Marek Stankiewicz

The article presents changes in the microstructure of hot-rolled unalloyed structural steel after the arc welding process and in the state after long-term exposure to 600 °C during operation. These studies enable a clear assessment of the effects of long-term exposure to elevated temperature relative to the as-welded condition, which has not been reported. The microstructure examination was carried out on welded joints in eight different zones of the joint. Studies have shown that the welding thermal cycle causes significant changes in the microstructure in the area of the base material heated above the A₁ temperature—the heat-affected zone (HAZ)—and in the weld area in the case of multi-pass welding. The long-term exposure of the subcritical temperature of 600 °C on the welded joint leads to the phenomenon of cementite spheroidization in the pearlite in all zones of the joint, while preserving the band structure of the steel after rolling and the structural structure. In the case of the weld, acicular and side-plate ferrite disappearance was observed.

Welded structures made of duplex steels are used in building applications due to their resistance to local corrosion attack initiated by chlorides. In this paper, the material and technological factors determining the corrosion resistance are discussed in detail. Furthermore, recommendations are formulated that allow, in the opinion of the authors, to obtain a maximum corrosion resistance for welded joints. The practical aspects of corrosion resistance testing are also discussed, based on the results of qualification tests. This work is of a review character. The conclusions and practical recommendations are intended for contractors and investors of various types of structures made of the duplex steel. The recommendations concern the selection and use of duplex steels, including the issues of metallurgy, welding techniques, and corrosion protection.

The change in the value of the breaking energy is discussed here for selected steel grades used in building structures after subjecting the samples made of them to episodes of heating in the steady-state heating regime and then cooling in simulated fire conditions. These changes were recorded based on the instrumented Charpy impact tests, in relation to the material initial state. The S355J2+N, 1H18N9T steels and also X2CrNiMoN22-5-3 duplex steel were selected for detailed analysis. The fire conditions were modelled experimentally by heating the samples and then keeping them for a specified time at a constant temperature of: 600 °C (first series) and 800 °C (second series), respectively. Two alternative cooling variants were investigated in the experiment: slow cooling of the samples in the furnace, simulating the natural fire progress, without any external extinguishing action and cooling in water mist simulating an extinguishing action by a fire brigade. The temperature of the tested samples was set at the level of −20 °C and alternatively at the level of +20 °C. The conducted analysis is aimed at assessing the risk of sudden, catastrophic fracture of load-bearing structure made of steel degraded as a result of a fire that occurred previously with different development scenarios.