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Discuss briefly:
1a. Fatigue of welded vis-a-vis virgin material (base metal)
Initiation: In base metals fatigue crack initiation occurs under repeated stresses
from micro-discontinuities. In welded joints only propagation of crack occurs from the
inherent weld defects.
Locations and causes of flaws:
In base metal the flaws or micro discontinuities are initiated at atomic defects at
lattice dislocations, micro defects at grain boundaries or macro defects due to nonmetallic inclusions. These flaws initiate and grow under repeated loading.
In weldmetal the flaws are already present due to fabrication. These flaws are mostly
seen at weld toe or weld root. At weld toe flaws occur due to high stress
concentration due to change in geometry, high tensile residual stresses and
discontinuities due to slag inclusions. At weld root flaws such as lack of penetration
and lack of fusion, and porosity due to gases used in welding act as crack initiators.
grain boundaries (environment assisted cracking) or across the grains. With each
cycle of loading microstriations can be found behind the fatigue crack tip radiating
from the origin of the crack. And macro bands called beach marks can be observed
by naked eye that represent a period of cyclic loading. These marks are observed
only in gradual ductile propagation. In case of brittle cracks, fibrous texture radiating
from the cracks can be identified.
Stage (3) failure: When the crack advances its critical size rapid tearing occurs.
Crack propagation mechanisms are similar in base and weld metals.
Effect of residual stresses: Effect of residual stresses in base metals due to
manufacturing processes is minimal. Where the effects of residual stresses is
significant in weld metal.
Fatigue parameters: Weld metal fatigue depends only on stress range. Fatigue in
base metals depend on 2 of the fatigue parameters.
1b. Brittle Vs. Ductile failure.
Ductile failure:
1) Ductile failure is usually observed in materials that show ductility after yielding
(BCC) in the presence of shear stresses.
2) Plastic deformation is observed before failure that is the member experiences
ductility absorbing a high amount of energy before failure.
3) The microvoids coalesce and crack propagates normal to the direction of
applied tensile stress.
4) Further crack propagates along the maximum shear plane 45 to the tensile
stress creating shear lips. This creates a cup and cone shape as shown in the
figure. For a highly ductile material only shear lips are formed along with high
amounts of necking.
fabricated components. Weld residual stresses occur due restraint on the weld to
shrinkage during cooling. The order of these residual stresses go up to material yield
stresses.
f.
(i)
(ii)
Fabrication did not follow the design details: The design Details were
mis-interpreted by the fabricator. The horizontal cross bracings were welded
to the upper flanges of the box which were designed to take only horizontal
forces from the slanting web. In addition to this the bracing member of 24
in. X in. was welded to the flange for an entire width of 24in. developing
high residual stresses which further boosted the crack growth.
Improper material selection: A pressure vessel quality steel A517
instead of A514 was specified for the flanges. It was believed that the two
direction rolling in the manufacture of A517 steels made them superior to
A514. As a result not impact testing was performed to check the notch
toughness of the steel. The material supplied turned out to be out of
specification according to ASTM standard.
Repairs:
It was decided that complete replacement of plates and field welding were not
a feasible option. The following repairs were done:
(1) The entire structure was jacked to zero stress condition
(2) Later additional plates were added to the flanges as shown in figure 4. This
reduced the design stress in the original plates significantly.
(3) The redundancy of the structure was increased establishing multiple load paths
to carry the loads in case of any further fractures.
Additional
plate
Crack
removed
Additional
plate
Elements
State
of
presence
in
steel
Effects
on
Transformation
Diagram
(austenite
to
pearlite, bainite
and martensite.)
Boron (B)
Steel making
Common
Deoxidizer
Hardenability
Strength
Steel
more
responsive to heat
treatment
Improves
hardenability
Improves
strength
Cobalt
(Co)
Chromium
(Cr)
Steel
more
responsive to heat
treatment
Coper (Cu)
Iron (Fe)
Primary element;
Non responsive to
heat
treatment
without
alloying
Improves Red
hardenability
(
in
heated
cutting tools)
Increases
the
depth
of
hardness
Others
Results in fine
grain structure
and
controls
grain growth
Resistance to
oxidation and
corrosion
Improves
yield
and
tensile
strengths,
reducing
ductility
Low
strengthHighly
ductile
and
Corrosion
Resistance
elements
Mangane
se (Mn)
Resists
hot
shortness or the
tendency to tear
while being forged
or
rolled;
Increases
the
response to heat
treatment
Molybden
um (Mo)
Nickle(Ni)
Silicon (Si)
Tungsten
(W)
Vanadium
(V)
soft
Improves
hardenability
Deoxidizing agent
Is
a
strong
deoxidizer
Raises
hot
strength
Improves
strength
Improves
strength
Raises
hot
strength
Improves
strength
at
elevated
temperature
s
Good
creep
resistance
Improves
fatigue
toughness
Improves
toughness;
Electrical
resistance
Promotes fine
grain structure
Question 4.
Provide a brief overview of High Performance Steels, highlighting their
specialty.
High Performance Steel (HPS) grades were developed through a collaboration
between Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Navy, and the American Iron and
Steel Institute with goal to achieve higher weldability and toughness at a higher
strength. HPS 70W (70 ksi) and HPS 100W (100 ksi) respectively replaced steel
grades of respective strength due to their efficiency in base metal weldability and
higher toughness. Whereas HPS 50W is an as rolled steel with same composition as
HPS 70W. It has higher toughness but questionable weldability. All three of these are
permitted only in the manufacturing plates for bridges.
HPS 50 W: High strength low alloy steel.
HPS 70 W: Heat treated High strength low alloy steel.
HPS 100 W: Quenched & Tempered Copper-Nickel Steel.
Due to higher strength of HPS steels, their efficient usage can reduce the first cost of
bridges in addition to better performance. These superior qualities of HPS steels are
achieved by lowering the carbon content which is the primary strengthening element
that causes hardness. Other alloying elements are carefully added to compensate for
the carbons hardness.
Question 5:
Friction Stir Welding (FSW):
Introduction: FSW is a solid-state joining process that creates extremely highquality, high-strength joints with low distortion. The process uses no external
consumables and filler materials other than the materials being welded themselves. It
has no harmful by products such as gaseous emissions and shielding gases. The
bonds at the welding are very strong with no scope for weld defects. FSW process has
a wide variety of applications in industries such as aerospace, offshore, railways,
automobiles, machinery and infrastructure. The process can fabricate either butt or
lap joints in a wide range of materials, thicknesses and lengths.
Process: The members to be butt or lap welded a firmly clamped in position. A nonconsumable profiled spinning tool bit is inserted into a work piece under pressure.
The length of the tool bit is less than the depth of the joint. The rotation of the tool
creates friction that adiabatically heats the material to a plastic state without melting.
At this stage the rotating tool mixes the plastic metal, and as tool traverses the weld
joint, it extrudes material in a distinctive flow pattern and forges the material in its
wake. The resulting solid phase bond joins the two pieces into one.
(1) The solid phase bond between the two pieces in the weldment is entirely made
of parent material.
(2) Due to lower energy input and lower temperatures, the grain structure in the
weld zone is finer than that of the parent material and has similar strength,
bending, and fatigue characteristics.
(3) Continuous welds of long lengths are possible irrespective of the position.
(4) Weld defects are eliminated due to low distortion, high precision, no trapped
materials, homogeneity and continuity in the weldments
(5) The process is highly energy efficient and is a green process.
No grinding, brushing or pickling are required in mass production