Cracking Driving Force at the Tip of SCC under Heterogeneous Material Mechanics Model of Safe-End Dissimilar Metal-Welded Joints in PWR

The complicated driving force at the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) tip of the safe-end dissimilar metal-welded joints (DMWJs) in the pressurized water reactor (PWR) is mainly caused by the heterogeneous material mechanical properties. In this research, to accurately evaluate the crack driving force at the SCC in DMWJs, the stress-strain condition, stress triaxiality, and J-integral of the crack tip at different positions are analyzed based on the heterogeneous material properties model. The results indicate that the larger driving force will be provided for the I-type crack when the crack is in the SA508 zone and the interface between the 316L region and base metal. In addition, the heterogeneous material properties inhibit the J-integral of the crack in the 316L region, which has a promoting effect when the crack is in the SA508 zone and weld metal. It provides a new idea for analyzing driving force at the crack tip and safety evaluation of DMWJs in PWRs.

Evaluation of crack resistance of welded joints with soft interlayers

Introduction. Welded joints in large-sized metal structures (e.g., in the structures of ship hulls) subject to low-cycle fatigue are considered. The characteristic appearance of soft interlayers, which are significantly plastically deformed under working loads, was noted. Deformation of the metal structure with damage, especially in the form of cracks, reduces the strength and reliability of structural elements and joints. Pre-deformation negatively affects plasticity; therefore, much depends on the residual plasticity of the cracking material. At the same time, with a decrease in residual plasticity, such an important reliability indicator as the resistance of the material to crack propagation — the fracture toughness – decreases. The paper is devoted to the development of a model that includes analytical dependences for assessing the crack resistance of metal structures and their welded joints with soft interlayers according to the crack resistance limit for all crack sizes.Materials and Methods. The theory and methods of linear mechanics of materials destruction, structural-mechanical approach are used. The calculation results were analyzed and compared to the experimental data and other analytical solutions. The numerical experiment was performed for the ferrite-perlite steel grades of 10, 50, 22K, St3sp, etc., widely used in industry, as well as for alloy steels hardened to medium and high strength of 30KhGSA, 37KhN3A, etc. Results. Analytical dependences are obtained for calculating the relative crack resistance limit according to three main known mechanical characteristics of the state of the material of the soft interlayer of the welded joint.Discussion and Conclusions. The results obtained can be used to assess the crack resistance of pre-deformed structural elements and welded joints (including those with soft interlayers) operating under a transverse load. The results of experimental data and analytical calculations are shown in dimensionless form, which enables to obtain invariant results with respect to the fracture toughness limit.

Heterogeneous Microstructure-Induced Creep Failure Responses in Various Sub-Zones of Modified 310S Welded Joints

In order to reveal the creep failure behavior of novel modified 310S austenite steel welded joints, the creep life and microstructure evolution of the 310S austenite steel welded joints were investigated in this study. The rupture life was assessed to estimate the damage of the welded joint based on creep rupture tests performed at 600 °C in the stress range of 170–238 MPa. Compared with WM, HAZ facilitated the occurrence of creep failure in long term creep due to the combination of a smaller hardness value, a more heterogenous microstructure accompanied by coarsened M23C6, a larger grain size, higher KAM and Schmid factor. Discontinuous Laves phases appeared near the boundaries between the δ-ferrite and γ-austenite grains in the WM, and dislocation strengthening and precipitation strengthening were observed near the boundary in the BM. Furthermore, segregation elements were detected by APT and EDS adjacent to the boundary. Cr and C segregation near grain boundaries weaken the creep resistance in long term creep service.

Investigation on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti6Al4V titanium alloy electron beam welding joint

Electron beam welding (EBW) is a fusion joining process particularly suitable for welding titanium plates. In the present work, 2.5 mm thickness Ti6Al4V titanium alloy plates were butt-welded together with backing plates by EBW. The detailed procedures of experiments were used to investigate the microstructure and mechanical properties of welded joints. The optimum welding speed was determined by microstructure examinations, microhardness tests, X-Ray diffraction tests, shear punch tests (SPT) and stress simulation calculations. The results showed that all microstructure of welded metal (WM) was martensite phase under the different welding speeds. In the heat-affected zone (HAZ), the martensite phase gradually evolved to be small and equiaxed. It can be seen that the microstructure of each region in welded joints did not change significantly. When the welding speed is between 8 mm/s and 14 mm/s, it can be seen from the macroscopic appearance of the joints that there was no utterly fused penetration between the butt plate and substrate. Finite element simulation was carried out for the no-penetration depth under different welding conditions, and it was found that the stress suffered by the small no-penetration depth was the smallest. Using different welding parameters shows that the engineering stress in WM was higher than other areas, and BM was the lowest. As welding speed increases from 8 mm/s to 14 mm/s, the variation of microhardness distribution was not evident.

Porosity Formation in Thin Welded Joints of Al–MG–LI Alloys

This work is about the study of the correlation of pore formation in welded joints of Al–MG–LI alloy with zirconium additives with the state of the base metal, thermal vacuum treatment, and welding technologies MIG and EBW. Metallographic analysis has been carried out, the phase composition of the alloy and weld metal has been investigated, and thermal cycles of welding have been calculated, allowing to estimate the residence time of metal in the alloying zone and weld metal in the liquid state. The nature of the allocation of strengthening fine-dispersed phases in the welded joints of the alloy has been determined. The regularity and character of pore formation in welded joints depending on the applicable thermal vacuum treatment (TVT) and welding technology have been revealed. It was established that TVT with subsequent hardening and aging has no effect on the phase composition of the alloy. However, this type of treatment contributes to the formation of a more homogeneous and uniform nature of the separation of fine-dispersed strengthening phases. It was revealed that the MIG technology (metal with and without TVT) is characterized by a large length of the fusion zone, the high residence time of metal in the fusion zone and weld metal in the liquid state, and the formation of pores. Phase formation in the temperature range of the beginning and end of the alloy crystallization occurs not only in the weld at the final stage of crystallization but also in the fusion zone, which may induce pore formation, whereas EBW welding shows the opposite trend and no pores. It was found that EBW technology prevents pore formation and makes it possible to obtain welded joints of 1420 Al alloys of the required quality.

EFFECT OF WELDING PROCESS PARAMETERS ON TENSILE OF LOW CARBON STEEL 283 G.C

In this study, three welding methods are used. The purpose to investigation the effects of SMAW, SAW, and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) on the tensile stress of low carbon steel conforming to ASTM 283 c. 8mm thick plates are used as base material for butt welded joints. The tensile properties of the welded joints were evaluated and the results were compared by experts using the Taguchi method to design three levels of each parameter (current, voltage and displacement speed). From this research, it is found that compared to metal shielded arc welding and submerged arc welding, the pulling effect of the gas shielded welding joint of the tungsten electrode is the best. This is mainly due to the presence of The results of using analysis of variance (ANOVA) to estimate important parameters show that welding current and speed of the weld have a significant effect on tensile stress .the experimental results are in agreement with predicted results, and the maximum error is 3%..