R304 FRACTURE TOUGHNESS EVALUATION OF LASER BEAM-WELDED JOINTS OF 780 MPa-STRENGTH CLASS STEEL

FRACTURE TOUGHNESS EVALUATION

OF LASER BEAM-WELDED JOINTS
OF 780 MPa-STRENGTH CLASS STEEL

Y. Takashima M. Ohata F. Minami

ABSTRACT

For fracture assessment of steel structures with laser beam-welded joints, it is significantly important to evaluate the
fracture toughness of the weld metal. However, the fracture toughness of weld metal is often impossible to measure
by standard Charpy impact testing in the brittle-to-ductile transition or upper-shelf temperature region, because of
fracture path deviation (FPD) from the weld metal due to narrow weld bead and a high degree of overmatching in
strength. In this work, evaluated fracture toughness of laser beam-welded joints of 780 MPa-strength class (HT780)
steel is examined by Charpy impact testing and CTOD fracture toughness testing. The improved Charpy impact
tests, using the specimen with three parallel welds or the side-groove specimen, are conducted in order to pre-
vent FPD. The applicability and significance of the improved impact test methods to the laser beam-welded joints
of high-strength steel are investigated by means of Weibull stress analysis. The Weibull stress analysis indicates
that the 3-weld method could not necessarily prevent FPD in laser beam-welded joints of HT780 steel, since side
beads are not as hard as main weld beads, due to reheating at the main weld. On the other hand, a side-groove
specimen is effective for avoiding FPD, but intrinsic VE of the weld metal could not necessarily be obtained by
using this specimen.

IIW-Thesaurus keywords: COD; Impact toughness; Laser welding; Mechanical properties; Photon beam welding;
Radiation welding; Toughness; Welded joints.

1 INTRODUCTION tion than conventional arc welding, so the application

High-strength structural steels, such as 780 MPa-
strength class (HT780) steel, have been developed and
expected to apply to welded structures. Laser beam
welding produces deep penetration and lower distor-
Assistant Prof. Yasuhito TAKASHIMA (takasima@mapse.
eng.osaka-u.ac.jp), Associate Prof. Mitsuru OHATA
(ohata@mapse.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp) and Prof. Fumiyoshi
MINAMI (minami@mapse.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp) are with
the Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University,
Osaka (Japan).
Doc. IIW-1920-08 (ex-doc. X-1640r1-08), recommended
for publication by Commission X “Structural perform-
ances of welded joints – Fracture avoidance.”
Welding in the World, Vol. 53, n° 11/12, 2009 – Peer-reviewed Section
of laser beam welding to HT780 steel has recently been
attempted in heavy industry.
For fracture assessment of steel structures with laser
beam-welded joints, it is significantly important to eva-
luate fracture toughness of the weld metal. However,
fracture toughness of the weld metal is often impos-
sible to measure by standard Charpy impact testing in
the brittle-to-ductile transition or upper-shelf tempera-
ture region, because of fracture path deviation (FPD)
from the weld metal due to narrow weld bead, as well
as a high degree of overmatching in strength. In pre-
vious research works, many improved impact methods
for the prevention of FPD have been suggested for
laser beam-welded joints of structural steels [1-4].
Improved impact methods suggested are as follows:
3-weld specimen [1-2], side-groove specimen [3-4].
For the laser beam-welded joints of HT780 steel, it is
necessary to clarify the applicability of these improved
FRACTURE TOUGHNESS EVALUATION OF LASER BEAM-WELDED JOINTS OF 780 MPa-STRENGTH CLASS STEEL R305

methods to the evaluation of fracture toughness of the

weld metal itself.
In this work, evaluated fracture toughness of laser
beam-welded joints of 780 MPa-strength class steel by
Charpy impact testing and CTOD fracture toughness
testing is discussed. For the purpose of this study, not
only the standard Charpy impact test with a normal
V-notch specimen, but also improved Charpy impact
tests, using a specimen with three parallel welds or a
side-groove specimen, were conducted. Based on Wei-
bull stress criteria [5], the applicability of the improved
impact test methods to toughness evaluation for laser
beam-welded joints of HT780 steel was analyzed.

Figure 1 – Cross-section of LBW joints

2 FRACTURE TOUGHNESS of the HT780 steel used
OF LASER BEAM-WELDED JOINTS
OF 780 MPa-STRENGTH CLASS STEEL

2.1 Properties of laser beam-welded joints

of 780 MPa-strength class steel

HT780 steel with a thickness of t = 12 mm was wel-

ded by CO2 laser beam (LBW) without filler wire, under
the welding conditions shown in Table 1. The che-
mical composition and the mechanical properties of
HT780 steel used in this work are shown in Table 2 and
Table 3, respectively.
The cross-section of LBW joints is shown in Figure 1.
The width of the weld metal is very narrow at 1.8 mm.
The Vickers hardness distribution of LBW joints is Figure 2 – Vickers hardness distribution
shown in Figure 2. The average Vickers hardness of at mid-thickness of LBW joints
weld metal and base metal is 439 HV and 284 HV,
respectively. The Vickers hardness ratio of weld metal
to base metal SRHV (= HVWM/HVBM) is about 1.5. The 2.2 Charpy impact test and CTOD fracture
hardness of HAZ is approximately the same as that of toughness test
the weld metal and the width of the hardened region
2H, which is 2.6 mm, including the weld metal and The standard Charpy impact and CTOD fracture tough-
HAZ. ness tests were conducted in brittle-to-ductile fracture

Table 1 – Conditions for laser beam welding

Laser power, P Welding speed, v Weld heat input, Q

Shielding gas
(kW) (m/min) (kJ/cm)
13.5 0.8 60.6 He, Ar

Table 2 – Chemical composition of HT780 steel used for laser beam welding

Chemical composition
Ceq(JIS)
Steel (mass %)
C Si Mn P S Others (mass%)
Cu, Ni, Cr, Mo, V, Nb, B,
HT780 0.16 0.24 1.07 0.012 0.006 0.58
Ti, Al, N, O

Ceq(JIS) = C + Si/24 + Mn/6 + Ni/40 + Cr/5 + Mo/4 + V/14

Table 3 – Mechanical properties of HT780 steel used for laser beam welding

0.2% proof stress, σY Tensile strength, σT Yield-to-tensile ratio

Uniform elongation, εT (%)
(MPa) (MPa) YR=σY / σT (%)
795 862 6.6 92.2

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R306 FRACTURE TOUGHNESS EVALUATION OF LASER BEAM-WELDED JOINTS OF 780 MPa-STRENGTH CLASS STEEL

transition temperature range. The configuration of the

specimens used for these tests are shown in Figure 3.
These specimens were extracted from the middle
part of the plate thickness. The Charpy specimen has
through-thickness type V-notch located in the centre
of the weld metal. The 3-point bending specimen has
through-thickness type fatigue pre-crack in the centre
of the weld metal. The crack length a0 including a fati-
gue pre-crack is 10 mm, which is equal to half of the
specimen width W.
The CTOD testing was conducted within the tempera-
ture range of -60 ºC to 0 ºC. Each specimen was held
at the test temperature within ±2 ºC for at least 10 min
before testing and loaded at a cross head speed of
0.01 mm/s. The Crack-Tip Opening Displacement Figure 4 – Critical CTOD of LBW joint specimens
(CTOD) was calculated from the mouth displacement with fatigue pre-crack in weld metal centre
Vg, according to the procedure standardized in the
BS 7448 Part-II.
The Charpy impact testing was conducted within the
temperature range of -80 ºC to room temperature. The
impact test machine featured a pendulum striker with
an arm length of 850 mm, which produced an initial
potential energy of 490 J. Each specimen was held
in the bath at the test temperature within ±2 ºC for at
least 10 min prior to impact testing.

2.3 Charpy and CTOD fracture toughness

of laser beam-welded joints of 780 MPa-
strength class steel

The CTOD fracture toughness test results are shown

in Figure 4. For all specimens tested at -20 ºC, brittle
fracture occurred in the weld metal after ductile crac-
king. The critical CTOD values obtained at -60 ºC are
very small (less than 0.05 mm). The upper shelf of cri-
tical CTOD, δm, that is, δ at maximum load, is less than
0.1 mm.
The results of the Charpy impact test are shown in
Figure 5. In the higher temperature range over -20 ºC,
which corresponds to the temperature at which brittle
fracture occurred in the weld metal for the CTOD
fracture toughness test specimen, the Charpy impact
toughness of the weld metal could not be evaluated
because FPD occurred for all specimens.
Figure 5 – Standard Charpy test result for LBW
joint specimens with notch in weld metal centre
3 FRACTURE TOUGHNESS EVALUATION
BY IMPROVED IMPACT TEST METHOD
3.1 3-weld method
The improved Charpy impact testing was conducted in
order to prevent FPD. The specimen with three parallel
welds was used for improved impact testing. The wel-
ding procedure for 3-weld joints is shown in Figure 6.

a) Charpy specimen with V-notch in weld metal b) 3-point bending specimen with fatigue
centre pre-crack in weld metal centre
Figure 3 – Configuration of specimens used for Charpy impact and CTOD fracture toughness testing
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FRACTURE TOUGHNESS EVALUATION OF LASER BEAM-WELDED JOINTS OF 780 MPa-STRENGTH CLASS STEEL
Figure 6 – Welding procedure for 3-weld joints
Two additional welds were made on both sides of the
main weld. The main weld was made after the side
welds. The same welding condition was adopted for
the main and side welds. The cross-section of 3-weld
joints is shown in Figure 7. The Vickers hardness dis-
tribution at mid-thickness of the 3-weld joints is shown
in Figure 8. The hardness of the main weld bead is the
highest in the 3-weld joint and of the same level as in
the weld metal of normal LBW joints.
The 3-weld Charpy specimen with the through-thick-
ness type V-notch located in the centre of the main
Figure 7 – Cross-section of 3-weld joints
Figure 8 – Vickers hardness distribution
at mid-thickness of 3-weld joints
R307
weld bead was extracted from the middle part of the
plate thickness.
The test results of the 3-weld method are compared
with standard V-notch Charpy impact test results in
Figure 9. Fracture path deviation occurred at -40 ºC
even in the 3-weld method. All of the 3-weld speci-
mens tested at -20 ºC included FPD. Therefore, frac-
ture toughness of the weld metal at -20 ºC could not
be evaluated by Charpy impact testing, not only in the
case of the standard specimen, but also in the 3-weld
specimen for LBW joints of HT780 used. These results
indicate that the 3-weld method could not necessarily
prevent FPD in LBW joints of HT780 steel, because
side beads are softened due to reheating by subse-
quent main welding, as shown in Figure 8.
3.2 Side-groove method
The Charpy impact test with the side-groove specimen
that was improved for avoiding FPD was conducted.
The configuration of the side-groove specimen used
in the test is shown in Figure 10. The side-groove was
machined with the geometry of a 45º V-notch and
notch root radius of 0.25 mm. The depth of the side-
groove was 1 mm.
Figure 9 – Comparison between Charpy test
results obtained with 3-weld and standard
specimens
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R308 FRACTURE TOUGHNESS EVALUATION OF LASER BEAM-WELDED JOINTS OF 780 MPa-STRENGTH CLASS STEEL

Figure 10 – Configuration of side-groove specimen used

The results of the side-groove Charpy impact test are

shown in Figure 11. All side-groove specimens tested
in the temperature range from -40 ºC to 20 ºC fractu-
red at the weld metal in a brittle manner without FPD,
although FPD occurred in the standard Charpy speci-
men tested at the same temperature. Charpy-absorbed
energy VE of side-groove specimens tested at -60 ºC
is lower than standard Charpy specimens tested at
the same temperature. It should be noted that the test
results obtained by the improved side-groove method
would not necessarily be of comparable toughness
values of the weld metal itself, as obtained with stan-
dard specimens.

4 ANALYTICAL STUDY Figure 11 – Comparison between Charpy test

ON THE APPLICABILITY OF IMPROVED
IMPACT METHOD TO LASER
BEAM-WELDED JOINTS
4.1 FE-Analysis
A FE-analysis was conducted with FE-Code, ABAQUS
Standard ver. 6.6, which implements a procedure to
solve the temperature and rate-dependent stress/strain
behaviours. In this study, the stress/strain fields for the
normal V-notch specimens with 1 weld (N-1W) and 3
welds (N-3W), as well as side-groove specimens with
1 weld (SG-1W), were analyzed. In addition, the assu-
med homogeneous, normal, V-notch specimen that
consists of weld metal properties in strength, called
“all-weld metal model (N-all W),” was adopted in this
analysis. The FE-models used in this analysis are shown
in Figure 12. Because of symmetry, one quarter of the
results obtained with side-groove
and standard specimens
Charpy specimens was modelled. Elements used were
eight-node, iso-parametric elements with eight Gaus-
sian points. The model has a minimum element with
0.03 × 0.03 × 0.2 mm near the notch root.
The yield stress σY and tensile strength σT of the weld
metal for laser beam-welded joints were estimated
from the relation with Vickers hardness [6] expressed
in Equation (1),
­V Y 2.35HV  62
® (1)
¯V T 3HV  22.1
The uniform elongation εT of the weld metal for laser
beam-welded joints was estimated by Equation (2).
εT = 0.6(1− σY / σT) (2)

a) Normal V-notch specimens (N-1W, N-3W, N-all W) b) Side-groove specimen (SG-1W)

Figure 12 – FE-models used in analysis
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FRACTURE TOUGHNESS EVALUATION OF LASER BEAM-WELDED JOINTS OF 780 MPa-STRENGTH CLASS STEEL R309

Table 4 – Mechanical properties of the weld metal and the base metal used in FE-analysis

Vickers 0.2% proof Tensile Uniform

Yield-to-Tensile ratio
hardness stress, strength, elongation,
YR=σY / σT (%)
(HV) σY (MPa) σT (MPa) εT (%)
Base metal (HT780) 282 795 862 6.6 92.2
Weld metal 439 1 094 1 339 11.0 81.7
Side weld metal 395 802 967 10.2 82.9

The mechanical properties used in this analysis are
shown in Table 4.
Flow properties of the material used in the FEM follow
the strain hardening in the form of
The inertial effect produced by the acceleration of the
specimen during dynamic loading was eliminated by
a quasi-static analysis. Nakamura et al. proposed the
concept of a transition time tT, which defines the point
in the response after which inertial effects diminish
V Y 1  Hp / D 
n
V (3)
rapidly [8]. The tT is defined when the kinetic energy is
where equal to the deformation energy of the specimen. They
validated that a quasi-static analysis yields acceptable
σ- and ε-p are the equivalent stress and equivalent plastic
accuracy after time greater than 2 × tT. In the present
strain, respectively,
Charpy tests, the loading time-to-fracture initiation
σY denotes the yield stress, exceeded 2 × tT, when inertial effects can be neglec-
n represents the work-hardening exponent and ted. Hence, this quasi-static analysis can be used to
α is a material constant. evaluate Charpy impact testing.

According to Equation (3), the tensile strength σT and

uniform elongation εT are given by Equations (4) 4.2 Applicability of the improved impact
­°V V Y  n / D  exp  D  n 
n
T
method based on Weibull stress criterion
® (4)
°̄H T exp  n  D   1
The loading rate for the Charpy model was 5 000 mm/s,
the same loading conditions as those in testing. The
strain rate effects on the flow stress were included in
the FEM in the following manner:
The dependence of the yield stress and tensile strength
on the strain rate was evaluated by Equations (5) [7].
In this section, the applicability of the improved impact
method for evaluating fracture toughness of the weld
metal for LBW joints of HT780 steel is discussed,
based on Weibull stress criterion. The Weibull stress
[5] is given by integrating a near-tip stress σeff over the
fracture process zone Vf in the form
1/ m
ª1 º
³V  Veff 
m
VW « dVf » (6)
­ ª § V (T ) ·
1.5

°V Y ( H, T ) = V Y0 (T0 ) exp «8x10 4 T0 ¨ Y0 0 ¸ ¬ V0 f

¼
° ¬ © E ¹ where
°
° °­ 1 1 °½ º V0 (= 1 mm3) and m are the reference volume and a
° ®  4 ¾ »
¯° T ˜ ln(10 / H ) T0 ˜ ln(10 / 10 ) ¿° »¼
8 8
° material constant, respectively.
® 1.5 (5) In this analysis, the fracture process zone was limited
° ª § VT0 (T0 ) ·
°V T ( H, T ) = VT0 (T0 ) exp «8x10 T0 ¨
4
¸ to the weld metal. The m-value used in this analysis is
° ¬ © E ¹ 10, which corresponds to a lower-bound of m-value
°
° ­° 1 1 ½°º with a moderate CTOD fracture toughness smaller than
®  4 ¾ »
° °¯ T ˜ ln(10 / H ) T0 ˜ ln(10 / 10 ) °¿»¼
9 9 0.05 mm [9].
¯
The Weibull stress σW is a fracture driving force. In this
where research work, it is assumed that the critical Weibull
.
ε is the strain rate, stress σW,cr is independent of the loading rate and the
T is the test temperature, specimen geometry.

σY0(T0) is yield stress at room temperature,
σT0(T0) is tensile strength at room temperature,
T0 is room temperature (= 293 K),
E is Young‘s modulus (= 206 GPa).
The uniform elongation εT was assumed to be inde-
pendent of the strain rate and the temperature. Under
the dynamic loading condition, high-speed straining
will generate heat adiabatically. It was assumed in the
FE-analysis that 90 % of plastic work was transferred
to heat.
The relationship between absorbed energy VE and Wei-
bull stress σW for all types of Charpy specimens (N-W,
N-3W, SG-1W and N-all W) is shown in Figure 13.
The σW, that is, fracture driving force, for the side-
groove specimen SG-1W, is higher than that for the
standard Charpy specimen N-1W at -20 ºC, where all
side-groove specimens fractured at the weld metal in
a brittle manner without FPD, whereas FPD occurred
in the standard Charpy specimen tested at the same
temperature. This implies that the side-groove method
could prevent FPD. On the other hand, the 3-weld
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R310 FRACTURE TOUGHNESS EVALUATION OF LASER BEAM-WELDED JOINTS OF 780 MPa-STRENGTH CLASS STEEL
a) -20 ºC
Figure 13 – Comparison between Weibull stress for joint specimens and all-weld metal model specimens
specimen N-3W does not enhance the σW, and exhi-
bits almost the same σW as N-1W. This is due to the
fact that side beads were reheated and softened by
subsequent main welding, as shown in Figure 8. This
would be one of the reasons why the 3-weld method
could not prevent FPD in the experiment.
At the temperature of -60 ºC, at which all types of
Charpy specimens fractured at the weld metal in a
brittle manner without FPD in the experiments, the σW
for SG-1W is much closer to that for the N-all W, com-
pared to that for N-1W and N-3W as well. These results
mean that N-1W, as well as N-3W, provide much greater
critical absorbed energy VEcr than N-all W, with SG-1W
comparably the same VEcr as N-all W. Consequently,
it was found that the side-groove method is effective
for avoiding FPD, whereas critical absorbed energy VEcr
obtained by this method tends to be a little bit higher
than intrinsic VEcr of the weld metal itself.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this work, the fracture toughness evaluation of the
weld metal for laser beam-welded (LBW) joints of
780 MPa-strength class (HT780) steel was discussed
by means of Charpy impact testing and CTOD fracture
toughness testing.
Because FPD occurred for all specimens tested in tem-
peratures higher than -20 ºC, which corresponds to
the temperature at which brittle fracture occurred in
the weld metal for the CTOD fracture toughness test
specimen, the Charpy impact toughness of the weld
metal could not be assessed.
The improved Charpy impact tests using the specimen
with three parallel welds or the side-groove specimen
were conducted in order to prevent FPD. The 3-weld
specimen used in this study could not prevent FPD
because side beads are softened due to reheating by
subsequent main welding. On the other hand, all speci-
mens with side-grooves fractured at the weld metal in
a brittle manner without FPD in the temperature range
Welding in the World, Vol. 53, n° 11/12, 2009 – Peer-reviewed Section
b) -60 ºC
from -40 ºC to 20 ºC, corresponding to the tempera-
ture at which FPD occurred in the standard Charpy
specimen.
The applicability of the improved impact test methods
to the laser beam-welded joints of high-strength steel
was investigated by means of Weibull stress analysis.
The Weibull stress σW for the side-groove specimen,
that is, the fracture driving force, is higher than that
for the standard Charpy specimen at -20 ºC, where all
side-groove specimens fractured at the weld metal in
a brittle manner without FPD, whereas FPD occurred
in the standard Charpy specimen tested at the same
temperature. This implies that the side-groove method
could prevent FPD in experiment. On the other hand,
the 3-weld specimen does not enhance the σW and
exhibits almost the same σW as the standard Charpy
specimen. This is due to the fact that side beads were
reheated and softened by subsequent main welding.
This would be one of the reasons why the 3-weld
method could not prevent FPD in experiment. Further-
more, the σW for the side-groove specimen is much clo-
ser to that for the all-weld metal model, as compared
to that for the standard and the 3-weld specimen as
well. Consequently, it was found that the side-groove
method is effective for avoiding FPD, whereas critical
absorbed energy VEcr obtained by this method tends
to be a little bit higher than intrinsic VEcr of the weld
metal itself.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research work was carried out as a part of research
activities of “Fundamental Studies on Technologies for
Steel Materials with Enhanced Strength and Func-
tions” by Consortium of JRCM (The Japan Research
and Development Center of Metals). Financial support
from NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology
Development Organization) is gratefully acknowledged.
The authors acknowledge active cooperation from the
project members, including JFE Steel, IHI and National
Institute for Materials Science (NIMS).
FRACTURE TOUGHNESS EVALUATION OF LASER BEAM-WELDED JOINTS OF 780 MPa-STRENGTH CLASS STEEL
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