This paper presents the way in which temperature is measured in tests concerning structural transformations in various types of steel under welding conditions. In the test methodology, a small-sized steel specimen was subjected to simulated welding thermal cycles, during which the temperature of the specimen, changes in magnetic permeability and thermal expansion were measured simultaneously. The measurements of those parameters required the non-contact heating of the specimen, which involved the use of heating lamps. The temperature measurement was of key importance because the subsequent analysis of the remaining parameters was performed in the function of temperature.

The tests of structural transformations resulted in the development of Continuous Cooling Transformation under welding conditions (CCT) diagrams, enabling the determination of steel weldability and constituting the source of information needed to determine the effect of welding thermal cycles on the structure and properties of the material subjected to the tests.

Related numerical models to be used as the basis for the analysis of temperature distribution in the test specimen have been developed. These tests involved the analysis of the values and the distribution of temperature in relation to various model parameters, i.e. thermocouple types, geometrical features of a thermocouple junction and the diameter of thermocouple wires. The results of FEM calculations have been compared to the experiments.

The article shows examples of simulation of the chemical composition effect on austenite transformation during continuous cooling. The calculations used own neural model of CCT (Continuous Cooling Transformation) diagrams describing austenite transformations that occur during continuous cooling. The model allows to calculate a CCT diagrams of structural steels and engineering steels based on chemical composition of steel and austenitizing temperature. Examples of simulation shown herein are related to the effect of selected elements on the temperatures of phase transformations, hardness and volume fraction of ferrite, pearlite, bainite and martensite in steel.

An influence of a decreased Cr content on the microstructure of the highly alloyed Cr-Ni cast steel, duplex type, melted under laboratory conditions, was characterized in the paper. The microstructure investigations were performed in the initial state and after the heat treatment (solution annealing) at 1060°C as well as the phase transformation kinetics at continuous cooling was measured. The wear resistance of the investigated cast steel was tested and compared with the 24%Cr-5%Ni-2.5%Mo cast steel. The Cr content decrease, in ferritic-austenitic cast steels (duplex), from 24-26%Cr to 18% leads to the changes of the castings microstructure and eliminating of a brittle σ phase. In dependence of the casting cooling rate, apart from ferrite and austenite, also fine martensite precipitates occur in the casting structure. It was shown that the investigated cast steel is characterised by a slightly lower wear resistance than the typical cast steel duplex grades.