Abstract
Steel welding using induction heating to produce pipelines is found to have lower toughness at the weld junction than the base material, even after a heat treatment which reaustenitises the weld zone. Detailed crystallographic characterisation indicates that the poor toughness is due to the crystallographically coarse grains present after welding; the coarse scale is not visible using just optical microscopy. The post-weld heat treatment does not improve the situation at the weld junction, because the detrimental crystallographic characteristics are reproduced on cooling.
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