L51764 Hydrogen Cracking in the Heat-Affected Zone of High-Strength Steels-Year 2

During year 1 of this project a test to evaluate the sensitivity of the heat affected zone (HAZ) to hydrogen cracking was developed. This was in response to a need for a test which provided unambiguous results in contrast to existing test methods which often led to difficulties in interpretation. For example, WIC tests usually cracked in the weld metal rather than the HAZ and therefore did not produce a clear indication of the sensistivity of the HAZ. The new test involves a machined notch which can be placed in the HAZ thus forcing crack initiation to occur in the desired region. A further advantage of the new test is that it is quantitative with each test specimen providing a measure of the sensitivity of the HAZ in that test. Existing tests are usually of the crack/no-crack type requiring a series of tests at different preheats to be carried out in order to establish a critical value. This is an expensive, time-consuming approach. The new test measures the deflection to first load drop (normally the onset of significant cracking) when the welded specimen is loaded in bending. It was also shown during the first year of the project that the simple geometry of the test lends itself to easy analysis enabling the stress/strain distribution to be calculated by finite element analysis. The quantitative measurement of susceptibility in the test enabled the cracking of more complex welds to be predicted on the basis of a local critical hydrogen model.

The objective of the work was to extend the notched bend test to the evaluation of weld metal sensitivity to hydrogen cracking. The experiments were designed to determine whether the test could discriminate between two different weld metals and to study the effects of reducing hydrogen content. In addition, finite element analysis of the weld metal test was carried out and finite difference analysis used to predict the local hydrogen concentration. This work modifies the notched bend test, developed for evaluating the sensitivity of the heat affected zone (HAZ), to allow the evaluation of weld metal. The results showed that weld metal could readily be evaluated, with the test discriminating among weld metals of different composition and hydrogen contact. Finite element analysis was undertaken and showed that for the two weld metals tested, cracking occurred at the same local stress when the hydrogen content was the same, despite differences in strength. A finite model was used to calculate the distribution of hydrogen as a function of aging time. Although the general trends were confirmed by the experimental measurements of hydrogen content, there was considerable scatter attributed to the small hydrogen volumes measured.