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The effect of microstructure variation on the corrosion behavior of high-strength low-alloy（HSLA） steel was investigated. The protective property of the corrosion product layer was also explored. Experimental results reveal that the type of microstructure has significant effect on the corrosion resistance of HSLA steel. The measurement results of weight loss, potentiodynamic polarization curves, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy indicate that the steel with acicular ferrite microstructure exhibits the lowest corrosion rate. Martensite exhibits a reduced corrosion resistance compared with polygonal ferrite. It is found that the surface of the acicular ferrite specimen uniformly covered by corrosion products is seemingly denser and more compact than those of the other two microstructures, and can provide some amount of protection to the steel; thus, the charge transfer resistance and modulus values of the acicular ferrite specimen are the largest. However, corrosion products on martensite and polygonal ferrite are generally loose, porous, and defective, and can provide minor protectiveness; thus, the charge transfer resistance values for polygonal ferrite and martensite are lower.

To verify the formation behaviors and mechanisms of intra-granular acicular ferrite（ IAF） grains nucleated by Mg-Al-O in low carbon steel,the steels containing different Mg contents were refined in a vacuum induction furnace. The effect of Mg addition on the formation of IAF structure in Al-killed low carbon steel was investigated by optical microscope（ OM） and scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscope（ SEM-EDX）. It reveals that the IAFs are only detected in Mg-added steels,and the volume fraction of IAF increases with the Mg concentration from 8 × 10~（-6） to 26 × 10~（-6）. It shows that not only the MgO-Al_2O_3-MnS and MgO-Al_2O_3-P_2O_5 particles are the effective nucleation sites for IAF,but also the pure MgO·Al_2O_3 phase can promote the ferrite nucleation. A Mn-depletion zone（ MDZ） is characterized adjacent to the MgO-Al_2O_3-MnS,which is believed to be one of the possible mechanisms to explain the IAF nucleation. The MDZ around the MgO-Al_2O_3-MnS inclusion would be induced by the Mn S precipitation on the inclusion. It seems that the ability of Mg-containing inclusions to induce the nucleation of ferrite might be attributed to a new mechanism,i. e.,the Prich zone formed on a few Mg-Al-O inclusions might be another factor for promoting the IAF formation.

Microstructure evolution and impact toughness of simulated heat affected zone（HAZ） in low carbon steel have been investigated in this study. Thermal simulator was used to simulate microstructure evolution in HAZ with heat input of 10-100 kJ/cm welding thermal cycle. Results indicated that microstructure of HAZ mainly consisted of acicular ferrite（AF） inside grain and high volume fraction of grain boundaries ferrite（GBF） at prior austenite boundaries; the size of GBF and effective grain size increased with increasing heat input. Excellent impact toughness（more than 150 J at-40 ℃） was obtained in HAZ with heat input less than 50 k J/cm. When heat input was 100 kJ/cm, the impact toughness of HAZ decreased to 18 J because of the presence of large M-A constituent with lath-form in HAZ, assisting the micro-crack initiation and decreasing the crack initiation energy seriously. Effect of inclusions on acicular ferrite transformation in HAZ was also discussed.

The influence of Ti on weld microstructure and mechanical properties in large heat input welding of high strength low alloy steels is investigated. The results indicate that a moderate amount of Ti is still effective for grain refinement even under larger heat input and a large amount of acicular ferrite （AF） is formed in the weld metal when Ti content is within 0. 028%--0. 038%. With increasing Ti content, proeutectoid ferrite in the weld metal decreases, whereas bainite and M-A constituent increase. The type of inclusion in the welds varies from Mn-Si-AI-O to Ti-Mn- A1-O and finally to Ti-A1-O as Ti content increases from 0 up to 0. 064%. As for adding 0. 028%--0. 038% Ti, high weld toughness could be attained since most inclusions less than 2 tim which contain Ti20s provide the effective nu- clei for aeicular ferrite formation. However, the toughness of the weld metals severely reduces when Ti content is over the optimum ranRe of 0. 028%--0. 038%.

During heat treatment processing, microstructures of heat affected zone （HAZ） were formed in X80 pipe- line steel. After observation by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microsco- py, microstructure of the as-received X80 steel was confirmed to be acicular ferrite, while the microstructures of quenched, normalized and annealed X80 steels were lath bainite, granular ferrite and quasi-polygonal ferrite, respec- tively. After immersion in the simulated acidic soil solution for 48 h, corrosion rates of these four steels were deter- mined by mass loss measurements and corrosion products were examined by Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoe lectron spectroscopy. Scanning vibrating electrode technique was used to characterize the micro-galvanic corrosion be- haviors of the synthetic bimetallic electrodes which were formed by coupling each of the simulated HAZ microstruc- tures with the as-received steel in direct physical and electric contact. It is demonstrated that the as-received steel acts as cathode in the as-received/quenched and as-received/normalized couples, while the annealed steel acts as cathode when coupling with the as received steel. The distinction of current density between the galvanic couples reduces with prolonging the immersion time.

The formation mechanism of intragranular ferrites with acicular morphology was discussed.The ferrites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy.The results showed that the ferrites had an acicular structure with radial,symmetrical,and acicular laths,and that the inclusions were the nucleation sites of the intragranular acicular ferrites.Transmission electron microscopy（TEM）was used to characterize the inclusions.The results of TEM with energy dispersive spectroscopy and TEM-selected area electron diffraction indicated that the complex inclusions consisted of Ti-Al complex oxides and MnS.The jagged edges of the complex inclusions can be ascribed to the effects of the crystal structure.The stabilization energy U of the coordination polyhedron growth units varies with the type of connection according to the calculation results.A larger Ucorresponds to more stable growth units,which induces the preferentially oriented growth of inclusions,at which point acicular ferrites are formed.

E32 grade corrosion resistant steel was welded with welding wires with three different S contents. The mi crostructure, mechanical properties, inclusions, and corrosion behavior of welded joint were investigated. The joint coupon corrosion test and potentiodynamic polarization test were carried out under the simulated corrosion environ- ment of the inner bottom plates of cargo oil tanks. The pitting initiation and propagation mechanism of the weld metal were studied by scanning electron microscopy and infinite focus. The results indicated that the microstructures of three kinds of weld metals are all composed of acicular ferrite, ferrite side-plate and proeutectoid ferrite. The micro- structure of heat affected zone is composed predominantly of bainite. Joint welded with low S filler wire has good me- chanical properties. S can decrease free corrosion potential and increase the corrosion tendency. The pitting initiation is oxide inclusion or sulfide oxide inclusion complex. S can induce the formation of occluded area and promote the corrosion propagation. The chemical compositions of weld metal is similar to base metal, which can limit the galvanic corrosion between weld metal and base metal, and avoid formation of corrosion step.

Effects of Mg on the chemical component and size distribution of Ti-bearing inclusions favored grain refinement of the welding induced coarse-grained heat affected zone （CGHAZ）, with enhanced impact toughness in Ti-killed steels, which were examined based on experimental observations and thermodynamic calculations. The results indicated that the chemical constituents of the inclusions gradually varied from the Ti-O＋Ti-Mg-O compound oxide to the Ti-Mg-O＋MgO compound oxide and the single-phase MgO, as the Mg content increased from 0.002 3M to 0.006%. A trace addition of Mg （approximately 0. 002%） led to the refinement of Ti-bearing inclusions by creating the Ti-Mg-O compound oxide and provided favorable size distribution of the inclusions for acicular ferrite transformation with a high nucleation rate in the CGHAZ, and a high volume fraction of acicular ferrite was obtained in the CGHAZ with enhanced impact toughness. Otherwise, a high content of Mg （approximately 0. 006%） produced a single-phase MgO, which was impotent to nucleate an acicular ferrite, and a microstructure comprised of a ferrite side plate and a grain boundary ferrite developed in the CGHAZ. The experimental results were confirmed by thermodynamic calculations.

To systematically investigate the kinetics and formation mechanisms of intragranular ferrite（IGF）, isothermal heat treatment in the temperature range of 450℃to 600℃ with holding for 30 s to 300 s, analysis of the corresponding microstructures, and observation of the precipitated particles were conducted in V-N microalloyed 600 MPa high strength rebar steel. The potency of V（C,N） for IGF nucleation was also analyzed statistically. The results show that the dominant microstructure transforms from bainite（B） and acicular ferrite（AF） to grain boundary ferrite（GBF）, intragranular polygonal ferrite（IPF）, and pearlite（P） as the isothermal temperature increases from 450℃ to 600℃. When the holding time at 600℃ is extended from 30 s to 60 s, 120 s, and 300 s, the GBF content ranges from 6.0vol% to 6.5vol% and the IPF content increases from 0.5vol% to 2.8vol%, 13.1vol%, and 13.5vol%, respectively, because the ferrite transformation preferentially occurs at the grain boundaries and then occurs at the austenite grains. Notably, V（C,N） particles are the most effective nucleation site for the formation of IPF, accounting for 51% of the said formation.

The effect of acicular ferrite （AF） on banded structures in low-carbon microalloyed steel with Mn segregation during both iso- thermal transformation and continuous cooling processes was studied by dilatometry and microscopic observation. With respect to the iso- thermal transformation process, the specimen isothermed at 550℃ consisted of AF in Mn-poor bands and martensite in Mn-rich bands, whereas the specimen isothermed at 450℃ exhibited two different morphologies of AF that appeared as bands. At a continuous cooling rate in the range of 4 to 50℃/s, a mixture of AF and martensite formed in both segregated bands, and the volume fraction of martensite in Mn-rich bands was always higher than that in Mn-poor bands. An increased cooling rate resulted in a decrease in the difference of martensite volume fraction between Mn-rich and Mn-poor bands and thereby leaded to less distinct microstrucmral banding. The results show that Mn segregation and cooling rate strongly affect the formation of AF-containing banded structures. The formation mechanism of microstructural banding was also discussed.