Investigation into mechanical properties of high strength steel plates welded with low temperature transformation (LTT) electrodes

Controlling the amount of distortion and tensile residual stresses plays an important role during welding of high strength steels. The amount of distortion and residual stresses in high strength steel welds may be reduced and compressive residual stresses can be induced by lowering the transformation temperature with the use of low-transformation-temperature (LTT) welding electrodes. In this study, high strength Domex 500 plates (500 mm × 300 mm × 7 mm) were welded with conventional high strength electrodes and LTT filler electrodes with a diameter of 2.5 mm. The objective of the study is to compare the mechanical and microstructural properties of high strength steel joints (i.e., Domex 500) produced using both conventional electrodes and newly-developed prototype LTT electrodes.