Abstract. The X80 pipeline steel for the west to east gas transmission project was successful produced, based on the hot strip mills equipment advantage. However, the impact toughness was unstable during the production. In this research, optical microscope, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive analysis (EDS) test were used to study the relationships between different alloy content and microstructure in pipeline steel. What's more, the effect of alloy content on impact toughness in X80 pipeline steel has been explored based on the statistics of alloy composition and the performances in production. The results show that, the alloying elements in X80 pipeline steel can be divided into three categories in this condition. First, Ni, Cu and Mo alloy, it promotes the MA constituents transformation, and leading the impact toughness decreases. Second, Cr and Mn alloy, which have no significant effect on impact toughness. And the third, Nb and Ti micro-alloying, which is particularly improving the impact toughness in pipeline steel.
IntroductionHigh strength and high toughness pipeline steels make great contributions to energy conservation and cost reduction as well as to increased transportation efficiency of crude oil and natural gas. It is widely acknowledged that natural gas is the most important source of the energy in nowadays. The demand of the energy increasing significantly in eastern of China, but most of the natural gas is produced in western region. So the west to east gas transmission project has been started since 15 years ago. To reduce the construction costs, the third-line project of west to east gas transmission project used the 0.8 design factor. Besides, the project also under severe conditions of higher pressures and low temperatures, it can be abruptly fractured when cracks initiate and propagate rapidly by impact, explosion, or earthquake. Therefore, the performance of pipeline steel plate put forward higher requirements, especially for impact toughness [1][2][3].Based of the advanced hot rolling mill, the company successfully developed and manufactured the X80 pipeline steel for the third-line project of west to east gas transmission project. In order to accord the high toughness requirements, the alloying elements Mo, Ni, Cu, Cr, Nb, V and Ti, et al. have been employed, combining with TMCP process. However, it shows that the strength is relatively stable, but the impact toughness fluctuations. Therefore, the differences of impact toughness were analyzed in this study, combined the composition and properties of X80 pipeline steel statistics. And this research also can provide the necessary theoretical support for optimizes the design and development of X80 pipeline and higher grade pipeline steel.