Weldability of 780 MPa Super-High Strength Heavy-Duty Truck Crossbeam Steel Original Research Article

CO2-shielded welding experiments of newly developed, 780 MPa super-high strength heavy-duty truck crossbeam steel were conducted, and the microstructure, microhardness, mechanical properties, and impact toughness of the welded joint were studied. The evolution of the microstructure of the welded joint occurred as follows: welding seam (acicular ferrite+proeutectoid ferrite) → fusion zone (granular bainite-long strip M/A island) → coarse grain zone (granular bainite-long strip or short bar M/A island) → grain zone (ferrite+pearlite+blocky M/A island) → mixed grained zone (ferrite+granular bainite+blocky M/A island) → base metal (proeutectoid ferrite+granular bainite-blocky or granular M/A island). Increasing the density of the grain boundaries can effectively improve the impact toughness, and the blocky M/A island hindered crack propagation more effectively than the long strip M/A island. The new hot-rolled 780 MPa super-high strength steel had excellent weldability. The welding technology was applied under the following conditions: welding voltage was 20 to 21V, welding current was 200 to 210 A, and the gas flow rate was 25 L/min.