Proceedings of The Twelfth (2002) International Offshore and Polar Engineering Conference

Kitakyushu, Japan, May 26-31, 2002

Copyright 0 2002 by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers
ISBN l-880653-58-3 (Set); ISSN 1098-6189 (Set)

Characteristics of TMCP steels and their welded joints used for hull structures
kfasahiro Toyosada
Department of Marine Systems Engineering, Kyushu University
Fukuoka, Japan

CLASSIFICATION AND METALLURGY OF TMCP STEEL

ABSTRACT
TMCP steels are basically classified into two types: non-accelerated
TMCP steels were developed in Japanese steel makers about 20 years cooling (Non-AcC) and accelerated cooling (AcC) processes. Fig.1
ago. They are extensively used in ship building industry and are shows a schematic diagram of TMCP in comparison with conventional
diversifying to other industries such as marine structures, bridges and rolled process.
so on. Reentry European and Korean steel makers produce TMCP steel
also. They have not only great merits but also possible demerits. In this
paper, these merits and demerits are explained in addition to recent
topics in Japan about TMCP steel.

KEY WORDS: TMCP steel; low carbon equivalent; weldability;

toughness; fatigue strength; softening of HAZ; distortion; residual
stress

INTRODUCTION

For recent years, ships with extensive use of high tensile steels with
tensile strength of 5OOMPa class (HT-500) have increased more and
more in number in Japan for the purpose of reducing their hull weight,
thus leads to reduce its material cost. This is because Thermo-
Mechanical Control Process (TMCP) has been developed and TMCT
steels have good weldability due to their low C,,
Though Japanese steel makers developed TMCP steels that meet
the extensive demand of strength and toughness for line pipe had Time
become a center of attraction from Japanese shipbuilders. The
Fig. 1 Schematic illustration of thermo-mechanical control
shipbuilders have utilized various highly efficient welding technologies
process (TMCP) (TMR: thermo-mechanical rolling, AcC:
in their fabrication. Accordingly, a great deal of joint work among them
accelerated cooling, AC: air cooling)
including university professors has been carried out to put such steel
and welding technology into practical use in the Shipbuilding Research
Association of Japan (SR193), that has resulted in the accumulation of Non-AcC process consists of (1) low slab reheating temperature
an abundance of useful data. and (2) intensification of rolling reduction in the austenite unre-
This paper shows the characteristics of TMCP steels and their crystallized region. The controlled rolling is finished either in the
welded joints from the viewpoints of welding procedures, fracture region of austenite or in the intercritical region, austenite + ferrite
toughness and fatigue strength, which is summarized mainly in the (r+a).
SR193 committee (1985). Moreover recent topics about TMCP steels In AcC process, accelerated cooling is carried out after controlled
are also explained. rolling. Cooling rate and finishing-cooling temperature in the process
are controlled depending on required properties. Maximum available
thickness in AcC type TMCP steel is 100 to 200 mm at present.

385
 less C,, than conventional steel.
Since TMCP steel is characterized by its low C,, (or low C) and its
fine microstructure, some merits and demerits are considered to bring
up as follows.

MERITS OF TMCP STEELS

Since its low C,, and low C characterize TMCP steel, the hardn-
ability and cold cracking susceptibility of HAZ of TMCP steel are
expected to be improved compared with conventional steels.
600
z
Ei

: 500
I
&
Fig.2 Microstructural changes of austenite and subsequent
2
transformation during TMCP 2 400
B
Fig.2 shows the schematic metallurgical changes of TMCP steel F
u
during the process from slab reheating to final cooling. The purposes of ii
1 300
lowering the slab reheating temperature are: (1) refining the initial
austenite grain size before rolling, (2) promotion of recrystallization 5
E
and expansion of the recrystallized region to a lower temperature, and ‘X
(3) grain refinement of recrystallized austenite grains by rolling in the 9 200
recrystallized region.
0 50 100 150
Intensification of rolling reduction in the unrecrystallized region
Bead length lmml
results in an increase in austenite grain boundary surface per unit
Fig.4 Relationship between maximum hardness numbers
volume and density of deformation band in the matrix of austenite
and bead length
grains. It greatly contributes to the refinement of the microstructure
after transformation. In addition, accelerated cooling after controlled Fig.4 shows the results of maximum hardness test for HT-500 steels
rolling plays a role of clogging the growth of grain size. with yield strength of 320MPa (YP320) and 360MPa (YP360) classes
Fig.3 shows an example of the relation between tensile strength and in accordance with JIS maximum hardness testing. As seen in the figure,
C,,. It can be understood that TMCP brings about further improvement the maximum hardness decreases as C,, is lowered and bead length
in strength. The increment of tensile strength for TMCP steel comes becomes large. Since it has the possibility of generation of micro-
from the refinement of the microstructure, which can be predicted by cracking in the HAZ if the maximum hardness becomes larger than
Petch’s law. From the figure, we can make steels with low C,, by 400Hv or more, JSQS (Japan Ship Quality Standard) exhibits the short
TMCP compared with conventional process. bead with length less than 50mm for conventional HT-500 steel. From
As for ship structures and offshore structures, 320, 360 and 400 the figure, short bead with length greater than 1Omm can be applied for
MPa yield strength class HT-500 steels, which have experience to be YP320 and YP360 AcC type TMCP steels of which C,, is generally
used for actual ship hull. Obviously, AcC type TMCP steel has quite less than 0.36%

6oo-

\z?-TMCP YP32d .’ YP360 steel Plates

I 0
0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 Bead length [mm]
C,, = (C+Mn/6+Si/24) [%]
Fig. 5 Relationship between H,,, and welded bead length
Fig.3 Relationship between C,, and strength

386
 Fig.5 (Machida et al, 1988) is the relation between the maximum be said that in actual welding operation using low-hydrogen electrodes,
hardness in the HAZ and bead length for YP320 and YP360 AcC type preheating may be unnecessary at the ambient temperature of over 0°C.
TMCP steels. The YP400 class steels are nearly equal with the Non- Moreover the application of medium hydrogen electrodes becomes
AcC type TMCP manufactured YP320 and YP360 steels as regards the possible as shown in Table 1.
hardening of HAZ. This may be because the C,, upper limit remained
almost same. Table 1 Weld cracking susceptibility of TMCP steels
From the viewpoint of maximum hardness being not in excess of - -
400Hv, bead length may be allowed up to 30mm for YP400 AcC type rhdaess
Hydrogen

TMCP steel, and YP320 and YP360 Non-AcC type TMCP steel.
NO stee content
[mm1 [rn/lOOg]
I ’ I -
,100
P
0 t -1 4

3M-1

20

-
0% Q
00

L I I
3M-2 iH36
0.26 0.3 0.34 0.38
C,, (WES)=C+Si/24+Mn/6+Nil40+Cr/5+Mol4+V/14 [%]

1M-3 IH36 14

20

- -

,M-4 H36( 35

01 ' I ' ' ' 1 20

0 10 20 30 40 50
Heat input [MJ/m]
- -
Fig.7 Relationship between heat input and HAZ toughness at fusion
N no crack (**) (I) At startmg end
line in comparison with AcC and non-AcC type of TMCP steel
plates and conventional steel plates (II) At mddle

(III) At timshmg end

While many methods of cold cracking test have been proposed, JIS
small Y-groove cracking test is used here for summarizing the data on
the cold cracking susceptibility of the HAZ for HT-500 steels. Fig.6
shows the effect of C,, on the critical preheating temperature to prevent
cold cracking of conventional steels and AcC and Non-AcC type
TMCP steels by using small Y-groove cracking test.
As the small Y-groove cracking test specimen has very large
constraint, the critical preheating temperature to prevent cold cracking
in the small Y-groove cracking test is higher by about 75°C than that
applicable to welded joint in general steel structures. Therefore it can
The reduction of the C,, served effectively for toughness
improvement of the HAZ, particularly when high heat input welding is
used. This is generally proved by the fact that the welded joint
toughness of mild steels is superior to that of high tensile steels. This is
due to the formation of fine ferrite by the lowered hardenability as well
as reduced volume fraction of island martensite and also reduced
amount of cementite. However, the reduction in C,, generally brings
about a reduction in strength of the plates. Therefore, in conventional
manufacturing methods such as as-rolled or as-normalized processing,
efforts were made to adjust the MnK ratio or to replace C by Ni or Cu

387
to suppress C,, as low as possible. By these techniques, however, no
substantial reduction of C,, would be achieved to improve HAZ
toughness. As mentioned previously, the reduction of C,, can be
achieved by applying TMCP.
Fig.7 shows an example of the relationship between heat input and
HAZ toughness at fusion line in comparison with AcC and Non-AcC
type TMCP steel plates and conventional steel plates. AcC type TMCP,
in particularly, brings about further improvement in toughness and
makes possible to be applied for very high heat input welding. It is
natural that the improvement of HAZ toughness leads to increase
fracture toughness such as critical CTOD and Kit for the welding joints.
F HAZ ::<I I Base
grains and intercritical region is the second deteriorated part. On the
other hand, in the TMCP steel treated by adjusting microalloying and
gaseous elements, typical deterioration is not observed after single
thermal cycle. However after 2nd thermal cycle, new deteriorated
microstructure generally generates in the intercritical region for 2nd
thermal cycle at the coarse grain HAZ due to the first thermal cycle.
This sudden deterioration is caused by the formation of the
substructure named martensite-austenite constituent (M-A) or
martensite islands. This deteriorated area is very small and is scattered
around in the HAZ near the fusion line. Succeed thermal cycle of which
peak temperature is over about 400 degree decomposes martensite
islands, and then the toughness recovers. Although there are
deterioration parts in toughness in the HAZ of TMCP steel, the HAZ
toughness of TMCP steel is further high compared with that of
metal
conventional steel as shown earlier in Fig.7.

fusion HAZ
line bondary
a) Afler single thermal cycle

+ HAZ :j:
t - Base metal

g------’
I
f,,,
TMCP steel i

.It- I
I
I

I
I
Temperature

Fig.9 Comparison
1 / TK [x 1 Om3K’]

of crack arrestability

Moreover it is observed that Non-AcC type TMCP steel plates,

li I I
especially the plate manufactured by TMCP which the controlled

./I-‘ L
I I -Lnt ion.1 steel
I I rolling is finished in the region in the intercritical region ( y + a ), have
I I
I I excellent brittle fracture arrestability through the refinement of grains
j I
. intercritical region as shown in Fig.9.
I coarse : fine grain I
: grain I rwon ; 1A,, I
I realm I - IP
fusion HAZ
line bondary
a) Afler single thermal cycle

Fig.8 Schematic illustrations about changes of fracture toughness in

HAZ near the fusion line

By the way, it is well known that many different microstructures

Microstructure in Mid-thickness
generate in HAZ depending on thermal cycles due to welding and
chemical composition of steel. Fig.8 shows the typical schematic
changes of toughness in HAZ near the fusion line considered from the
Mmostructure in Surface Layer
Charpy test results for the plate with simulated welding thermal cycle. with Ultra-Fine grains (SIJF)
Fig.Sa) shows the schematic changes of toughness after single thermal
cycle. Generally speaking, HAZ near the fusion line is the most Photo 1 Microstructure of SUF steel
deteriorated part in conventional steel due to the generation of coarse

388
 By the way, temperature at the layer close to plate surfaces rises The softened HAZ may affect the buckling strength as well as the
after stopping AcC with high intensity of cooling. Grains of tensile strength. However if the softened HAZ is located away from
microstructure after rolling in the intercritical region under temperature highly strained zone such as plastic hinge lines that are located in the
rising process become finer than under temperature cooling process. transverse direction in the middle of the panel plate, the reduction of
Then Rolling technique after finishing AcC had been studied and plates the bucklina strenath due to the softened zone is nealiaiblv small.
with layer with quite fine grains of 1 to 3 b m close to the surface, as
shown in photo 1, are then developed. They are called SUP steel plate
and show ultra high arrestability for brittle crack propagation (Ishikawa
et al, 1997)

POSSIBLE DEMERITS OF TMCP STEELS

Since TMCP steels obtain sufficient strength and toughness without

heat treatment, the problems in strength will mainly create due to
reheating such as by hot working and PWHT. Although some
countermeasures for the problems due to hot working and PWHT have
been already prepared, the explanation about these is intended to delete
here because hot working and PWHT are usually not applied for ship
hull structures.
CO, sm-automatic CO, Gas shlelded Arc Process
TMCP steel plates, due to their low C,,, tend to decrease their
welded joint strength through the softening of HAZ caused by high heat 0.1
IO4 IO5 IO6 IO'
input welding with heat input greater than about 70kJ/cm. On the
Number of cycles to fracture : N,
contrary the softening of the HAZ does not appear in the normal steel
because of reinforcement by alloying elements. Fig. 11 S-Nf curves (Base metal, butt welded joints)
However, the decreased HAZ strength stays at a level of about 90%
or more of that of the base plate and the width of the softened HAZ is
less than about 70% of the plate thickness, even when the very high
heat input welding, say 300kJ/cm, is applied. This comes from the
restriction of lower limit of C,, as shown in Table 2.
Table 2 Range of C,, for HT-500 steel

Therefore, no problems will arise in securing the required strength.

Moreover if the width of the tensile test specimen is 10 times the
specimen thickness, the joint strength is far greater than that of the
standard small width specimen as shown in Fig.10.

5~0 I AcC type

(AH320.
iMCP
C,,=O
steel
25%. t=25mm)
Solid marks Flush

~ 520
a 0

;5001+-----? 1
iYl
Stress intensity factor range : A K [MPa m’“]

Fig. 12 Relationship between crack growth rate and stress intensity

a,
= NK rule ( 490 [MPa] for YP360 steel ) factor range
2 480
P a
________________________________________------ The existence of the softened HAZ in case of high heat input
0 NK rule ( 490 [MPa] for YP320 steel ) welding is also considered to decrease its fatigue strength. Fig. 11 shows
460 ________________________________________----------------------------
an example of fatigue test results obtained from YP400 AcC type
: Tensile strength of softened HA2
I. I-. I. I. I I TMCP steel and its butt welded joints by CO2 gas shielded arc welding
0 100 200 300 400 and FCB welding. The heat input for the FCB welding was 149kJ/cm.
Specimen width , W [mm] The vertical axis in the figure represents a dimensionless stress range
obtained by dividing the cyclic nominal stress range oR by the base
Fig. 10 The effect of plate width on the tensile strength of metal tensile strength oB. The solid line and the dot dash lines show
welded joint the mean fatigue strength and the range of data scatter for CO2 gas

389
welded joints and FCB welded joints of conventional HT-500 steels under development with expectation of realization for block
respectively. Similar results were obtained for YP320 and YP360 construction with high accuracy-of its shape and scale.
TMCP steel welded joints. It is obvious that the effect of softened HAZ
on fatigue strength for TMCP steel is almost the same as that for
conventional steel with the same tensile strength. loo-
Fig. 12 shows the test results of fatigue crack propagation rate in the
softened HAZ for AcC type TMCP steel. These joints were prepared by 80
very high heat input welding as shown in the column in the figure. In
this figure, the data for conventional steel welded joint is also included. F
From the figure, it can be also said that the fatigue crack propagation 60
rate in the softened HAZ is almost the same as that in the HAZ for .-E
conventional steel.
P
As explained above, the effect of the softened HAZ on fatigue
g 40
strength of the joint is negligibly small. However it is well known that
the fatigue limit of high tensile steel does not increase depending on its
static strength at highly stress concentration area. So we must take care
20
of this factor when high tensile steel is used. From the point of view,
when high tensile steel, especially YP400 steel, is used, designers must
carry out the detail stress analysis such as 3-D FEM and higher grade of .k -
0I
detail design standards must be applied to reduce stress concentration Steel 1 Steel 2 Steel 3 Steel 4 Steel 5
of local areas where considered critical, such as (1) bracket end of I I I I
bottom transverses, (2) openings, holes, cut-outs, (3) radius comers at Usual TMCP Developed TMCP
connections, (4) toes of tripping brackets, and (5) tapering of faces in
transition arrears. Fig. 14 Comparison of measuring deflection after flame line heating
In the manufacturing process of AcC type TMCP steel plate, if the
uniformity of temperature within the plate can not be maintained, flame 100
cutting a plate into strips releases residual stress, thus leading to
distortion as shown in Fig. 13. z
.2
g 50
m
5
6

8 0.4
7
‘&-
.P E
540.2
$E
mE
(I)-

z 200
Fig. 13 An example of deflection after plate stripping
B
5
To prevent this, high finishing cooling temperature is usually 5
-0 100
applied in addition to uniform cooling by controlled water pouring
2
distribution for width direction of steel plate. This technique has been b
already established. But engineers in assembly sections on shipbuilding 2
Q
factories have been feeling empirically and vaguely that TMCP steels 0
-100 0 100 2 IO
have larger scatter of distortion after thermal processes such as flame
Tempetture [Deg]
cutting and welding than conventional steel. Cold leveler with high
press are developed for removing residual stress in TMCP plates after
Fig. 15 Results of V-notch Charpy impact test
compressive yielding in almost half zone of a plate in thickness
direction (Tani et al, 2001). Fine control of alloying elements, rolling
timing and cooling rate in TMCP is of cause achieved for the purpose The last possible demerit is concerning about separation. Because
of getting sufficient strength, toughness and weldability. of the enhanced strength of TMCP steel by controlled rolling, so-called
Fig.14 (Tani et al, personal communication) is an example of separation or splitting is often observed in the fractured specimens
testing results of deflection after flame gas heating on lines parallel to taken from the longitudinal or the transverse direction of steel plates,
the diagonal of 16mm thick steel plate with 2500mm width and especially in steel plate controlled rolled in the intercritical temperature
3000mm long. Heating pitches of 300mm were applied for both of region. Cracks called separation propagate in planes perpendicular to
normal AcC type TMCP steels and above developed TMCP steels. the main fractured surface and parallel to the plate surface during the
Heating conditions are the same. It is seen that scatter of deflection is final fracture process due to restriction force exposed in the thickness
very small each other in the developed TMCP steel after the reinforced direction. Separation starts from an origin such as micro-orientation
cold leveler in comparison with usual TMCP steel. This steel is now texture boundary or an elongated non-metallic inclusion such as MnS,

390
which would be formed or elongated during TMCP rolling. Separation
is particularly observed in the fracture surface of V-notch Charpy
impact specimens.
Separation index is usually used for the purpose of quantifying the
degree of separation, which is defined by
SI =Cei/A
(end> (1)
where SI: separation index (mm/mn?),
!, : Each separation length (mm),
A: Area of main fracture surface.
Fig. 15 shows an example of Charpy transition and separation index
curves for a Non AcC type TMCP steel. Separations are observed only
in the transverse or the longitudinal directional specimens. Separation
depends clearly on the difference of toughness transition phenomena
between transverse (or longitudinal) and plate thickness directions. The
separation index indicates a maximum value at a temperature where the
difference in toughness between in transverse (or longitudinal) and in
plate thickness direction becomes evident as shown in Fig. 15.
Fig.16 shows the comparison between the plate thickness
directional toughness and longitudinal directional toughness in CTOD
tests. The horizontal axis and vertical axis in the figure show a
temperature where the critical CTOD becomes equal to 0.2mm for the
longitudinal and thickness direction in CTOD tests respectively. The
small triangle marks are for AcC type TMCP steels of which V notch
Charpy specimens showed no separation. The small circular marks are
for conventional HT-500 steels. Ductility in the plate thickness
direction has a mutual relation with sulfur content. So in the figure, the
range of sulfur content of steels used is also shown.
It is obvious from the figure that maximum separation index does
not depend on sulfur content. It can be also seen that the degree of the
deterioration in critical CTOD in plate thickness direction compared
with in longitudinal direction for TMCP steels is almost the same as
that for conventional steels except for the steel having excessively high
maximum separation index of 0.6-0.7mm/mm2. Then it comes to
conclusion that clean steel with a maximum separation index of
0.5mm/mm2 or less may not create any problem in its practical
application.

CONCLUDING REMARKS
5 O-
TMCP steels are excellent in terms of steel properties and ease of
fabrication as compared with conventional steels. However there are
some possible demerits. Then we must use these steels with carefully
O- consideration about these demerits.
H
0
F
.g REFERENCES
8 -5 O-
6 Ishikawa, T., Imai, S., Inoue, T., Watanabe, K., Tada, M. and
I Hashimoto, K., (1997).“Practical Assessment of Structural Integrity
t? of Ships Attained by the Use of SUF Steel Having Crack-
t -10 O- Arrestability (SUF: Surface-layer with Ultra-Fine grain) “, 16th
g
OMAE, Vol.111, p.301-308,
Machida, S., Kitada, H., Yajima, H. and Kawamura, A. (1988).
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-15 OL
kgf/mm’ Class Yield Stress Steel”, Int. J. ofMarine Structures, Vol. 1,
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No.3
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L - Direction ) [Deg]
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application for TMCP steels”, Shipbuilding Research Association of
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391