Abstract
The effects of needle peening (NP) on the bending fatigue limit of a high tensile steel (HTS) HT780 (JIS-SHY685)-welded joint containing an artificial semicircular slit on the weld toe were investigated. Three-point bending fatigue tests were conducted at a stress ratio of R = 0.05 for NP-treated welded specimens with and without a slit. The fatigue limits of all specimens increased by 9–200% due to the NP treatment. Furthermore, NP-treated specimens with slit depths of a = 1.0 mm exhibited high fatigue limits that were equal to those of NP-treated specimens without a slit. Therefore, a semicircular slit of less than a = 1.0 mm could be rendered harmless through NP treatment. This result indicates that the reliability of HTS-welded joints can be significantly improved via NP for surface defects with depths that are less than 1 mm, which are not detected through non-destructive inspection (NDI). Therefore, the problem regarding the reliability of HTS-welded joints that restricts the industrial utilization of HTS can be solved by performing both NDI and NP. The dominant factor that contributed to the improvement of the fatigue limit and increase in the acceptable defect size was the introduction of large and deep compressive residual stress with non-propagating cracks.
Highlights
The requirements of high tensile steel (HTS) have increased due to the growing demand to construct larger steel structures and reduce weight during steel transportation
The reliability Depth of HTS-welded joints can improved via needle peening (NP) and the problem regarding the reliability of HTS-welded joints that restricts the industrial utilization of HTS can be solved by performing NP
The present study involved clarifying both the improvement in the fatigue limit and the defect size that can be rendered harmless after NP on a HTS-welded joint containing an artificial semicircular slit on the weld toe
Summary
The requirements of high tensile steel (HTS) have increased due to the growing demand to construct larger steel structures and reduce weight during steel transportation. Recent studies showed that the fatigue strength of welded joints could be improved via weld toe treatments, such as needle peening (NP) [1,2] and high-frequency mechanical impact (HFMI) [3,4,5,6,7,8]. Applying these methods results in work hardening and reduces the stress concentration at the weld toe. The PPP system manufactured by Toyo Seiko Co., Ltd., needle-peening (PPP)isunit.
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