Structure and hardness changes in welded joints of Hardox steels

In the article, the structure and change in hardness of the welded Hardox 400 and Hardox 500 steels have been presented. It has been shown that structures of lower wear resistance are being created as a result of welding those materials in the “as delivered” state (i.e. with the tempered martensite structure) within the heat-affected zones. They are as much as up to 90 mm wide, and that causes their non-uniform and fast wear in the anticipated applications. Based on microscopic tests and hardness measurements a method of thermal joints treatment has been proposed, consisting in their hardening and low-temperature tempering (self-tempering) at the heat-affected zones. It leads to reproduction of that area structure, similar to the native material structure. In the laboratory conditions, a heat treatment differing from the usual practice (stress-relief annealing or normalizing) has not led to welding incompatibilities (cracks).