In this paper, a comparison of the mechanical properties of high-strength low-alloy S460N steel welded joints is presented. The welded joints were made by the gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process in the air environment and water, by the local cavity welding method. Welded joints were tested following the EN ISO 15614-1:2017 standard. After welding, the non-destructive—visual, penetrant, radiographic, and ultrasonic (phased array) tests were performed. In the next step, the destructive tests, as static tensile-, bending-, impact- metallographic (macroscopic and microscopic) tests, and Vickers HV10 measurements were made. The influence of weld porosity on the mechanical properties of the tested joints was also assessed. The performed tests showed that the tensile strength of the joints manufactured in water (567 MPa) could be similar to the air welded joint (570 MPa). The standard deviations from the measurements were—47 MPa in water and 33 MPa in the air. However, it was also stated that in the case of a complex state of stress, for example, bending, torsional and tensile stresses, the welding imperfections (e.g., pores) significantly decrease the properties of the welded joint. In areas characterized by porosity the tensile strength decreased to 503 MPa. Significant differences were observed for bending tests. During the bending of the underwater welded joint, a smaller bending angle broke the specimen than was the case during the air welded joint bending. Also, the toughness and hardness of joints obtained in both environments were different. The minimum toughness for specimens welded in water was 49 J (in the area characterized by high porosity) and in the air it was 125 J (with a standard deviation of 23 J). The hardness in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) for the underwater joint in the non-tempered area was above 400 HV10 (with a standard deviation of 37 HV10) and for the air joint below 300 HV10 (with a standard deviation of 17 HV10). The performed investigations showed the behavior of S460N steel, which is characterized by a high value of carbon equivalent (CeIIW) 0.464%, during local cavity welding.

The participation of high strength steels in marine and offshore structures is increasing, which makes it necessary to develop recommendations for underwater repair welding works. The article presents the results of bead-on-plate welded specimens made of S700MC high strength steel in underwater wet welding conditions by covered electrodes. Three specimens with heat input values in the range 0.91-1.05 kJ/mm were made. The specimens were subjected to visual, metallographic, macro-and microscopic tests as well as hardness measurements using the Vickers method. It was found that the higher heat input leads to formation of mixed bainite-martensite microstructure in the heat-affected zone (HAZ). Lower heat input value results in presence of martensite in HAZ. It was shown that in the scope of the performed tests, the maximum hardness of HAZ did not exceed the critical value for the material group, and the increase in heat input caused the decrease of hardness by about 25 HV10 to a level 250-260 HV10.

In this study, the effects of two geometrical parameters of the re-entrant auxetic cells, namely, internal cell angle (θ) and H/L ratio in which H is the cell height, and L is the cell length, have been studied on the variations of Poisson’s ratio and fatigue life of Aluminum 7075-T6 auxetic structures. Five different values of both the H/L ratio and angle θ were selected. Numerical simulations and fatigue life predictions have been conducted through the use of ABAQUS (version 2022) and MSC Fatigue (version 11.0) software. Results revealed that increases in both the H/L ratio and angle θ improved the average value of Poisson’s ratio. Increasing the H/L ratio from 1 to 1.4 and θ from 50° to 70° increased the values of Poisson’s ratio, respectively, 7.7% and 80%. In all angles, increasing the H/L values decreased the fatigue life of the structures significantly. Furthermore, in all H/L values, an increment in θ caused a reduction in fatigue life. The effects of H/L and θ parameters on fatigue life were dominant in the low cycle fatigue regime. Results also showed that the H/L ratio parameter had greater influence as compared to the θ angle, and the structures with higher auxeticity experienced higher fatigue resistance. It was found that the auxetic property of the structure has a direct relationship with the fatigue resistance of the structure. In all samples, structures with greater auxetic property had higher fatigue resistance.

The condition of the consumables is a key factor determining the waste reduction in the welding processes and the quality of the welded joint. The paper presents the results of tests of four types of flux-cored wires dedicated for welding high-strength steels, stored for 1 month and 6 months in Poland in two urbanized areas: in a large seaside city (Gdańsk) and in Warsaw, located in the center of the country. The wires were subjected to macroscopic and microscopic (stereoscopic, SEM) observations, EDS analysis, technological tests assessing elastic properties and targetability. The degree of degradation of the wires was also tested using resistance measurements. In order to assess the effect of storing wires on the weldability of steel, the diffusible hydrogen content in deposited metal was determined by high-temperature extraction. It was found that the storage caused changes in the surface condition of the wires, affected their elasticity and electrical properties, which affects the behavior of the wires during welding. A significant influence of storage conditions on the hydrogenation of deposited metal was found: in the case of three types of wires, the level of low hydrogen processes was exceeded and the maximum result was 15.18 ml/100 g of deposited metal. It was also found that copper-plated wire showed a significantly increased resistance to storage conditions compared to non-copper-plated wires.

Moisture present in the electrode covering is one of the sources of diffusible hydrogen in welded joints. In order to study the diffusible hydrogen content in deposited metal, a stand for moisturizing covered electrodes, in accordance with the PN-EN ISO 14372 standard, was built. After the stand was completed, a test of moisturizing the electrodes was carried out and measurements of the diffusible hydrogen content in deposited metal using the mercury method (according to PN-EN ISO 3690) were conducted. The research was aimed at verifying the correctness of the operation of test stand and indirect determination of the influence of storage of rutile-cellulose and cellulose electrodes under fixed conditions on the degree of moisturizing of the weld metal. Both tested electrode grades belong to the group of electrodes with a standard covering.