Fatigue strength assessment of Invar alloy weld joints using the notch stress approach

The aim of this study investigated the fatigue strength of Invar alloy weld joints. Invar steel (Fe-Ni 36%) is widely used in the primary and secondary barriers of membrane-type liquified natural gas (LNG) containment vessels. The fatigue test was carried out for two different types of welded joints with raised edge specimens and with overlap joint specimens based on the nominal and notch stress approaches. The thickness of the Invar plate is less than 1.5 mm, so the notch stress approach with r_ref = 0.05 mm was applied. Our evaluation of the results in terms of the FAT value and the slopes of the design curves are compared with steel, aluminum, and magnesium weld joints in accordance with International Institute of Welding (IIW) recommendations.     

Experimental results and fatigue life evaluation of magnesium laserbeam‐welded joints under proportional and non‐proportional multiaxial fatigue loading with variable amplitudes

Fatigue life of magnesium laserbeam‐welds (AZ31 and AZ61 alloys) was assessed experimentally under variable amplitude loadings. The specimens were subjected to load‐controlled cyclic loadings. The tests were carried out using a Gauss‐distributed amplitude sequence of length L_S = 5 · 10⁴ cycles and loading ratio R = –1 under pure axial, pure torsion as well as in‐phase and out‐of‐phase combined loadings. The notch stresses were obtained from a linear‐elastic FE‐model using the reference radius approach with r_ref  = 0.05 mm. The stress‐based hypotheses were applied: Effective equivalent stress hypothesis (EESH), shear stress intensity hypothesis (SIH), Findley, and modified Gough‐Pollard. A non‐proportionality factor is introduced and steps required for computing are presented in order to improve fatigue life assessment under non‐proportional loadings.     

Fatigue resistance of weld ends – Analysis of the notch stress using real geometry

Modern welded structures often contain weld start and end points which are the failure critical location. In particular, for special investigations into thin sheet structures, no approach for the determination of the fatigue life has been established thus far. In this research, the primary aim was to obtain the real geometry of weld ends with high precision using a three dimensional scanner to find a general approach using the notch stress concept. Going one step further, analyses have been performed regarding to unify the notch stress concept. The existing results of Olivier – who examined long welds with no start and end points – were re‐evaluated to unify the results of long regular welds with the local weld end under one scatter band.     

Review of the fatigue strength of welded joints based on the notch stress intensity factor and SED approaches

Several approaches exist for the fatigue strength assessment of welded joints. In addition to the traditional nominal stress approach, various approaches were developed using a local stress as fatigue parameter. In recent times, the N-SIF based approaches using the notch stress intensity at the weld toe or root have been developed. Based on this, the more practical strain energy density (SED) and the Peak Stress approaches were proposed. This paper reviews the proposed design S–N curves of the N-SIF and SED approaches questioning in particular the consideration of misalignment effects, which should be included on the load side of local approaches in order to consider them individually in different types of welded joints. A re-analysis of fatigue tests evaluated for the effective notch stress approach leads to slight changes of the design S–N curves and of the radius of the control volume used for averaging the SED at the notches. Further, on purpose fatigue tests of artificially notched specimens show that the fatigue assessment using a single-point fatigue parameter might be problematic because the crack propagation phase, being part of the fatigue life, is strongly affected by the stress distribution along the crack path that may vary considerably between different geometries and loading cases.     

Fatigue life estimation of non‐penetrated butt weldments in ligth metals by artificial neural network approach

This study presents a model for estimating the fatigue life of magnesium and aluminium non‐penetrated butt‐welded joints using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The input parameters for the network are stress concentration factor K_t and nominal stress amplitude s_a,n. The output parameter is the endurable number of load cycles N. Fatigue data were collected from the literature from three different sources. The experimental tests, on which the fatigue data are based, were carried out at the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability (LBF), Darmstadt – Germany. The results determined with use of artificial neural network for welded magnesium and aluminium joints are displayed in the same scatter bands of SN‐lines. It is observed that the trained results are in good agreement with the tested data and artificial neural network is applicable for estimating the SN‐lines for non‐penetrated welded magnesium and aluminium joints under cyclic loading.     

Residual stress field determination in welds by means of X‐ray,synchrotron and neutron diffraction

To what extent the welding residual stresses influence fatigue is still unclear and matter of debate. An important reason for this lack of clarity is that the exact determination of residual stress fields in welds is complicated which leads to conservative assumptions about these stresses in the fatigue design codes. The advances in the diffraction analysis of materials offer the opportunity for the full‐field residual strain mapping in welds albeit at the cost of time and technical complexity. In this work residual stress field determination in welded S1100QL specimens by means of the x‐ray, synchrotron and neutron diffraction techniques was undertaken. The results revealed that the maximum values of surface residual stresses are not as frequently assumed, as high as the yield strength in small scale specimens. At the weld toe which could serve as a fatigue crack initiation site, even lower residual stresses than the weld centreline could be present. The in‐depth measurements revealed that the effective part of the residual stress field which could be decisive for the fatigue failure initiation is concentrated at the surface of the weld.     

Fatigue strength of steel rollers with failure occurring at the weld root based on the local strain energy values: modelling and fatigue assessment

Weldments geometry with failures occurring at the weld toe or at the weld root cannot, by its nature, be precisely defined. Parameters such as bead shape and toe or root radius vary from joint to joint even in well-controlled manufacturing operations. The worst case configuration can be achieved by modelling as a sharp, zero radius, notch both the toe and the weld root. The intensity of asymptotic stress distributions obeying Williams’ solution is quantified by means of the Notch Stress Intensity Factors (NSIFs). For steel welded joints with failures originated from the weld roots, where the lack of penetration zone is treated as a crack-like notch, units for NSIFs are the same as conventional SIFs used in LEFM. The different dimensionality of NSIFs for different notch opening angles does not allow a direct comparison of failures occurring at the weld toe or at the weld root. In order to overcome the problem related to the variability of the V-notch opening angle, a simple scalar quantity, i.e. the value of the strain energy density (SED) averaged in the structural volume surrounding the notch tip, has been introduced. This energy is given in closed form on the basis of the relevant NSIFs for modes I, II and III. The radius R_c of the averaging zone is carefully identified with reference to conventional arc welding processes being equal to 0.28 mm for welded joints made of steel.The local-energy based criterion is applied here to steel welded rollers produced by Rulmeca and subjected to prevailing mode I (with failures at the weld root). The aim of the paper is firstly to describe the employed methodology for the fatigue assessment and secondly to show the first synthesis of fatigue data by means of local SED for a specific geometry.     

Global‐local fatigue assessment of an ancient riveted metallic bridge based on submodelling of the critical detail

Increasing traffic demands (ie, load intensity and operational life) on ancient riveted metallic bridges and the fact that these bridges were not explicitly designed against fatigue make the fatigue performance assessment and fatigue life prediction of riveted bridges a concern. This paper proposes a global‐local fatigue analysis method that integrates beam‐to‐solid submodeling, elastoplastic of material in local region, and local fatigue life prediction approach. The proposed beam‐to‐solid submodeling can recognize accuracy local stress/strain information accompanying with the global structural effect on the fatigue response of local riveted joints. The fatigue life is predicted based on cumulative damage rule, local strains, and number of cycles with consideration of traffic data, where the relation between the fatigue life and local strain is derived according to the Basquin and Manson‐Coffin law. Besides, the elastoplastic of material is considered. The proposed methodology for fatigue life prediction based on local strain parameter and the Palmgren‐Miner linear damage hypothesis is implemented in a case study of an ancient riveted bridge.     

Comparative experimental study on the modification of microstructural and mechanical properties of friction stir welded and gas metal arc welded EN AW‐6061 O aluminum alloys by post‐weld heat treatment

In this paper, the effects of post‐weld heat treatment on modification of microstructures and mechanical properties of friction stir welded and gas metal arc welded AA6061‐O plates were compared with each other. Gas metal arc welding and friction stir welding were used as the applicable welding processes for AA6061‐O alloys. The applied post‐weld heat treatment consisted of solution heat treatment, followed by water quenching and finally artificial aging. The samples were classified as post‐weld heat treated and as‐welded joints. The microstructural evolution, tensile properties, hardness features and fracture surfaces of both as‐welded and post‐weld heat treated samples were reported. The results clearly showed that friction stir welding process demonstrated better and more consistent mechanical properties by comparison with the gas metal arc welding process. The weld region of as‐welded samples exhibited a higher hardness value of 80 HV0.1 compared to the base material. In addition, the feasibility of post‐weld heat treatment in order to enhance the mechanical properties and to obtain more homogeneous microstructure of 6061‐O aluminum alloys was evaluated.     

Enhanced assessment of ageing phenomena in steel structures based on materials data and non‐destructive testing

The increasing amount of ageing civil steel infrastructure requests an enhanced assessment of this infrastructure in terms of determining its residual fatigue life in a more realistic way than this has been done in the past. Often the relevant materials data for cyclic loading of such an ageing infrastructure is not available and its retrieval turns out to be relatively cumbersome bearing the urgency in data availability and continuous cost pressure in mind. This article addresses different approaches and techniques on how materials data for cyclic loading can be obtained at a fraction of the effort compared to state‐of‐the‐art techniques, considering load increase tests, non‐destructive testing techniques and finally even a stepped bar specimen allowing a complete set of materials data (stress‐strain behaviour and stress‐ and strain‐life curve) to be obtained with a single specimen in the end only. Options for ’digitizing’ materials data evaluation are discussed and some prospect on application of those novel approaches and techniques in damage accumulation assessments on real steel infrastructure is provided.     

Determination of local characteristics for the application of the Weakest‐Link Model

The Weakest‐Link model is based on defects that are statistically distributed within the material with local stress. The failure at least at one defect causes the failure of the total structure. Based on this model, the so‐called statistic size effect can be evaluated in the case of cyclic loading and in the case of static loading the failure behaviour of ferritic steel within the brittle fracture range is highlighted. The application of the Weakest‐Link model requires the allocation of the local characteristics ‐ surface and / or volume ‐ to the discrete points of the stress. By using the method “SPIEL” which is independent from the FE code used, the allocation of couples of values ‐surface and stress and / or volume and stress ‐ by a suitable choice of unit load cases is possible. In consequence of the method “SPIEL” particularities are to be taken into consideration. In the present paper these particularities will be described exemplarily for the FE programs ABAQUS¹ and ANSYS².     

Analysis of the compression process and dimensional optimization of self‐expanding stent of a nickel titanium alloy

The vascular stents are important devices introduced into the vessel to protect the lumen from unfriendly stenosis so that the blood can flow naturally. During its implantation to the vessel, the stent should be compressed to a delivery system with very small dimension to accomplish the minimal invasive operation. At this stage, the stent will withstand very large stresses which will cause large damages in the structure. In this paper, the compression process of the stent was analyzed by finite element analysis method with software ABAQUS. The stress, strain and martensite volume fraction distributions were investigated at the end compression. Results show that the stent fillets are the dangerous areas for the potential failure. Subsequently, the dimensional optimization was performed to decrease the maximum concentration stress. After the optimization, the maximum stress can be decreased by 14.2%, which means the stent's work life can be increased.     

Structure‐property investigations on a laser beam welded dissimilar joint of aluminium AA6056 and titanium Ti6Al4V for aeronautical applications. Part II: Resistance to fatigue crack propagation and fracture

Investigations were continued on the dissimilar laser beam welds of AA6056 and Ti6Al4V, fabricated by inserting Ti‐sheet into the profiled Al‐sheet and melting AA6056 alone. By using microstructure, hardness and strength as the criteria, sites exhibiting non‐uniform microstructure and localized plastic deformation due to strength mismatch were investigated in two orientations: ? crack parallel to the weld and ? crack perpendicular to the weld for fatigue crack propagation and fracture toughness at room temperature. Effect of temper of AA6056 on these properties was studied for two conditions; welding in T4 followed by post weld heat treatment T6, and welding in T6 and naturally aged for a defined period. The orientation “crack parallel to the weld” was investigated in 3 locations on the side of AA6056: the interface and the two changeovers on the Al‐side. Firstly, between the fusion zone and the heat affected zone (3 mm from the interface) and secondly, between (primary) heat affected zone and towards the base material (7 mm from the interface). Although brittle intermetallic TiAl₃ had been formed at the interface, uncontrolled separation or debonding at the interface was not observed. Insofar the bond quality of the weld was good. However, the ranking of interface was the lowest since fatigue crack propagation was relatively faster than that in the fusion zone and heat affected zone, and fracture toughness was low. Therefore, unstable fatigue crack propagation is observed when the crack propagates perpendicular to the weld from AA6056 towards Ti6Al4V. The results have shown that the dissimilar joints exhibit improved performance when laser beam welded in the T6 condition.     

Influence of carbon nanotubes and dispersions of SiC on the physical and mechanical properties of pure copper and copper‐nickel alloy

This paper investigates the physical and mechanical properties of copper‐nickel alloy (at 50 wt.%–50 wt.%) and pure copper, mixed with various types of reinforcement materials such as carbon nanotubes (0.5 wt.%–2 wt.%) as nanoparticles, silicon carbide (1 wt.%–4 wt.%) as microparticles. The acquired composite specimens characteristics were estimated such as microstructure, density, electrical and thermal conductivity, hardness, and compression stress properties to determine the suitable reinforcement percentage that has the best physical and mechanical properties with different main matrix material whether copper‐nickel mechanical alloying or pure copper powder. The micron‐sized silicon carbide and nanosized carbon nanotubes were added to improve the mechanical and physical properties of the composite. The electrical and thermal conductivity of pure copper alloy enhanced compared with the copper‐nickel alloy matrix material. The hardness and compression yield stress of both pure copper and copper‐nickel composites have enhancement values and for copper‐nickel base composites hardness and compression yield stress have enhanced with the most positive enhancement values to examined an optimum percentage of reinforcing material.     

Performance labels for assessing the sustainability of buildings – from offices to detached and semi‐detached houses / Gütesiegel für die Nachhaltigkeitsbewertung von Gebäuden – Vom Bürobau bis zu Ein‐ bis Zweifamilienwohnhäusern

For some time now, certain types of buildings in Germany have been required to undergo a sustainability assessment. Increasingly, that now also includes residential buildings. A research project is currently underway to develop and test suitable criteria for the assessment of small residential buildings, the preliminary results of which were showcased at the BAU 2015 trade fair in Munich. With the help of examples, this article presents the criteria and provides some information on their application.