Microstructure and deformation behaviour of laser welded dissimilar dual phase steel joints

The microstructure, microhardness, tensile properties, deformation and fracture behaviour of the Nd:YAG laser welded dissimilar joints between 780 and 980 MPa dual phase steels over a wide strain rate range were investigated. The welded joint shows hardening in fusion zone, supercritical and intercritical heat affected zones and softening in subcritical heat affected zones. For the dissimilar welded joint, the changing trend of the ductility is similar to those of the base metals with respect to the strain rate. The reason for the strain rate sensitivity of the failure location of the welded joint is that the major factor influencing the failure location changes from the content of ferrite to the content of ferrite/martensite interface with increasing strain rate.