Effects of thermal aging on microstructure and hardness of China low activation martensitic steel welded joint

Highlights: • The hardness of HAZ and WM decreases obviously after aging. • The precipitation of the Laves-phase in BM is similar to that in HAZ. • M₂₃C₆ particles are conducive to the nucleation of Laves-phase. • Ta may have a role to retard the early precipitation of the Laves-phase. - Abstract: The aim of this paper is to investigate the microstructure evolution and the change in hardness distribution of China low activation martensitic steel welded joints after thermal aging at 550 °C for 6000 h. The joint was processed by electron beam welding. Compared to the base metal (BM) and heat affected zone (HAZ), Laves-phase was not formed in weld metal (WM) in the as-aged condition due to the higher tantalum content and less precipitation in WM before aging. The dislocation density decreased in HAZ and WM after aging for 6000 h. The property results showed that hardness of WM and HAZ was decreased significantly after aging for 6000 h due to the weakening of solution strengthening and dislocations strengthening. However, the change in the hardness of the base metal by aging remained at a minor level.