Abstract
Pipeline transmission is one of the most important ways of oil and gas
transportation, and its safety is majorly threatened by fatigue fracture
that generally occurs in heat-affected zone (HAZ) adjacent to the welded
joint of the pipeline. Therefore, studying the fatigue properties of HAZ
is important. In this work, the microstructure and mechanical properties
in the HAZ of a X80 pipe were accurately simulated by thermal
simulation. The fatigue life and crack growth rate of typical sub-HAZ
were tested. Results showed that the fine grain HAZ had the lowest
strength and fatigue life. By contrast, the coarse grain HAZ had the
highest strength, but its fatigue life was lower than that of the
intercritical HAZ. Furthermore, the microstructure of each sub-HAZ and
its effect on fatigue properties were discussed in detail. The results
will reveal the effects of microstructure and mechanical properties on
the service safety of pipeline transportation.