Effect of single overload on fatigue behavior in the welded haz of low alloy steel

Room temperature fatigue crack growth behavior was obtained for 4140 parent steel, parent heat treated (same as PWHT), as-welded HAZ and PWHT HAZ material under R≈O constant amplitude loading and single tensile overloads with an over load ratio (OLR: P_over/P_max) of 2.5. Double pass automatic submerged arc welding with AWS EM2 electrode was used. PWHT was performed at 650°C for one hour. Constant amplitude fatigue crack growth behavior was very similar for all four material conditions in the log-log linear Paris region. All material conditions responded favorably to the single tensile overloads with fatigue crack growth retardation ranging from 2.5×10⁵ to 4.5×10⁵ cycles which corresponded to life increases of 250 to 400 percent. SEM analysis indicated many similarities on the fatigue fracture surfaces with predominant ductile quasi-striation morphology.