Influence of welding on the strength of high performance steels

• Main Authors: Zhang, Xing-Zhao, Zhao, Ming-Shan, Chiew, Sing-Ping, Lee, Chi-King, Fung, Tat-Ching
• Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Influence of welding; strength
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/80558; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/41574
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In this study, experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of welding on the strength of high performance steels including the reheated, quenched and tempered (RQT) high strength steel in grade S690 and thermos-mechanically controlled processed (TMCP) normal strength steel in grade S385. Firstly, a special welding program was designed and performed on the RQT and TMCP steel plates to induce welding heat input to the materials. These welding affected plates were subsequently fabricated into smaller specimens for tensile test and metallurgical examination including microstructure observation and Vickers hardness test. Secondly, two T-stub joints made of these two material were manufactured and tested in tension. By comparing the first yield resistances of the T-stub specimens and the design plastic resistances obtained by using equations provided by EC3, the strength of the high performance steel T-stub joints are evaluated. The results showed that welding softened the heat affected zone (HAZ) of S690 high strength steel significantly but its effect on the normal strength steel S385 was insignificant.