Welding Residual Stress Effect in Fracture Toughness

The thickness of steel plates used for large structures has been increasing with the rapid increase in the size of welding structures. The growing capacity of large-scale ships, such as container ships, has led to an increase in the thickness and strength of steel plates for shipbuilding. The steel plate toughness and resistance to brittle fractures tend to decrease for thick plates because of the so-called thickness effect. This study uses 80-mm-thick steel plates and two welding processes (i.e., flux cored arc welding process and electron gas welding process) to produce full-thickness weld joints. The welding residual stress in both welded joints is measured to evaluate the brittle crack propagation path. This study aims to investigate the effect of welding variables on the crack arrest toughness and crack propagation path of thick steel-plate welds. The thick steel plate has a high possibility in brittle fracture. A quantitative analysis is conducted through a temperature-gradient ESSO test to clarify the effect of the welding variables on the flux cored arc welding and electron gas welding process joints of steel plates with 50 and 80 mm thicknesses. The welding residual stress is also measured to evaluate the welding residual stress effect in both welding processes on the brittle crack propagation path using a neutron science analysis.