Weldability of Modern Structural Steels in Japan*

By Haruyoshi SUZUKI**

I. Introduction techniques of steel plate production have been de-

The essential factors of weldability of steel plates veloped and put into commercial use, thus yielding
are the ease with which they can be welded and the remarkable improvements in weldability of structural
satisfactory service performance of the welded struc- steel plates.
tures. For ease of welding, susceptibility to cold The features of those market needs can be sum-
cracking is the most important, whereas for service marized as follows' :
performance, toughness is the first essential. 1) Heavier structural steel plates (larger structures);
Compared with the steel plates of 10 to 15 years 2) Higher steel strength (weight reduction and
ago, the latest array of structural steels are of excellent larger sizes);
and uniform quality. They surpass their predecessors 3) Higher thoughness (to prevent brittle fracture re-
in weldability, strength, and production costs. sulting from the use of larger steel structures);
This report is intended to describe the current state 4) Improved resistance to weld cracking (easier weld-
of the weldability of modern structural steels, but since ing procedures and lower preheating tempera-
the number of pages allotted is limited, only several tures);
typical grades of steels and interesting problems are 5) Prevention of weld defects (reduction of injurious
chosen to present the status of structural steel weld- segregation and harmful non-metallic inclusions);
ability. 6) Weldability with large weld heat input (high-
The steel grades covered in this discussion include efficiency welding) ; and
Japanese carbon steels of low carbon contents, micro- 7) Others (corrosion resistance, flatness, etc.).
alloyed steels and low-alloy high strength steels, all of These demands for improved qualities necessarily
which are for use in arc-welded constructions of com- caused a rise in prices of steel production. More-
paratively large size. over, fuel and raw material price increases following
the oil crisis, raised steel costs against the background
II. Features of the Latest Structural Steels of stagnant steel demand. However, by the unsparing
With the oil crisis in 1973 as a turning point, world efforts of Japanese steelmakers, labour-saving tech-
steel demand has assumed a different trend. New nology and yield-improving techniques have been suc-
oil fields are being developed, alternative sources of cessfully developed. As a result, Japanese steel quali-
energy are being sought, oil stockpiles are being built ties have come to win the favour of steel users the
up and energy-saving actions are being widely taken. world over. Exports of know-how have also become
These and other moves have combined to generate brisk.
new needs in the area of steel demand. In the field The steelmakers in Japan have responded to these
of heavy plates, where welding is indispensable, re- market needs and quality requirements. Their ac-
search and development of new steel grades and new tions can be roughly classified into two measures, for
production techniques have been expedited. quality improvement and against cost increase.
Quality requirements are becoming more and more With a view to improving steel qualities, the steel-
demanding in such industries as shipbuilding, bridge makers first tried to improve existing steel grades by
and building construction, pressure vessel, hydro- and extending the practice of minimizing inclusions, the
nuclear power generation, offshore construction, pipe- practice usually reserved for production of quality
line, storage tank, and industrial machinery. For steels, to a wide range of mass-produced steels. Their
ship-plates, for example, demand is brisk for higher efforts at quality improvements have been greatly
strength, lower carbon equivalent, more satisfactory aided by the introduction of computer control and the
weldability with larger weld heat input, and more improvement and commercial application of con-
precise and uniform plate thickness. As another ex- tinuous casting, which now accounts for 90 % of
ample, plates for offshore structures are required to heavy plate output. Elaborate improvements and
be heavier, lamellar tear resistant, of lower carbon innovations in manufacturing technology also helped
equivalent, tougher and to have satisfactory CTOD greatly in upgrading steel qualities.
values in the HAZ at subzero temperatures. To Efforts to develop new steel grades have resulted in
meet such severe requirements, new and advanced lamellar tear resistant steels, large weld heat input
* Based on the 1982 IIW Houdremont Lecture delivered by Dr . Suzuki at the 1982 Annual Assembly of International Institute of
Welding, on September 6, 1982, at Ljubljana, Yugoslavia. Manuscript received September 30, 1982, with the permission of IIW.
© 1983 ISIJ
* * Executive Advisor , Nippon Steel Corporation, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100; Dr. Sci, and Dr. Eng., Honorary Member of Japan
Welding Society.
(190) Transactions ISIJ, Vol. 23, 1983

weldable steels, crack-free steels, high strength steels able, substantially efficient and relatively less costly.
for service in hot and cold environments, temper em- 1. Pretreatment of Hot Metal
brittlement resistant Cr-Mo steels, extremely heavy The objective of basic oxygen steelmaking is to
quenched and tempered steels of HT 60 to HT 80* adjust the chemical composition of molten steel and
grades of 100 mm thickness, and controlled-rolled or remove the impurities. The impurities are S, P, N2,
controlled-cooled steels under various types of ther- H2, and C. Carbon, however, differs somewhat from
mo-mechanical processes. These steels will be de- the other elements in that its presence in steel in a
scribed later. suitable amount helps to improve the steel quality.
As for the measures against cost increases, oil con- The secret of steel refining lies in the manner in which
sumption is being drastically curtailed, waste heat these unwanted substances are efficiently eliminated.
recovered, direct rolling adopted and many other Since desulphurization and dephosphorization of mol-
energy-saving actions taken. In 1980, the oil con- ten metal in an LD converter are still chemically im-
sumption in Japanese steel mills dropped to 44 % of perfect and involve operational difficulty, the hot
the 1973 level, and the continuous casting process has metal is usually pretreated as follows before it reaches
spread to such an extent that, in 1980, 90 % of heavy the converter :
plates and approximately 55 % of all crude steel pro- 1) By lime (Ca0) and calcium carbide (CaC2) for
duced in Japan were obtained by this process. This desulphurization; or
CC process, combined with high precision computer 2) By sodium carbonate (NA2C03) and lime for de-
control, could raise the yield of steel products relative siliconization, dephosphorization, and desulphuri-
to crude steel, up to approximately 90 % in 1980. zation.
Moreover, in 1980, labour productivity was 1.3 times In the former, which has been in commercial use
and twice the European and American levels, respec- for quite a long time, a shaker or a stirrer is used or
tively, with the figure reaching 550 t per man per else the torpedo is injected with additives. In the
year. This high labour productivity is due to large- latter, where recent soda ash metallurgical develop-
sized, higher-speed equipment, mechanization, auto- ment is applied, the hot metal is first lightly pretreated
mation, systematization, and continuous and rational by desiliconizer and then sodium carbonate is added
operations. with stirring to accomplish simultaneously dephos-
phorization and desulphurization. In this method,
III. Progress in Steel Plate Manufacturing the P and S contents can be drastically cut to a low
Technology level of P < 0.010 % and S < 0.002 %, thus greatly
The measures taken in response to the above-men- improving the quality.
tioned market needs have been made possible by 2. Ladle Refining
recent progress in steel production technologies in Normally, the molten steel made by an LD con-
steelmaking, casting, rolling, and computer control.i~ verter is charged with Al, Si, and Mn as deoxidizers
to remove excess oxygen. This is followed, when
1. Steelmaking necessary, by further carbon deoxidation and degas-
Except for a handful of electric furnaces which ac- sing in a vacuum vessel. In the ladle refining, the
count for only a few precent of the steelmaking fur- following metallurgical reactions take placer :
naces operating now in Japan, practically all steel- 1) Dehydrogenation;
making furnaces at integrated steelworks in Japan are 2) Deoxidation (elimination of non-metallic inclu-
LD converters. Since it was first introduced to Japan sions);
in 1957, the LD converter has been vastly improved 3) Adjustment of chemical composition;
as follows : 4) Decarburization;
1) Provision of multihole lance to enable high-speed 5) Shape control of sulphides;
and large quantity oxygen blowing; 6) Making of molten steel temperature and composi-
2) Use of sublance for dynamic control and thereby tion more uniform; and
establishment of fully automatic control of LD 7) Dephosphorization and dusulphurization.
converter; In 1956, when the DH** process was developed,
3) Recovery of waste gases (approximately 70 % of vacuum degassing was just being applied to steels of
all gas energy is recovered); mass production type. When the RH*** process came
4) Use of improved refractory materials and suitable into being, these two vacuum degassing systems played
converter control and operation control (service a leading role in the improvement of the quality of
life doubled); and heavy plates. Subsequent developments in the art of
5) Refining of hot metal and molten steel outside the vacuum degassing were accompanied by ingenious
LD converter to compensate for the insufficient methods of molten steel agitation (Ar bubbling,
LD refining function. electromagnetic stirring, injection stirring, etc.) or by
Steelmaking has thus become precise, quality reli- arc heating. By means of those improvements in

* The designation HT 50, HT 60, and HT 80 in this paper means the grades of steels with the minimum tensile strength values 50, 60,
and 80, respectively, expressed in kgf/mm2, that is 490, 590 and 785 MPa, respectively.
** Process developed by the Dortmund HOrder Huttenunion
*** Rheinstahl-Heraeus
 Transactions Is", Vol. 23, 1983 (191)

ladle refining, the reduction of impurities has reached Table 1. Effects of improved steelmaking on steel
the following low levels : quality.

02 H2 C S
20 ppm 1.5 ppm 30 ppm 10 ppm

Molten steel normally retains 3 to 4 ppm H2, but

under vacuum degassing systems, the hydrogen levels
can be lowered to below 1.5 ppm, thus substantially
reducing the occurrence of internal hydrogen-induced
microcracks.
It is reported that the addition of calcium alloys
into molten steel is very effective in shape control
(spheroidization) of sulphides, and the occurrence of
lamellar tearing and hydrogen-induced cracking can
thus be prevented. It is also found that the addition
of calcium is effective in preventing stress-relief crack-
ing in the coarse grained HAZ.
The beneficial effects of improved steelmaking prac-
tices on steel qualities are shown in Table 1.1)

2. Casting
Table 2. Commercial application of
In Japan, about 90 % of thick steel plate is obtained continuous cast-

ing.
from continuous casting slabs. The ingot making
process is now used only in very limited areas where
the unit weight of casting is very heavy, or where the
products are particularly crack-prone, or in which the
castings are in too small lots to justify the use of con-
tinuous casting. In principle, under the continuous
casting system, the cast slabs are killed steel of uniform
quality. Due to measures taken to prevent slab sur-
face defects, internal cracks, segregation, and non-
metallic inclusions in continuously cast slabs, quality
heavy plates have come to be produced in good yield
and at a low cost. In continuous casting, where any
segregation is most likely to occur in the centre of the
cast slab, a variety of remedial actions are being taken
nowadays to limit segregation to an insignificant level.
Those remedial actions include casting at lower tem-
peratures, electromagnetic stirring of the unsolidified
metal, and light squeezing of the slab at the solidifica-
tion front. In Table 2, the grades of continuously
cast steels in Japan are shown.
In the future, the list of continuously castable steel
grades may be further extended. For example, for
large heat input welding, continuous cast steels are structural steels of HT 50 and HT 60 grades, ship-
superior to ingot-cast steels. building materials, and cryogenic service materials.
This point will be discussed in SectionV.2.
3. Rolling
With the introduction of computers, control of plate 4. Heat Treatment(Quenchingand Tempering)
thickness and shape geometry in the rolling of thick Traditionally, rolled steels were often normalized
plates has become much more precise and rolling yield to improve the toughness. With regard to strength,
and dimensional accuracy have increased. In addi- toughness, and weldability of structural steels, how-
tion, the recent development of the thermo-mechanical ever, quenching and tempering is now more often
control process (TMCP) has exerted a tremendous used particularly with high strength steels of HT 60
impact upon the improvement of the strength and to HT 100 grades.2) It is also commercially applied
toughness of heavy plates. Under the TMCP sys- to the production of cryogenic steels and line pipes.
tem, in which controlled rolling is combined with In cases where the maximum hardness must be kept
controlled cooling or reheating controlled rolling, it is low for the benefit of the corrosion resistance of line
possible to produce fine grained steel equivalent or pipe, quenched and tempered steel of low carbon
superior to normalized steel. Products of TMCP content may be preferred to the conventional con-
have come to be applied for line pipe, high toughness trolled-rolled steel.
(192) Transactions ISIJ, Vol. 23, 1983

5. ControlSystem strained to a large extent by welding contraction and

In the steel industry, production control, operation distortion. In this case, the presence of hydrogen is
control, and quality control are generally systematized not necessarily essential, but ductility of the hardened
throughout the entire processes from order receipt to HAZ is important.
product shipment. The object of control systematiza- Except in the case of lamellar tearing, the ductility
tion is to improve productivity and control level. of the weld-hardened HAZ is the most important fac-
Because of the various uses to which they are put, tor in cold cracking. It is determined mostly by the
heavy plates differ from one another in both dimen- chemical composition of the parent metal and cooling
sions and specifications, on account of which they rate after welding. The effect of chemical composi-
require individual processing or handling in both tion is normally evaluated by carbon equivalent,
production and control. For this reason, the effect which is usually a linear combination of weighted
of computers and automation is particularly notable contents of alloying elements)
in the area of heavy plate manufacture. Since 1976,
the role of plate mill operators has been to monitor 2. CarbonEquivalent
jobs or emergency actions in their practically un- Conventionally, many experimental formulae for
manned, push-button plants. carbon equivalent have been presented as a measure
of the maximum hardness of the HAZ or of cold crack-
Iv. Susceptibility to Cold Cracking ing susceptibility of the parent metal. Table 3 shows
some examples.3'
1. Cold Cracking Susceptibilityand Its Evaluation The Ceq (WES, JIS) formula, for a long time in
Cold cracking frequently occurs in or near the HAZ use in Japan, and the CE (IIW and Lloyd's) formula
(heat-affected zone) of a welded steel at a temperature are both considered to be an improved version of the
below about 200 °C during cooling after welding or experimental formula of Dearden and O'Neill.4~
at ambient temperature. This is understood to be These formulae were designed for steels of compara-
due to delayed cracking being started under the com- tively high carbon contents (C>_0.18 % or C>_
bined effect of restraint stresses and of hydrogen in 0.20 %) and mostly of tensile strengths between 400
the region of the hardened HAZ where ductility has MPa and 700 MPa.
dropped. Consequently, it is preferable to use the Pcm for-
Cold cracks in the parent metal are known under mula by Ito and Bessyo,5~shown in Table 3, for steels
different names depending on their location, behav- of lower carbon contents (C<0.17 %) and of tensile
iour, shape, and cause. Generally, on the basis of the strengths between 400 MPa and 900 MPa. It was
mechanism by which they initiate, these different clearly shown in Ito and Bessyo's report5~ that the
cracks can be grouped into the following three cate- Pam formula could correlate the values of cracking
gories: percentages in the JIS-y root cracking test, far more
1) Root cracking in single pass welding, underbead, satisfactorily than the formula of Ceq or CE (11W),
heel- and toe cracking; as far as low carbon content steels were concerned.
2) Lamellar tearing in multipass welding; and Recently, Yurioka and his co-authors3~ have found,
3) Distortion cracking in multipass welding (root- after their extensive cracking tests of carbon range
and toe cracking). 0.034 to 0.254 %, that the Pcmformula is appropriate
With regard to group 1) above, the chemical com- only for lower carbon content level of C <_0.16 %,
position of the steel, hydrogen and restraint stress whilst the Ceq and CE (IIW) formulae are valid only
invariably have a large influence. For cracks in for higher carbon content level of C>_0.20 %. They,
group 2), inclusions and the normal restraint stress at accordingly, combined the two formulae, Pamand CE
the plate surface are critical but hydrogen has com- (IIW), into a single new formula CEN (= CE (NSC) )
paratively little impact. Cracks in group 3) occur by means of an accommodation factor A(C) which is
when the multipass welded toe or root is locally a function of carbon content, that is:

Table 3. Coefficients of carbon equivalent formulae for cold cracking tendency of steels.
 Transactions ISIJ, Vol. 23, 1983 (193)

CEN (%) - C +A(C)[Si/24+ Mn/6 + Cu/15 the following experimental formula is obtained :
+ Ni/20 + (Cr + Mo + V + Nb)/5 + 5B] Pcm= (2C+CE(IIW))/3+0.005 ............(3)
...........................(1)
where, 3. CarbonEquivalentfor Low CarbonContentSteel
A(C) ^ 0.75+0.25 tanh [20(C-0.12)] ......(2) Cold cracking susceptibility of steel and the value
of the maximum hardness of the HAZ are usually
The values o f A (C) are as follows : evaluated or predicted in terms of carbon equivalent
C(%) 0 0.08 0.12 0.16 0.20 0.26 and its prescription is often contained in purchase
A(C) 0.500 0.584 0.750 0.916 0.980 0.998 specifications of steels. In foreign countries, prescrip-
tions are normally given in terms of CE (IIW,
Using a high cellulose type electrode (HD=35 ml~ Lloyd's). This may be all right for steels with carbon
100 g, JIS), Yurioka et a1.3~conducted the Stout slot content greater than approximately 0.17 %. How-
tests (square groove slot, self-restraint type test) on ever, it is irrational forr low carbon content steels
20 heats of steel plates with carbon contents ranging with C S 0.17 %, where another formula Pcmor CEN
from 0.034 to 0.254 %. The test plates were all 20 should be used.
mm thick, with tensile strengths between 400 MPa For both low and high carbon content steels, equiv-
and 900 MPa. The values of critical preheating tem- alent cold cracking susceptibility may be given by
peratures to prevent root cracking in the HAZ were the condition CEN=constant, regardless of the chem-
regression analysed by each formula of carbon equiv- ical composition. This condition is shown in Fig. 3,
alents in Table 3, and the values of coefficient of CE (IIW) vs. C %, by the solid curves, and it is ob-
correlation are shown in the right column in the same viously shown that higher values of CE (11W) are
table. For example, the coefficients of correlation permissible for reduced carbon content.
are: It is a current practice in purchase specifications to
specify the maximum value of carbon equivalent CE
CE (IIW) 78.1 %, Pam84.9 %, CEN 91.1 %,
(IIW) and sometimes also that of carbon content.
from which it is obvious that the new formula CEN For example, assume a specification as follows :
is the best among other formulae shown in Table 3. CE (IIW)50.40 % and C<0.12 %
It should be noted that CEN becomes similar to CE
(IIW) for higher carbon content C>_0.18 %, while which is the square region BAC. However, the same
similar to Pcm for lower carbon content C < 0.16 %, weldability with that of point A can be obtained any-
see Fig. 3. where on the curve DAE, thus the boundary BAC
The relationships between CEN and CE (IIW) should be replaced with the curved boundary DAE.
and between Pcm and CE (IIW) are shown in Figs. This means that for a low carbon content, say 0.08
1 and 2, respectively. The correlation seems to be %, the value of CE (IIW) is permissible as high as
good if done for individual carbon content level, and 0.5 % instead of the specified 0.4 %. This is a very

Fig. 1. Relationship between CEN and CE (IIW).

(194) Transactions ISIJ, Vol. 23, 1983

Fig. 2.
Relationship between Pcm
and CE (IIW).

in current structural steels in order to increase tough-

ness and resistance to lamellar tearing and to prevent
the hydrogen-induced cracking of pipeline steels at
lamellar microsegregations.
Low sulphur steels, however, are blamed for their
easier susceptibility to cold cracking in the HAZ.
The liability to cold cracking is ascribed to the in-
creased hardenability of MnS-scant steel, or to the
decrease of trapping of hydrogen by manganese-sul-
phide inclusions.
Hirai et a1.7~studied the effect of sulphur content
on the preheating temperature which is necessary to
prevent the root cracking in the JIS-y test on alumi-
nium-killed HT 50 steels and HT 60 steels. In order
to compensate for the effect due to difference in other
alloying element contents, the following calculation
was made:
QT = (T0)obs-(1 0)pred

where, ( TO)obS
: observed value of critical preheating
temperature,
Fig. 3. Ranges of CE (IIW) and C % for equal weldability
(cold cracking) of low-alloy high strength steels. (To)pred=1440Pw-392 (Ito-Bessyo5))
Pw = Pam+Hv/60+h/600 ...(4)
important fact, because reduction of carbon content
(h : plate thickness (mm))
is definitely necessary for improvement of weldability
(cold crack resistance and notch toughness) of struc- where, HD : the diffusible hydrogen content per 100
tural steels. However, reduction of carbon content g of deposited metal by the JIS Z 3113
normally decreases the steel strength, and it becomes glycerine displacement method (ml/l00
necessary to add some alloying elements, such as Ni, g).
Cr, Mo, and/or V to compensate for the strength Figure 4 shows the results of the test, from which
drop. it can be concluded that the preheating temperature
Therefore, the value of carbon equivalent, partic- is higher for very low sulphur steels (S=0.002 to
ularly CE (IIW), becomes greater and may not con- 0.007 %) than for ordinary steel with sulphur content
form with the specified value of 0.4 %. This con- of from 0.008 to 0.20 %. The observed values are,
tradiction seems to derive from the misuse of CE however, rather scattered.
(IIW) formula. On the other hand, Serio et a1.8~ and Yurioka
Recent examples of very low carbon steels of ex- et al.9~ conducted their respective root cracking tests
cellent weldability will be described later. on HT 50 steel plates and obtained the results as
shown in Fig. 4, in which the author's data are also
4. Cold Crackingof Lori Sulphur Steel plotted. These results seem to show that the effect
It is a general trend to reduce the sulphur content of low sulphur content on the preheating temperature
 Transactions ISIJ, Vol. 23, 1983 (195)

Fig. 4.
Effect of sulphur content on
HAZ cracking in HT 50 (as
rolled) and HT 60 (quenched
and tempered) steels.

is not apparent in a sulphur range of from 0.001 to

0.020 %. Hence disagreement with the Hirai's test
is evident. As for the test by Yurioka, 4 TT°value was
calculated by a different experimental formula than
Eq. (4), on account of the fact that a single bevel
groove with broad root face was used instead of the
oblique-y groove. The cause of the disagreement is
not yet clear.
Moreover, Kimura et a1.10 ran the CTS* cracking
test on Mn-Nb-V-(Ni) type steel plates (C=0.05 to
0.07 %, S = 0.002 to 0.010 %, 20 mm thick) of API
X70 and X75 grades pipeline steels, with a high cel-
lulose type electrode. As shown in Fig. 5, the CTS
underbead cracking percentage increased at a Pam
value of not less than 0.22 %, but even with a low
sulphur content, the cracking percentage was not
seen to rise.
From all this, it may be concluded that low sulphur
contents do not adversely affect crack resistance.
Fig. 5. Effect of Pcm and sulphur content on CTS under-
5. LmmellarTearing
bead cracking percentage of line pipe steels.io~
Generally, complex joint designs and 50 to 150
mm thick HT 50 steel plates are essential for applica-
tions such as offshore drilling platforms, large cranes sulphide inclusions into round spots, that is, by shape
or heavy industrial machines. In a T -joint where control of elongated inclusion.
multipass fillet or butt welding is likely to induce high Since 1975, Nippon Steel Corporation has adopted
restraint stresses perpendicular to the plate surface, the following four classes of steels with resistance to
lamellar tearing frequently initiates in or near the lamellar tearing.
HAZ and parallel to the plate surface. This tearing Class ZA : S <_0.008 %, Z-contraction, not specified
results from the opening of lamellar segregations in a ZB : do. < 0.008 %, do. > 15 % (min. >_10 % )
rolled plate at local temperatures of 200 °C or there- ZC: do. <0.006 %, do. >25 % (min. > 15 %)
abouts during welding. This opening is due to the ZD : Severest (by agreement with purchasers)
restraint stress caused by passes and/or hydrogen em-
brittlement. The steels of ZC and ZD classes are used for structures
As is well known, a decrease in the elongated in- subjected to the severest conditions. It is very im-
clusions, manganese-sulphide in particular, in a rolled portant to ensure the least variation in values of Z-
plate is very effective in preventing lamellar tearing. contraction taken at different points in a plate. This
It is also desirable to increase the value of reduction can be achieved by calcium addition.
of area (Z-contraction) of the Z-tensile (through the The critical values of Z-contraction to prevent
thickness tensile) specimen. This can be achieved by lamellar tearing were studied by the IL Committee
reducing the sulphur content of steel, by vacuum de- of The Japan Welding Engineering Society,11> by
gassing of molten steel, and/or by the addition of rare testing various restraint joints of 20 to 50 mm thick
earth metals (REM) or calcium to change elongated HT 50 steel plates. The values are as follows:

* Controlled thermal severity

(196) Transactions ISIJ, Vol. 23, 1983

Intensity of restraint 500 1 000 2 000- ing more demanding under the trends of the times
(kgffmm. mm) 3 000 towards larger, stronger and heavier steel structures
Z-contraction (%), 10 15 20 in more severe environments, such as low temperature,
minimum repeated loading, earthquakes, or corrosion, and with
Thus, lamellar tearing can be prevented even under more emphasis on safety and reliability.
severe restraint if the Z-contraction of an HT 50 steel Due to recent development in fracture mechanics,
toughness requirements have become complex and
plate exceeds 20 %. This conclusion, drawn from
experiments in Japan, agrees very well with the prac- wide-ranging. Besides Charpy V-notch impact val-
tical experience gained during the fabrication of vari- ues, steel users now increasingly call for critical value
ous platforms for North Sea service, as reported by of crack tip opening displacement (CTOD). In order
Garland et a1.,'2 in U. K. to ensure the perfect safety of liquefied gas storage
Sometimes, a second type of lamellar tearing oc- tanks, there are some cases in which the demand is
curs in the HAZ of multipass welded thick plate. for brittle fracture arrest properties. Because of this,
Yurioka et al.13~reported on microlamellar tearing as steelmakers have come to feel the need seriously to
shown in Photo. 1. This second type of lamellar review some of the chemical compositions and produc-
tearing is less than several milimeters long and appears tion processes of steels for which Charpy V-notch
in the HAZ of mulitpass welded steel plate. It occurs toughness targets have already been reached in con-
even when the tensile stress in the thickness direction ventional terms.
of the plate is not very great. It is more likely to start In this connection, the problem of attaining higher
when welding gives rise to too much hydrogen, as toughness levels for the parent metal can be solved
when a low hydrogen electrode is employed without with comparative ease by the adjustment of chemical
composition and microstructure refinement. On the
proper drying before use. It occasionally takes sev-
eral days for the tear to become so developed as to other hand, with regard to the toughness of the coarse
allow detection by ultrasonic testing. The tearing grained HAZ or bond (fusion line), toughness de-
occurs at elongated inclusions, which are torn open by terioration is likely to result, because the elaborately
the high pressure caused by gradual hydrogen ac- contrived microstructure of the parent metal is relent-
cumulation. This tearing can be avoided by using lessly destroyed during welding by the high tempera-
welding materials of very low hydrogen content or tures close to the melting point. For this reason, it
by increasing the Z-contraction of the base metal. is vital that the chemical composition of steel for
welding, particularly with large heat imput, should
be devised with meticulous care.
V. Toughness Toughness and resistance to cold cracking can be
1. ToughnessRequirements advantageously enhanced by reducing the carbon
The requirements of steel users for higher tough- content, but possibly at the expense of the strength of
ness as a measure against brittle fracture are becom- the steel. This possibility is now precluded by new
countermeasures such as precipitation hardening by
micro-alloying elements, quenching and tempering,
controlled rolling and a variety of more recent meas-
ures called " thermo-mechanical control processes ".
Thanks to these developments, steel strength and
toughness are improved simultaneously, and carbon
equivalents are significantly reduced.

2. TMCP (Termo-mechanicalControlProcess)Steel
Towards 1958, there merged from European and
American research laboratories a rolling process which
made possible the simultaneous improvement of both
strength and toughness. Under the name of con-
trolled rolling (CR) process, this rolling technology
commercially blossomed between 1969 and 1971,
when three Japanese steelmakers (Sumitomo Metal
Industries, Ltd., Nippon Kokan K.K., and Nippon
Steel Corp.) manufactured on order some 500 000 t of
line-pipes (APl X 65, YP>65 ksi, diameter 1 219
mm, wall thickness 14.3 mm) for use on the Trans
Alaskan Pipeline System (TAPS). This marked the
first mass production of controlled-rolled pipe for
low temperature service. This pipe was mainly of
Nb-V and Cr-V steels of low carbon content.
Subsequent research and development concerning
Photo. 1. Microlamellar tear of second type in heavy plate controlled-rolled pipes for low temperature service gas
(63 mm, HT 50).13) pipeline, brought into being high quality X 70 and X
 Transactions ISIJ, Vol. 23, 1983 (197)

80 grade high strength pipes. With the progress in simultaneously improved strength and toughness.
research on controlled rolling technology, a variety of Incidentally, controlled rolling becomes more ad-
TMCP, to which controlled cooling is sometimes vantageous by a minor addition of niobium to the
added, have come to be adopted. The TMCP tech- steel, because niobium can broaden the range of non-
nology is finding wider commercial application in the recrystallization zone toward higher temperature, thus
manufacture of HT 50 ship plates, cryogenic steels, introducing a possible increase of the reduction ratio
and other TMCP steels for pressure vessels, offshore in hot rolling.
constructions and industrial machines, not to mention In type B in Table 4, where rolling reduction within
pipelines. Table 4 shows typical examples14>of new the two phase region of gamma and alpha, between
steels of HT 50 grade with tensile strength between Ar3 and Art transformation temperatures, is included
490 MPa and 590 MPa. in controlled rolling, the refining of grains further
The types of steels A to E in Table 4 represent vari- progresses to achieve a simultaneous improvement of
ous TMCP by which a level of toughness, equivalent, strength and toughness. In this process, however, the
or superior to that of normalized steel (type N), can microstructure becomes lamellar with every likelihood
be obtained as-rolled. Under the TMCP, carbon of separations occurring on Charpy impact-fractured
equivalent can be reduced without reducing the surfaces.
strength. This almost obviates the need for preheat- In type C in Table 4, Ca-Ti-treated, ultra-low
ing before welding and significantly lowers the maxi- sulphur content, continuously cast slabs are rolled
mum hardness of the HAZ. under heavy rolling force starting at a significantly
In type A, where controlled rolling is ended in the low heating temperature range of from 960 to 1 000
°C
austenite region, the heating temperature of slabs is , and finished before the Ar3 transformation is
generally lowered. First, in the recrystallization zone reached. Under this type, steels are excellently
(region above 900 °C, where recrystallization pro- toughened to suit low temperature service. What is
ceeds even during rolling), austenite grains are refined more, the microstructure is not lamellar but of uniform
by rolling reduction. Then, in the non-recrystalliza- and equiaxed ferrite without fear of separations. Fine-
tion zone austenitic grains are elongated by cold work- ly dispersed TiN grains can inhibit the overgrowth of
ing. During transformation from gamma (r) structure austenite grains in the coarse-grained region of the
to alpha (a) structure, each elongated austenitic grain HAZ, thus favouring large heat input welding (see
develops many ferritic nuclei in grain boundaries. Fig. 6).
Ferritic nuclei also develop in the deformation bands Type D in Table 4 substitutes controlled forced
which yielded inside the grain. Thus, when the trans- water cooling for ordinary air cooling. It is effective
formation ends, fine ferritic grains are obtained and particularly in increasing the strength of steel, thus a

Table 4. Comparison of various types of TMCP (Thermomechanical Control Process) for HT 50 steels with reduced
carbon equivalents.14~
(198) Transactions ISIJ, Vol. 23, 1983

Fig. 6. Bond toughness vs. weld heat input (HT 50 steels) (Gondoh and Matsuda15)).

drastic reduction of the value of carbon equivalent is As for the type D steels in Table 4, C-Mn steel of
possible with this type. The controlled water cooling mild steel strength level can possess the strength of
is normally started at a temperature above the Ar3 HT 50 grade, as exemplified by the steels D and D'.
transformation. The values of carbon equivalent of this type of steel
In contrast, steel type E in Table 4 is designed to can be lowered considerably below the conventional
attain high toughness. The hot-rolled steel is cooled HT 50 steels' level. Accordingly, the maximum
below the Art transformation temperature and then hardness in the HAZ can be significantly lowered in
reheated to immediately above the Ac3 transformation this steel, as shown in Fig. 7,15)
temperature, (930 °C or thereabouts). As soon as the In the IIW maximum hardness test with weld heat
microstructure has transformed into fine austenite input 17 kJ/cm and without preheating, the Hmax of
grains, the steel is again controlled rolled. The D-type steel, 25 to 80 mm thick, is below 240 Hv, a
toughness is comparable with that of the type C steel. level notably low as compared to 250 to 370 Hv of
As an example of the type C steel, the following conventional HT 50 grade steels of C-Mn-Si or C-
may be noteworthy: Mn-Nb type. Incidentally, the JIS-y root cracking
Composition (%) : test results indicate that even at a plate thickness level
C : 0.06, Si : 0.22, Mn : 1.32, P : 0.010, of 80 mm, the D-type steel can almost dispense with
S : 0.001, Ni : 0.26, V : 0.04, Ti : 0.01 preheating, in sharp contrast with the traditional HT
Pam: 0.14 %, CE (IIW) : 0.31 %, 50 steels (Ceq=O.36 to 0.42 % for thicknesses of 25 to
YP : 392 MPa, TS: 471 MPa, El: 40 %, 80 mm), which require at 80 mm thickness a high
Thickness: 27 mm, preheating temperature of 150 to 200 °C.
V-Charpy energy at -40 °C: 294J, In conclusion, the newly developed TMCP steel
FATT : -125 °C, Grain size : 11 to 12 (ASTM) plates as shown in Table 4, have better toughness,
cold cracking resistance, fusion line toughness even
As is evident, the steel is of very low carbon and under high heat input welding, Kc value, CTOD
low Pcm contents. The steel is weldable without pre- value, lamellar tear resistance, and similar fatigue
heating and free of lamellar tear (as the Z-contrac- strength, when compared with conventional normal-
tion is 82 %). The toughness of the steel is excellent. ized steel plates. The remarkable progress in weld-
Moreover, this steel is particularly suitable to large ability of structural steels would not have been
heat input welding. The fusion line toughness re- achieved without the aid of modern computer con-
mains excellent even for one-side submerged-arc trolled, large-capacity rolling mills, or analytical tech-
welding, electrogas, and consumable electroslag weld- nologies concerning the migration of crystal bound-
ing, on account of the effect of microfined TiN par- aries or recrystallization behaviour.
ticles, as shown in Fig. 6, in which conventional HT However, the TMCP steels, particularly those
50 steels' properties are also compared.l5) which are directly water-cooled following controlled
 Transactions ISIJ, Vol. 23, 1983 (199)

rolling, are not without defects. They tend to show microstructure. Such pipe is characterised by very
a drop in strength upon reheating to above 600 °C. low carbon content and carbon equivalent, which is
Therefore, particular care should be exercised when essential to improve the field circumferential weld-
these steels are hot bent or stress relieved. ability in arctic regions.
Concerning high-toughness, high strength line pipes
3. High-toughnessLine Pipe Steel relevant discussions were given in the author's lecture
Demand for high-toughness pipe for oil and gas entitled : " Recent Japanese High Strength Steels
pipeline construction in cold regions, is rising at a for Large Welded Structures " at the 1976 IIW An-
tremendous rate. For gas pipelines for arctic service nual Assembly in Sydney.17) In this report, several
in particular, several steel properties are notably high typical examples of high quality API X 70 and X 80
on the list of requirements of users. Foremost are pipes were presented with superior arresting charac-
brittle fracture prevention characteristics (preventive teristics, that is, 85 % shear DWTT temperatures
and arrest properties), unstable ductile fracture arrest ranging from -35 to -60 °C. The steels were con-
characteristics, and heavy-walled, high-strength steel trolled rolled, quenched and tempered, or pipe QT-ed
piping for larger transportation capacity. by induction heating, all being of low carbon content
Table 5 shows some examples of material quality of 0.06 to 0.10 %.
specifications for recent gas and oil line pipe. For Research and development on a wide range of high
modern gas pipe, brittle fracture arrest characteristics strength line pipe is still progressing with targets set
(in Battelle DWTT) and desired characteristic value for more economical, tougher, stronger and better
Cv 100 (V-Charpy shelf energy at the lowest tempera- field weldability varieties. Details about recent de-
ture showing 100 % shear fracture) in relation to velopments have been disclosed in different interna-
unstable ductile fracture propagation, are added to tional conferences in Japan,19) Canada,20) and U.K.21)
the conventional requirements. Some examples of API X 70 grade line pipe, revealed
At the toughness level of traditional controlled- in such international gatherings, are shown in Table
rolled C-Mn-Nb steel, for which the service tem- 6 18,22,23)
perature is no better than -30 °C, the microstructure First, the steel S 1 in Table 6 is a controlled-rolled
is ferritic-pearlitic. In contrast, some of the recently Mn-TiN-TiC steel plate of fine microstructure. The
developed high-toughness, high-strength pipe steels pipe made of this steel is comparatively inexpensive22>
are of acicular ferritic, namely, low-carbon-bainitic and has been employed in large quantities.
On the other hand, the steel S2 is an ULCB (ultra-
low-carbon bainitic) steel,23,24) It is of Mn-Nb-Ti-B
type with a very low carbon content of 0.02 %. High
strength and high toughness at low carbon equivalent
can be imparted to this steel if calcium-treated, and
the continuously cast slab is controlled rolled.
When the same slab of steel 52 is specially con-
trolled rolled (SCR) at low temperature by the type
C process in Table 4, the steel plate 52' is obtained.
As shown in Table 6, the notch toughness is higher
at lower temperatures below - 70 °C and the arrest-
ing property is considerably increased to attain the
DWTT temperature as low as -85 °C. As is well
known, reduced carbon contents serve to improve the
toughness of bainitic steel, particularly so when the
carbon level is 0.03 % or less. In order to exceed
the X 65 grade in strength, the ferritic-pearlitic micro-
Fig. 7. Comparison of the maximum hardness between con- structure must be changed to low-carbon-bainitic,
ventional HT 50 steels and the new D-type (CR+ that is, acicular ferritic microstructure. To accom-
controlled cooling) HT 50 steels.ls~ plish this, the introduction of boron is economical.

Table 5. Examples of requirements for high quallity line pipes.

(200) Transactions ISIJ, Vol. 23, 1983

Table 6. Examples of high strength (API X70) and high toughness line pipes.18'22"3)

In order to maintain the hardening effect of boron,

nitrogen fixation is essential and titanium is added
(Ti>3.4 N). TiN is also effective in contributing to
grain refinement. Manganese is added as a strength-
ening element. Niobium remains in the form of solid
solution at a low slab reheating temperature of 1 000
°C and the solid solution increases hardenability and
promotes bainitic microstructure formation. Other
elements, such as Mo, Ni, Cu and Cr are suitably
added separately or in combination, depending on
plate thickness and other required properties.
It should be noted that when a welding rod or
electrode of very low carbon content is employed in
the root pass of the circumferential butt-welding of
an ULCB pipe, the carbon content of the weld metal
may fall below 0.04 % or thereabouts and facilitates
the occurrence of hot cracking inside the weld metal,
if the welding speed is faster than approximately 300
mm/min.25) To prevent this hot cracking, the use of
welding materials of higher carbon content or a slower
Fig. 8. Relationship between microstructure, yield strength
welding speed is necessary. Or the use of ordinary
and notch toughness.
low-carbon-bainitic steel, for example, steel S3, is
recommended, which also has satisfactory toughness
and weldability. is not needed for this ULCB steel pipe, as far as the
The steel pipes A and D in Table 6 were dealt with HAZ is concerned, even if a high cellulose type elec-
in the author's previous report.17"8~ To them the trode is used in the circumferential welding. In prac-
high toughness was imparted by ladle-furnace refining tice, however, light preheating is usually needed to
process and by suitable modifying the ordinary CR, prevent cold cracking in the high cellulosic weld metal
from QT to QT on CR material. itself.
The effects of various types of production processes The maximum hardness, Hmax,of the HAZ in the
and microstructures on the strength and notch tough- circumferential butt-welded ULCB pipe is not more
ness of line pipe steels are schematically shown in Fig. than 250 Hv 10. The toughness of the fusion line is
8. high. As is evident from Fig. 9, the ULCB steel in
One of the advantages of the ULCB steels is that the C-Pcm diagram is far better in weldability than
the Pam value can be lowered to a substantial extent acicular ferritic X 70 steel. As clarified in Fig. 3, the
as shown in Fig. 9,24) and that they are free from weldability of low carbon steel is better determined
welding cracks in the HAZ. For example, preheating not by CE (IIW) carbon equivalent, but by the low-
 Transactions ISIJ, Vol. 23, 1983 (201)

Fig. 9. Indication of weldability of ULCB steel.24) Fig. 10. Effect of sulphur content on V-Charpy absorbed
energy of controlled-rolled X70 line pipes.2s)
ness of Pam.
Incidentally, for longitudinally welded UOE pipe,
For reference, the values of Pcmof existing QT high
the Charpy specimen is taken transverse to the rolling
strength steels in Japan are nearly as follows for thick-
direction of the plate. In order to improve the trans-
ness range of 6 to 50 mm:
verse toughness, it is very effective to decrease the
sulphur content and to shape-control the sulphide HT Pam (%) WES 3002,
inclusions, as is shown in Fig. 10.26) Range Average Pcm (max)
Because of this, the line pipe steel is designed to 60CF 0.15/0.19 0.17 -
have a particularly low sulphur content. It remains 60 0.17/0.27 0.22 0.28
to be seen whether this sulphur level reduction en- 70 0.21/0.29 0.25 0.30
hances hardenability and cold cracking susceptibility 80 0.24/0.31 0.28 0.33
during welding. However, this question may not be- 100 0.29/0.35 0.32 0.36
come a real problem in pipeline steels, since the car-
bon content and carbon equivalent are low enough In the above table, WES 3002 values are the maxi-
to prevent cold cracking. mum specified by the Japan Welding Engineering
Society.
4. Quenchedand Tempered(QT) Steel To ensure high toughness for QT steels, their hard-
The quenching and tempering (QT) process can enability should be satisfactory although it must be
increase the tensile strength of steel by about 100 added that for the optimum microstructure to be
MPa. At the same time, it imparts a highly tough given to low-carbon content steels, lower bainite is
microstructure to the steel. It is because of this fact more desirable than perfect martensite. From the
that the QT process is frequently used to impart high standpoint of weld cracking and fusion line tough-
tensile strength on the HT 60 to HT 100 steels when ness, however, the carbon equivalent must be kept
good weldability is desired. low; this is the reason why boron is usually added,
Currently, QT steels are used in large amounts for rather than increasing alloying elements to improve
various applications, such as low temperature service hardenability. This elaborate approach has made it
(QT Al-killed, QT 3.5 % Ni or QT 9 % Ni steels for possible for heavy, 80 mm thick, HT 80 steel plate to
liquefied gasses), semi-pressurized tanks for low tem- be quenched throughout its entire thickness.
perature operation (HT 60, HT 80), large crude oil Recent high strength QT steel plates invariably
tanks (HT 60), spherical and cylindrical pressure ves- have lower contents of carbon, phosphorus, and sul-
sels (HT 60, HT 80), long span bridges (HT 60, HT phur, the aim being to obtain improved weldability
70, HT 80), penstocks (HT 80), large industrial ma- and higher toughness. Carbon in particular is so
chines (HT 60, HT 80), pressure containment vessels low, 0.06 to 0.16 %, in those steels that their CEN
for nuclear pressure vessels (HT 60), etc. Details of and Pem values are correspondingly low. A good
these were reported at the meeting of IIW Commision example may be HT 60CF, crack-free steel,2~ with
IX in 1980.2,17) the following typical composition and mechanical
In the case of higher strength QT steels, to which properties :
the addition of some alloying elements cannot be HT 60CF 38 mm
avoided, the value of carbon equivalent CE (11W) is Composition (%):
apt to increase and their reduction is a matter of great 0:0.06, Si:0.22, Mn: 1.31, P: 0.012,
concern, but the increase of CEN or Pam is not so S : 0.005, Cr : 0.16, Mo : 0.16, V : 0.03
serious. This is why Japanese steelmakers want to Pem: 0.16 %, CEN : 0.22 %, CE (11W): 0.35 %,
use Pam more than CE (IIW). This desire seems to YP : 562 MPa, TS : 626 MPa,
be reasonable, because CEN or Pcm is more effective El: 27 % (14 mm D x 50 mm GL)
in weldability evaluation than CE (IIW) in the case V-Charpy energy at -40 °C=167 J
of low carbon content steels. FAIT= -41 °C
(202) Transactions ISIJ, Vol. 23, 1983

This HT 60CF steel is very popular in Japan for Tanaka et a1.,27~who used many surface-notched
spherical tanks for city gas, and can be welded with- CTOD specimens, that the critical CTOD value is
out preheating as far as HAZ cracking is concerned. the minimum at coarse-grained regions A and E in
However, multipass welding with a low hydrogen Fig. 11. The region E is where heat-affecting takes
electrode of the matching strength of 60 kgf/mm2 (589 place below 600 °C or thereabouts.
MPa) minimum, may give rise to weld metal micro- Since these regions are only approximately 0.3
cracking in winter due to hydrogen. Therefore, light mm wide in the case of a manual (shielded-metal-
preheating of 50 °C or thereabouts is usually used to arc) welded joint, it is almost impossible to situate the
prevent the weld metal microcracking. The superior fatigue notch tip of any CTOD specimen in the upper
weldability of this HT 60CF steel can be understood part of these narrow regions. The minimum CTOD
through the low value of Pam=0.16 %, but not by the value, therefore, cannot be obtained unless scores of
CE (IIW) value 0.35 %. This is because the carbon specimens are used.
equivalent CE (IIW) is not adequate for low carbon Figure 12 shows the results of tests on various steels
content steels. for low temperature service (experimental steel plates,
25 mm thick), as conducted by Horitani et al.28~
5. Minimum Valueof CTOD In their surface-notched CTOD specimens, they
The CTOD (crack tip opening displacement) value tried to locate the fatigue crack tip at the fusion line
has recently come to be regarded as effective in eval- of the region E in Fig. 11. The critical CTOD
uating the allowable defect sizes. There are steel values at -50 °C of the region E in 25 mm thick
users who frequently ask steelmakers to use the CTOD double-V butt joint made by multi-pass by heat in-
value in the determination of welding procedures or put of 17 kJ/cm, are shown in Fig. 12 with triangles
to place CTOD value in the specifications of steel of 20 to 25 duplicate specimens. The values are very
products and welding materials. much scattered, and it is clearly shown that several
Generally, the CTOD value of the parent metal is specimens only are not quite sufficient to obtain the
lowest at the coarse-grained area in the HAZ. For minimum CTOD value.
the multi-pass double-V butt joint as illustrated in The broken line in the lower area indicates the
Fig. 11, the initial coarse-grained regions A to E in CTOD values, the minimum of seven synthetic ther-
the HAZ under a weld pass undergo microstructural mal cycle specimens which were subjected to syn-
change due to the thermal cycle of the subsequent thetic weld thermal cycle up to 1 400 °C (peak, cor-
pass, that is, to coarse-grained (Region A), fine responding to weld heat input of 17 kJ/cm), then
grained (B), granular net pearlite (C), and coarse tensile strained by 5 % at room temperature, and
structures (Regions D and E). then subjected to a second synthetic thermal cycle up
Moreover, during the welding of the opposite side to 450 °C. As is clear from the diagram, the CTOD
of the groove, those regions A to E are subjected to values of the double cycle synthetic specimens are
repeated heat cycles up to about 200 to 300 °C, and slightly lower than the minimum values of the joint.
also to plastic deformation due to the angular distor- Thus, the test with the double cycle synthetic speci-
tion caused by the welding. Therefore, the above men seems to be a simple test to evaluate the mini-
regions A to E develop dynamic strain ageing and mum value of CTOD of the most hot strain embrittled
tend to become brittle (hot strain embrittlement, fusion line in actual joints.
HSE). It has been confirmed by a number of re-
searchers that the coarse-grained microstructure is
most seriously embrittled among the HAZ micro-
structures. It has been found experimentally by

Fig. 12. Comparison of critical CTOD values between

Fig. 11. HSE area in multipass weld. synthetic HAZ and weld fusion line.28~
 Transactions Is", Vol. 23, 1983 (203)

As another simplified method of obtaining the In this regard, the background against which those
minimum value of CTOD of a hot strain aged fusion achievements have been made possible should not be
line, Tanaka et a129) have recently developed a new forgotten either. Recent developments in steel plate
fatique CTOD test procedure. In this method, manufacturing technology in Japan should be attrib-
fatigue crack propagation from a surface-notch is uted mainly to the imported foreign technologies,
allowed to proceed to check for the occurrence or such as LD converter, vaccum degassing, continuous
otherwise of brittle fracture. The principle of this casting, quenching are tempering of plate and com-
test is that if the CTOD under repeated load is higher puter control. Significantly, behind the aforesaid
than the critical CTOD value of the most brittle area weldability advances, are a wide variety of improve-
of the HAZ, then brittle fracture ensues and that if ments made in Japan to those imported technologies,
it is lower, then nothing abnormal results. Unlike as well as Japanese own technical innovations, in
the conventional methods where scores of CTOD which the ladle (furnace) refining technology, con-
specimens are needed, this simplified test method trolled rolling and thereto-mechanical control pro-
works satisfactorily with only a few specimens. cesses and automatic computer control systems may
As regards the relationship between the chemical be noteworthy, as those are to-day being reexported
composition of low temperature service aluminium- to foreign countries. Considering this fact, the author
killed steels and the critical CTOD value of their would like to show his sincere respect to the European
fusion line, Horitani et a1.28~
have reached the follow- and American creative pioneers, who developed the
ing conclusions : above-mentioned plate manufacturing technologies of
(1) The general trend is for the CTOD value to fundamental importance.
decrease as the strength of the parent metal increases. The current iron and steelmaking technologies are
(2) The lower the carbon equivalent and the complicated and multifarious, and need intimate co-
smaller the contents of carbon and manganese, the operation between manufactureres and users to en-
greater the improvement in the CTOD value. sure their further advancement. It is in this sense that
(3) The combined addition of nickel and molyb- the international cooperation realised by the Interna-
denum may raise the strength of the parent metal, tional Institute of Welding is of much importance and
but the drop in the CTOD value is small in relation greatly appreciated.
to the rise.
(4) Niobium, vanadium and other precipitation Acknowledgements
hardening elements tend to lower the CTOD value. The author would like to thank very much Mr. H.
(5) The lower the nitrogen level, the greater the Granjon, Scientific and Technical Secretary of the
improvement of the CTOD value. At ordinary lev- IIW, and Mr. R. V. Salkin, Chairman of Commision
els, aluminium and phosphorus have little effect on IX of the IIW, for their kind help in preparing this
the CTOD value. report. He is also thankful for the valuable assistance
of Messrs. Moriyama and Katagami, Plate Technical
VI. Conclusions Department, Dr. Nakamura, Technical Control De-
In the foregoing discussion on the weldability of partment, and Dr. Nakasugi, Pipe Technical De-
modern structural steel plates in Japan, the author partment, Head Office, Nippon Steel Corporation,
showed the features of some of the latest steel plates, Drs. Gondoh, Mimura, and Yurioka and Mr. Horiya
as well as the progress in plate production technology of the Products R & D Laboratories, Nippon Steel
that has contributed to the improvement of the weld- Corporation.
ability. Several problems with cold cracking were The author also appreciates the kind permission of
pointed out and, as the reasonable carbon equivalent Nippon Steel Corporation and International Institute
for low carbon content steels, the new formulae CEN of Welding to publish this paper.
and Poet were recommended as preferable to the con-
ventional CE (IIW). REFERENCES
As examples of high-toughness steels, controlled- 1) Material Subcomm., Soc. Steel Construction Japan :
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(Sydney), (1976), 17-2-1. April 1982.
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Saito : " Carbon Equivalents to Assess Cold Cracking and H. Mottate: " High Toughness Line Pipe for Arctic
Tendency and Hardness in Steel Welding ", Seitetsu Kenkyu, Use ", Int'l Conf. " Pipeline and Energy Plant Piping ",
307 (1982), 117. Nov. 1980, Vancouver, Canadian Inst. Min. Met., (1980),
14) Compiled by the author based on Table 1.3.10 of Ref. 1) 31.
and other data. 27) K. Tanaka: Private communication (NSC).
15) Nippon Steel Corp.: " Properties of Extra High Tough- 28) T. Horitani, T. Takeda, K. Yamato, H. Gondoh and H.
ness Steel Plate Produced by NIC Process ", August 1981, Mimura : "A New Method to Estimate the Minimum
1. CTOD Value of Weld Fusion Line ", Tetsu-to-Hagane, 67
16) Nippon Steel Corp.: " Usability of New Ultra Low Ceq (1981), 51174 & 51175.
HT-50 Manufactured by CLC-process ", Sept. 1981, 1. 29) K. Tanaka, M. Sato and T. Ishikawa: " New Test Meth-
17) H. Suzuki: " Recent Japanese High Strength Steels for ods to Assess Safety of Low Temperature Storage Tanks ",
Large Welded Structures ", Welding in the World, IIW, 14 Int'l Conf. Fracture Toughness Testing, June 1982, London,
(1976), No. 11/12, 246. The Welding Inst., (1982).
18) H. Gondoh, H. Nakasugi, S. Yamamoto and H. Matsuda :

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