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TECH SPOTLIGHT
Fig. 1 The New Mississippi River Bridge is shown here as an artists conception, because the bridge is still in the planning stages. The
new bridge, which will connect downtown St. Louis with Illinois, is to be 222 feet wide, and the main span will be 2000 feet long. The bridge
will contain 14,700 tons of structural steel, and one thousand miles of 0.6 inch stay-cable strand. Welded-notch toughness testing will be
necessary to ensure the toughness of weldments. Web site: www.newriverbridge.org.
T
he welded-notch toughness
test was developed in re- a land area of 4 to 5 mm. This results
sponse to the inability of con- in a V-groove with a 60-degree in-
ventional welding tests to de- cluded angle when put together.
termine the actual toughness The plates are placed in a rigid,
of a weldment. Previous tests portable fixture, as shown in Fig. 2,
evaluated the toughness of the base and are separated by a gap of about Fig. 2 A rigid, portable test fixture is
metal, the weld metal, or selected 0.1 mm (0.004 in.). This gap is essen- used in the welded notch toughness test. Par-
areas in thick, full-penetration welds, tial because welds with no gap pro- tially beveled plates with 4 to 6 mm land area
duce notches of such high acuity that are placed in slots in the side restraints. The
typically by cutting out sections for included groove angle is 60 degrees, and the
Charpy V-notch testing of the heat- they could not be located visually electrode is fed directly into the root of the
affected zone. However, most weld- after machining, especially in sub- notch. Most of the penetration is actually side
ments are either partial-penetration merged arc welds. wall, rather than punching through the root.
or fillet welds, with inherent notches After positioning the plates in the
typically present. Welded-notch fixture, they are tacked with weld
toughness testing is important for beads 1 to 2 cm ( to in.) long on
structures such as bridges (Fig. 1). opposite sides of the plates to keep
This article details the steps in them together during welding. The
welded-notch testing, describes the electrode is run directly into the root
characteristics of ASTM A710 Grade of the V-groove, and the remainder
B high-performance steel, and dis- of the groove is filled by a number of
cusses the results of tests on shielded subsequent passes determined by
metal arc, submerged arc, and flux- the prescribed weld parameters.
core welding of A710. These parameters include voltage,
*Member of ASM International amperage and heat input/unit length,
ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES/FEBRUARY 2005 49
welded.qxp 1/18/2005 11:34 AM Page 2
electrode size, and classification. Al- a natural notch depth of about 2 mm.
though plate thickness is unlimited, Because the notch acuity varies,
thickness is normally limited to the a standard ASTM E23 V-notch is then
plate size intended for actual service. broached or milled at the apex of the
After the plates are welded, they notch, right at the weld root. This is
are rough-cut into various pre- the site in which a typical weld notch
machined segments to make tensile, would start to crack in service. Stan-
Table 1 Chemical bend, macro-etch, and Charpy V- dard Charpy V-notch acuity and
composition of notch specimens. An example of specimen size also permit compar-
rough-cut and impacted Charpy V- ison of weldment toughness test re-
ASTM A 710 Grade B notch specimens is shown in Fig. 3. sults with impact values of weld
Element Composition, wt.% The impact specimens are machined metals and base metals.
Carbon 0.03-0.09 to remove approximately 2 to 3 mm
from the welded notch edge, leaving Corrosion-resistant steel
Manganese 0.45-1.30 ASTM A710 Grade B is a new low
Phosphorus, max 0.025 carbon-Mn-Cu-Ni-Cb precipitation-
strengthened steel, with minor
Sulfur 0.025 max
chromium and molybdenum addi-
Silicon 0.30-0.50 tions for ferrite strengthening. Its
Nickel 0.80-1.00 composition was jointly developed
by Northwestern University, Oregon
Chromium 0.30 max
Steel Mills, US Steel, and the Illinois
Molybdenum 0.25 max Dept. of Transportation. Composi-
Fig. 3 Rough cut specimens are ma- tion ranges for this alloy are shown
Copper 1.25-1.50
chined into Charpy size test bars, leaving ap- in Table 1.
Columbium proximately 2 mm for the notch depth. An Because of its higher copper con-
[Niobium] 0.02-0.06 ASTM E23 standard Charpy V-notch is then
tent, this alloy has enhanced atmos-
Titanium 0.01-0.03 broached or cut into the apex of the welded
notch. pheric corrosion resistance, signifi-
cantly better than conventional
250 ASTM A588 weathering steel. A710
A 710 Gr B & AWS E7018 Grade B steel has a nominal as-rolled
yield strength of 480 MPa (70 ksi) and
200 high toughness at subfreezing tem-
peratures.
V-notch toughness, ft-lb
Submerged-arc welding
The second process evaluated was
submerged arc welding with 3/32-
in. Lincoln LA75 and LA85 elec-
trodes, and Mil-880M flux at 28 volts
and 340 to 350 amperes. Weld travel
speed was 14 inches per minute
(ipm). These electrodes were chosen
because of their similarity of compo-
sition to A710 Grade B. Weld bead
profiles were smooth, with excellent
sidewall penetration and easy
deslagging. Weldments had very
good toughness, but it was slightly
lower than the base metal. Results of
weld notch-toughness tests for sub-
merged arc are plotted in Fig. 5.
variety of electrodes.
Welding processes tested for these
150 various steels include shielded
metal-arc, submerged arc, gas-metal
100 arc, and flux-core arc welding. Con-
ventional welding parameters were
50 applied in all cases.
The welded-notch toughness test
provides high restraint to welded
30 20 10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 plates, and represents naturally
Temperature, F formed welded notches in fillet welds
Fig. 6 The welded-notch toughness of a weldment of A 710 Grade B and ESAB 80 NiH4 and in partial-penetration weld joints.
flux core electrodes, using CO2 cover gas. The transition temperature is estimated at +20oF, The machined test bars can provide ei-
with a substantial decrease in overall toughness compared to manual and submerged arc welds. ther Charpy V-notch or sharp acuity
Significant improvement in toughness is expected if argon-oxygen is used as a cover gas. Use pre-cracked KId specimens. Because
of flux-core electrodes generally results in a sacrifice of toughness vs. increased rate of metal the fixture is portable, test plates can
deposition. Loss in toughness is due to the inherent affinity of flux-core electrodes to pick up be easily welded in laboratories, shops,
moisture during storage. or in field locations.
and cured. This is important because to itself and to other alloys. In general, the welded-notch
higher moisture content in flux-core The welded-notch toughness test toughness test can serve a variety of
electrodes increases their suscepti- has also been used to measure the industries in which it is important to
bility to hydrogen embrittlement. toughness of weldments made with know the toughness of similar and
different electrodes and base metals dissimilar metals and alloys joined
Results of toughness test other than A710 Grade B. These by welding.
Results of these welded-notch other electrodes and base metals For further information: Christopher
toughness tests indicated that the include: Hahin, Illinois Department of Trans-
choice of electrode and process is im- ASTM A36 carbon steel to 304 portation, Springfield, IL 62704; tel: 217/
portant when joining A710 Grade B stainless steel with 309L electrodes; 782-0574; e-mail: HahinC@dot.il.gov.