Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 440-451 (2015)
EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON FRACTURE TOUGHNESS OF
HIGH-STRENGTH STRUCTURAL STEEL AND ITS BUTT WELD
Yuanqing Wang1, Xiyue Liu1,2,*, Yun Lin3, Yongjiu Shi1 and Hui Zhou4
1 Key Laboratory of Civil Engineering Safety and Durability of China Education Ministry,
Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
2College of Basic Education for Commanding Officers,NUDT,Changsha, 410072, China
3 School of Management, Fuzhou College of Foreign Studies and Trade, Fuzhou 350202, Fujian, China
4 Key Laboratory of Urban Security and Disaster Engineering of Ministry of Education,
Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
*( Corresponding Author: E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
DOI:10.18057/IJASC.2015.11.4.3
 View Article |
Export Citation: Plain Text | RIS | Endnote |
ABSTRACT
As steel strength increases, the fracture toughness may be quite different from that of normal steel, and the corresponding welded joints can be the critical spots due to possible brittle fracture behavior. Moreover, the design load for high-strength steel structure is larger and the steel with higher stress is more sensitive to defect, which increases the potentials of brittle fracture. The service of steel structures in cold regions increases the crisis of brittle fracture. Therefore, a series of three-point bending tests were conducted at low temperature to investigate the fracture toughness of high-strength steel and its butt weld. Fracture micro-mechanisms were analyzed through Scanning Electron Microscopy of the fractured surfaces in specimens. The fracture toughness indices (critical CTOD values) of high-strength steel and its butt weld all decrease as temperature decreases. The heat affected zone (HAZ) is more critical to fracture than the base material, indicated by much lower critical CTOD values and higher transition temperature. The fracture toughness of high-strength steel is relatively lower than the conventional steels (i.e. 235MPa, 345MPa and 390MPa). The results obtained in this paper provide reference for the fracture resistant design of high-strength steel structures in cold regions．
KEYWORDS
fracture toughness; high-strength steel; butt weld; low temperature; brittle fracture
REFERENCES
[1] Shi, G., Shi, Y.J. and Wang, Y.Q., “Engineering Application of Ultra-high Strength Steel Structure”, Progress in Steel Building Structure, 2008, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 32-38.
[2] Liu, X.Y., Wang, Y.Q., Shi, Y.J. and Chen H., “Progress on Research for Brittle Facture of Steel Structure Constructed with High-strength Steel”, Steel Structure, 2012, Vol. 9, No. S, pp. 135-145.
[3] Miki, C., Homma, K. and Tominaga, T., “High Strength and High Performance Steels and their Use in Bridge Structures”, Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 2002, Vol. 58, pp.3-20.
[4] International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering, “Use and Application of High Performance Steels for Steel Structures”, Zurich: IABSE, 2005, pp.118.
[5] Rogers, C.A. and Hancock, G.J., “Fracture Toughness of G550 Sheet Steels Subjected to Tension”, Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 2001, Vol. 57, pp. 71-78.
[6] Valiente, A., Elices, M., Ruiz, J. and Alvarez, J.A., “Fracture Assessment of a High Strength Structural Steel on the Basis of Eurocode 3”, Materials and Structures, 1999, Vol. 32, pp. 144-150.
[7] Toribio, J., “A Fracture Criterion for High-strength Steel Notched Bars”, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 1997, Vol. Vol. 4, No. 57, pp. 391-405.
[8] Chang, K. H. and Lee, C. H., “Residual Stresses and Fracture Mechanics Analysis of a Crack in Welds of High Strength Steels”, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 2007, Vol. 74, pp. 980-994.
[9] Xu, S., Petri, N. and Tyson, W.R., “Evaluation of CTOA from Load vs. Load-line Displacement for C (T) Specimen”, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 2009, Vol. 76, pp. 2126-2134.
[10] Duan, L., “Mechanical Characteristics of High Performance Steel HPS 485W and Bending Behavior Study of Hybrid Girder”, Chang’an University, Xi’an, 2010, pp.108.
[11] Jing, H.Y., Huo, L.X., Zhang, Y.F., Toyoda, M. and Fujita, A., “Effect of Yield Ratio on Fracture Toughness for High Strength Steel”, Acta Metallurgica Sinica., 1996, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 265-273.
[12] Code of Practice for the Structural Use of Steel, Building Department, Hong Kong, 2005, pp. 13.
[13] EN 1993-1-10: 2005 (E), Eurocode 3-Design of Steel Structures Part 1-10: Material Toughness and Through-thickness Properties, European Standard, 2007, pp.10.
[14] EN 1993-1-12, Eurocode 3-Design of Steel Structures Part 1-12: Additional Rules for the Extension of EN 1993 up to Steel Grades S700, British Standard Institution, London, 2007, pp.15.
[15] ANSI/AISC 360-05, Specification for Structural Steel Buildings. American National Standard, 2005, pp.23.
[16] Weng, C.C. and White, R.N., “Cold-Bending of Thick High-Strength Steel Plates, Journal of Structural Engineering”, ASCE, 1990, Vol. 116, No. 1, pp. 40-54.
[17] Kervick, R.J. and Springborn, P.K., “Cold-Bending and Forming Tube and Other Sections, Transactions”, ASME, 1966, pp. 9-18.
[18] Chang, K.H. and Lee, C.H., “Residual Stresses and Fracture Mechanics Analysis of a Crack in Welds of High Strength Steels”, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 2007, Vol. 74, pp. 980-993.
[19] Shi, Y.W. and Hang, Z.X., “Evaluation of Fracture Toughness on 800MPa Grade HSLA Welds in Construction Machinery”, Welding & Joining, 2006, Vol. 35, No. 11, pp. 3-16.
[20] Zhou, Z.L., Xie, M., Lin, W.J. and Liu, Z.C., “Influence of Heat Input on the HAZ Fracture Toughness and Microstructure of WEL-TEN780A High Strength Steel”, Welding & Joining, 1999, Vol. 10, pp. 8-15.
[21] Vojvodic Tuma, J., Sedmak, A., “Analysis of the Unstable Fracture Behaviour of a High Strength Low Alloy Steel Weldment”, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 2004, Vol. 71, pp. 1435.
[22] Barsom, J.M. and Rolfe, S.T., “Fracture and Fatigue Control in Structures: Applications of Fracture Mechanics”, ASTM, West Conshohocken, PA., 1999, pp.3.
[23] Wu, Y.M., Wang, Y.Q. and Shi, Y.J., “Effects of Low Temperature on Properties of Structural Steel”, Journal of University of Science and Technology Beijing, 2004, Vol. 11, No. , pp.442-448.
[24] Wang, Y.Q., Lin, Y., Zhang, Y.N. and Shi Y.J., “Experimental Study on Fracture Toughness of Q460C the High-strength Construction Steel at Low Temperature”, Applied Mechanics and Materials, 2011, Vol. 71-78, pp.890-897.
[25] Wang, Y.Q., Liu, X.Y., Hu, Z.W. and Shi, Y.J., “Experimental Study on Mechanical Properties and Fracture Toughness of Structural Thick Plate and Its butt Weld Along Thickness and at Low Temperatures”, Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures, 2013, Vol. 36, No. 12, pp.1258-1273.
[26] Wu, Y.M., “Research for Mechanism of Brittle Fracture of Structural Steel and its Engineering Design Method”, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 2004, pp.1.
[27] Hu, Z.W., “Research for Mechanical Properties of Brittle Fracture of Structural Steel Thick Plate and its Weld”, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 2010, pp.2.
[28] JGJ 81-2002, “Technical Specification for Welding of Steel Structure of Building”, Standards Press of China, Beijing, 2002, pp.10.
[29] GB/T 21143-2007, “Metallic Materials-Unified Method of Test of Determination for quasistatic fracture toughness”, Standards Press of China, Beijing, 2007, pp.13.
[30] Wang, Y.Q., Lin Y., Zhang Y.N. and Shi Y.J., “Experimental Study on Fracture Toughness of Butt Weld of Q460C the High-strength Construction Steel”. Proceedings of Seventh International Conference on Advances in Steel Structures, Nan Jing, 2012, Vol. 1, pp. 668-675.