Continuous cooling transformation behavior and impact toughness in heat-affected zone of Nb-containing fire-resistant steel

Simulated heat-affected zone continuous cooling transformation diagram was developed for advanced fireresistant steel. Over a wide range of cooling rates, corresponding to t8/5 from 6 s to 150 s, granular bainite was the dominant transformation constituent, while the morphology of less dominant martensite-austenite (M-A) constituent changed from film-like to block-type constituent; but the hardness remained similar to the average value of 190-205 HV (0.2). The start and finish transformation temperature was high at 700 °C and 500 °C, and is different from the conventional high strength low alloy steels. It is believed that the high-content (0.09 wt%) of Nb may promote bainite transformation at relatively high temperatures. Martenistic matrix was not observed at high cooling rate and the film-like M-A constituent and blocky M-A constituent with thin film of retained austenite and lath martensite were observed on slow cooling. Excellent impact toughness was obtained in the heat-affected zone with 15-75 kJ/cm welding heat input.