A new sulfide stress cracking (SSC) resistant HT60 steel which has also a high resistance to weld cracking has been developed. A newly developed steel is different from conventional HT6O steels as follows,
(1) lowering [C], removing [B] and adding no [Ni] and [Cu]
(2) strength and toughness are kept mainly by precipitation hardening and a fine ferrite-bainite structure in place of tempered martensite structure
(3) to realize this idea, TMCP technology was fully adopted and cotrolled rolling followed by direct quenching and tempering process was established.
As a result, a newly developed HT60 steel shows an extremely low maximum hardness at heat affected zone, Hvmax≤240, and no SSC while a high stress, 1.0σy, is applied and no weld cracking in the atmosphere 10°C, 90% relative humidity.
This new HT60 steel will be suitable for pressure vessels for LPG, pipelines for oil or natural gases, offshore structures where preheating before welding is difficult and others.
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