Abstract
By observation of the fracture surfaces and of appropriate metallographic sections of C–Mn steel multipass MMA (manual metal arc) weld metals and simulated weld specimens which were fractured at −60°C in Charpy V tests, it was found that the impact toughness of the specimen could be correlated with the length of the fibrous crack which was limited by unstable propagation of the cleavage crack; the latter could be initiated at a type of second phase particle transformed from carbon rich regions or non-metallic inclusions. The weakest zone in which the cleavage crack initiated was characterised by coarse grains of ferrite and the critical event which gave rise to unstable propagation of a cleavage crack was a crack in the ferrite grain larger than 30 μm cutting through the boundary and extending over the specimen. On the basis of these results, a model of the fracture mechanism is proposed and the effect of Mn content on increasing toughness is explained using the model.
MST/647
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.