ experienced during fusion welding is up
to 1350°C, and austenite grain grows with thermal inertia
due to the welding feature of rapid heating and cooling. On
the other hand, there is not enough time for carbides to melt
completely in austenite, thereby leading to the loss of pin-
ning in prior austenite grain boundary migration. So, the
prior austenite grain becomes coarse, and accordingly, the
toughness decreases significantly according to the Hall-
Petch formula.
(2) The presence of non-equilibrium microstructure.
CGHAZ possesses microstructure of untempered lath mart-
ensite, as well as feathery, acicular and butterfly bainite
(Figures 3–4). In fact, the microstructure feature of CGHAZ
is strongly dependent on the thermal cycle experienced dur-
ing welding and chemical composition of ASTM4130 steel.
Firstly, when CGHAZ is heated to 1350°C, the prior
austenite grain becomes coarse, thereby increasing the bain-
ite transformation temperature (Bs) [7]. Secondly, the added
alloying elements, namely Cr and Mo, can effectively post-
pone the formation of ferrite and pearlite. However, their
influence on the bainite transformation is negligible. Finally,
the high carbon content in ASTM4130 steel improves the
stability of austenite, thus the CCT curve moves rightwards.
Therefore, the bainite transformation zone is expanded, and
a large amount of bainite and martensite is formed from the
 Li L Y, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron August (2011) Vol. 54 No. 8 1453

in this case its existence does not endow CGHAZ with the
balance of high strength and excellent toughness. The rea-
son is that low bainite contains stacking fault substructure
(Figure 6(b)). This stacking fault corresponds to a film hav-
ing a closely-packed hexagonal structure being inserted into
a body-centered cubic structure, which can prevent plastic
deformation continuity of ferrite, thereby resulting in dislo-
cation pile-up, stress concentration, and microcrack forma-
tion. In addition, M-A constituents play a significant role in
hydrogen and stress concentration. Microcracks are always
generated and propagate along their boundaries. Hence, the
presence of non-equilibrium microstructure is responsible
for the CGHAZ toughness degradation.

3.2 Effect of PWHT on CGHAZ toughness

After PWHT, although the microstructure of CGHAZ has a

distinct lath form, the CGHAZ toughness of ASTM4130
steel is remarkably improved over that of the BM, and
hardness obviously declines (Table 2). This demonstrates
that PWHT plays a significant role in the improvement of
CGHAZ toughness. During the PWHT process, fine car-
bides precipitate from non-equilibrium microstructure, but
do not become coarse due to high tempering resistance.
Some big Ca-Cr-Mn particles are also found to be located in
CGHAZ (Figure 11(b)). At the relatively low impact stress
levels, the big Ca-Cr-Mn particles preferentially separate

Figure 10 TEM images of CGHAZ after PWHT. (a) Tempered bainite;

(b) freshly formed bainite; (c) tempered sorbite.

large prior austenite grain size.

The decrease in CGHAZ toughness is closely related to
its microstructure. Firstly, the carbides, which are located
among upper bainite laths, provide the initiating sites and
propagating channel of the crack [8]. Secondly, martensite
is a kind of supersaturated carbon solid solution, and has a
large lattice distortion and high hardness. Moreover, it is
difficult to generate the associated self-tempering effect
since the austenite-martensite transition temperature Ms is
low. Thirdly, although lower bainite has excellent me-
chanical properties according to the conventional viewpoint, Figure 11 Fractographs of CGHAZ. (a) Before; (b) after PWHT.
1454 Li L Y, et al. Sci China Phys Mech Astron
from the matrix and form large microvoids. Fine carbides
experience a similar process with increasing impact stress,
except that the associated microvoids are smaller than those
of their counterparts. Then small and large microvoids fur-
ther grow and eventually contact each other. As can be seen
in Figure 11(b), small microvoids are located among the
large ones, which consumes more energy during the fracture
process. Additionally, PWHT can relax residual stresses,
which is also beneficial to increasing toughness.
3.3 Effect of heat input on CGHAZ toughness
When applied welding heat values are 12 and 20 kJ/cm,
prior austenite grain size is almost the same, but it slightly
increases when welding heat input increases to 28 kJ/cm.
However, the total CGHAZ toughness of the input welding
heat of 20 kJ/cm is as high as that of the input welding heat
of 28 kJ/cm, and slightly lower than that of the input weld-
ing heat of 12 kJ/cm. Analysis suggests that the factor con-
trolling CGHAZ impact toughness is the resultant micro-
structure rather than the prior austenite grain size. As can be
seen in Table 3 and Figure 4, the area faction of upper and
lower bainite and the ferrite lath width increase with the
increase in welding heat input. It can be inferred from Ta-
bles 2 and 3 that the area fraction of bainite dramatically
affects the impact toughness, and the impact toughness de-
clines to the limit where the bainite fraction increases to
about 70% (welding heat input 20 kJ/cm). After PWHT, the
specimens with high welding heat input having low tough-
ness before PWHT later have high toughness after PWHT.
Also, impact toughness slightly increases with the increase
in welding heat input. The reason might be that the super-
saturation of bainite is lower than that of martensite, so
carbon atoms undergoing the same PWHT process diffuse
fully. In a word, the effect of applied welding heat on the
toughness of CGHAZ is not very obvious regardless of
whether PWHT is applied or not.
4 Conclusions
The effect of welding heat input and PWHT on microstruc-
ture and low temperature impact toughness in CGHAZ of
ASTM4130 steel has been systematically studied by means
August (2011) Vol. 54 No. 8
of a welding simulation technique. Some main conclusions
are summarized as follows:
(1) The impact toughness in CGHAZ of ASTM4130
steel is only 5.5%–7.1% that of the base metal, which
makes CGHAZ become the local brittle zone in single-pass
welding.
(2) CGHAZ toughness degradation of ASTM4130 steel
is primarily due to the presence of non-equilibrium micro-
structure, particularly feathery, acicular, and butterfly bain-
ite and M-A constituents. In addition, the coarse grain size
also results in the deterioration of toughness.
(3) The 650°C/1.5 h PWHT restores CGHAZ toughness
of ASTM4130 steel in single-pass welding, showing that
PWHT is required. This improvement resulted from the
decomposition of non-equilibrium microstructure and relief
of residual stresses.
(4) For single-pass welding of ASTM4130 steel, the ef-
fect of applied welding heat increasing from 12 kJ/cm to 28
kJ/cm on CGHAZ toughness is negligible regardless of
whether PWHT is applied or not. After PWHT, the associ-
ated mechanical properties of CGHAZ can all satisfy the
requirements. When the welding efficiency is taken into
account, a larger welding heat input is preferred.
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