CHINESEJOURNALOFMECHANICALENGINEERING

Vol.25,aNo. 2,a2012
DOI:10.3901/CJME.2012.02.***,availableonlineatwww.cjmenet.comwww.cjmenet.com.cn

LimitLoadSolutionforElectronBeamWeldedJointswithSingleEdgeWeldCenter CrackinTension
LUWei*,SHIYaowu,LIXiaoyan,and LEI Yongping
CollegeofMaterialsScienceandEngineering,BeijingUniversityofTechnology,Beijing100124,China
Received March17,2011revised August 31,2011 accepted September9,2011published electronically September15,2011

Abstract: Limit loads arewidelystudied and several limitload solutionsare proposedtosometypicalgeometry ofweldments.However, there are no limit load solutionsexist for thesingle edge crackweldments in tension (SEC(T)), which is also a typical geometry in fracture analysis. The mismatching limit load for thick plate with SEC(T) are investigated and the special limit load solutions are proposedbasedontheavailablemismatchinglimitloadsolutionsandsystematicfiniteelementanalyses.Therealweldconfigurations are simplified as a strip, and different weld strength mismatching ratio M, crack depth/width ratio a/W and weld width 2H are in consideration.Asaresult,itisfoundthatthereexistsexcellentagreementbetweenthelimitloadsolutionsandtheFEresultsforalmost all the mismatching ration M, a/W and ligamenttoweld width ratio (Wa)/H. Moreover, useful recommendations are given for evaluating thelimitloads ofthe EBW structure with SEC(T).Forthe EBWjoints with SEC(T),the mismatchinglimitloads canbe obtainedassumingthatthecomponentsarewhollymadeofbasemetal,whenMchangingfrom1.6to0.6.WhenMdecreasingto0.4, themismatchinglimitloadscanbeobtainedassumingthatthecomponentsarewhollymadeofbasemetalonlyforlargevalueof (W a)/H. The recommendations may be useful for evaluating the limit loads of the EBW structures with SEC (T). The engineering simplifications are givenforassessingthe limitloadsof electronbeamweldedstructurewithSEC(T). Keywords: limitload, singleedgecrackintensile, electronbeamwelding

1 Introduction*
In recent years, the electron beam welding (EBW) method has been widely applied to weld the load bearing structuresofaircraftduetothegoodweldqualityandlarge [14] fusiondepthwhichcanbe achieved .Withtheincreasing demandoflonglifeandwellreliabilityfortheaircraft,the integrity assessment for EBW load bearing structure is [5, givingmoreattention 6]. Several defect assessment methods specific to the weld strength mismatching structures are proposed up to now, and the fitnessforservice (FFS) procedure is widely acceptedasaunifiedassessmentproceduretocombinethe [710] strengthsofthemethodsavailable .However,thedefect assessment methods for the weld strength mismatching structuresaremostlyproposedonthebasisofconventional fusionweldingprocessing.Therearefewreportsaboutthe defect assessment of electron beam welded structures which have largegradient mechanical heterogeneity and narrow weld metal compared to the conventional fusion welding. Thus, there is an increasing demand for the FFS assessmentofelectronbeamweldedstructuresconsidering its specific features, such as the narrow weld width and
* Correspondingauthor.Email:luwei87@emails.bjut.edu.cn This project is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(GrantNo.50935008)

largegradientmechanicalheterogeneity. The mechanical heterogeneity is usually quantified by the weld strength mismatchingratioM, whichistheratio of the yield strength for weld metal and yield strength for basemetal:
M =

s YW , s YB

(1)

whereM>1referstoasovermatchingandM<1refersto asundermatching.Inaddition,therearesomegeometrical mismatching related parameters, such as crack depth/ width ratio a/W and the ligamenttoweld width ratio , whichisdefinedas

y=

(W - a ) , H

(2)

whereWdenotesthespecimenwidth,aisthecracklength, Histheweldhalfwidth. ItiswellknownthatthemismatchinglimitloadFYM is the mostimportantinputto the defect assessment,and the accuracy of the defect assessment methods modified for strength mismatching effects is mostly depended on [710] accurately estimate of limit load . The FFS procedure have provided closed form solutions of limit load for varioussimplifiedmismatchingweldconfigurationsunder

YLu Wei,etal: LimitLoadSolutionforElectronBeamWeldedJointswithSingle EdgeWeldCenterCrackinTensile

F M Y

[1115] plainstressandplainstrainconditions .Thesimplified mismatchingweldconfigurationsincludethe middlecrack tensile specimen M(T), single edge cracked specimen in pure bending SE(PB), double edge crack tensile specimen DE(T), single edge cracked specimen in three point bend SE(B)andcompacttensionspecimenC(T).Itisfoundthat the limit load can be quantified by the mismatching ratio M, and ligamenttoweld widthratio.The effect ofon thelimitloadisparticularlyevident.Withtheincreasingof , the limit load of mismatching specimennormalized by thatofbasemetalismoreclosetounit. However, it is noted that no solution exists for single edgecrackweldmentsintension(SEC(T)) geometry,which is also a typical geometry in fracture analysis of aircraft structure. Moreover, for electron beam welded joints, the width of the weld metal is rather narrow and the correspondingislarge.Thus,itisimportantwhether the mismatchinglimitloadscanbeobtainedassumingthatthe componentiswhollymadeofbasematerial.Therefore,the firstaimofthepresentworkistoinvestigatethelimitload for SEC (T) plates based on the available solutions and systematic finite element analyses. The second aim is to provide useful recommendations for evaluating the limit loads of the EBW structures with SEC (T) based on the proposedlimitloadsolutions.

FYM

Fig.1. Singleedgecracktensilespecimen

2.2 FEmodeling The FE analyses were carried out by a commercial software ABAQUS. Half of the specimens were analyzed due to the geometrical symmetry, and the crack tip singularity was designed using collapsed element. The typical finite element mesh for weld halfwidth H=4 mm and a/W =0.3isshowninFig. 2.

2 FiniteElementAnalysis
2.1 Geometryidealization

In this paper, the 50 mm thick Ti6Al4V plates were usedfortheelectronbeamwelding.Thenominalchemical compositions of the alloy were Al 5.82%, V 3.99%, C 1.81%,O0.063%,N0.032%,H0.0007%,Fe<0.05%,Ti bal(inmassfraction).Therealshapesintransversesection of the actual electron beam welded thickTi6Al4V joints arecomplicatedandthewidthofthefusionzoneandheat [16] affected zone is narrow. FANG, et al , indicated that the total weld width of the fusionzone andheataffected zone is about 6 mm at the midsection, while the width is increased (2H=9-10 mm) at the top of the joints. In the presentwork,theweldjointswere assumedtobecomposed of only base metal and weld metal for simplification, and the shapes of weld metal were idealized as a rectangular strip. Fig. 1 shows the SEC (T) specimen and associated geometric parameters used in this study. The specimen width Wandlength 2Lwerechosentobeequalto50mm and 200 mm, respectively, on the basic of ASTM [17] standard .Theweldmetalwidthwasselectedas6mm,8 mm and 10 mm to include all the possible weld width of theactualjoints.Thevaluesofstrengthmismatchingratio M varied from 1.6 to 0.4 to cover all the possible mismatching case of the actual EBW joints. Moreover,to obtain the limit loads of a wide range of , crack depth/widthratio(a/W)from0.1 to0.9were considered.

Fig.2. TypicalFEmeshforSEC(T)plate

Themodelincludes862elementsand2729nodes.The property of the materials was assumed to be the elasticperfectly plastic, and a small geometry change continuum FE model was used. The large enough deformationboundaryconditionshouldbeappliedtobring the specimen to its limiting load state and the reduced integrationeightnodeplanestrainelements(CPE8R)were usedconsideringthethicknessofthespecimens.Thelimit loads were obtained from the nodal reaction forces when theyreachtheplateauvalueandremainconstant.IntheFE analysis,itwasassumedthatthe yieldstrengthywasequal to 800 MPa. The yield strength of the weld metal was obtainedaccordingtothebasemetalaswellastheselected

CHINESEJOURNALOFMECHANICALENGINEERING
strength mismatching factor M. Youngs modulus E and Poissons ratio were equal to 109 GPa and 0.321, respectively. 2.3 AccuracyofpresentFElimitanalysis The accuracy of the present FE results was checked by comparing the FE limit loads for evenmatching (homogeneous) specimen with the known slip line field solution.Thelimitloadforsingleedgecracktensileplateis [15] givenbythesliplinefieldsolution , asfollows:
F 2 a YB = 1- . W s YB 3 W

(3)
(a) PenetratingYielding (b) ConfinedYielding

Fig.4. Plasticdeformationpatterns In Eq. (3), FYB and YB denote the limit load and the yield strength of perfectly plastic materials, respectively. The present FE results were compared with the above solution,asshowninFig.3.ItisclearthatthepresentFE 3 ResultsandDiscussion resultsagreewellwiththeabovesliplinefieldsolutionand differencesarelessthan2%,whichprovesthatthepresent 3.1 MismatchinglimitloadforSEC(T)plates limitloadanalysisis reliable. ThelimitloadsforSEC(T)specimensunderagivenM, a/Wand were obtained by FE calculation. Fig. 5 shows the present FE mismatching limit loads, FYM, which are 1.2 normalizedwiththoseforthecaseassumingthecomponent is wholly made of base materials. It is found that the 1.0 change of FYM/FYB is mostly dependent on the M and . 0.8 For a given M, theFYM/FYBis more close to unit with the increasingof.Thecaseissimilartothatofmismatching 0.6 weldgeometriessuchasthemiddlecracktensilespecimen 0.4 M (T), and single edge cracked specimenin pure bending Sliplinefieldresults SE(PB).Thelimitloadsolutionsofthesegeometrieshave 0.2 [79] FEresults been proposed by KIM, et al , and the form of the 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 solutionsforeachgeometryissimilar.Therefore,basedon Crackdepth/widthratioa/W thebasicformsoftheavailablelimitloadsolutionsandthe polynomial fit of present FE results, the following limit Fig.3. ComparisonofFElimitloadswithexisting load solutions for SEC (T) plates are proposed. The sliplinefieldsolution detailed discussions of the forms are provided in Refs. [7], whichwerenotgivenforthesakeofspace. 2.4 Plasticdeformationpattern Forovermatching: It is known that the limit load depends on the plastic deformation patter, which is a critical factor to determine for 0 y y 1, M, [710] F the limit loads . In general, the possible deformation YM = 49( M - 1) y 1 ( M + 49) (4) patterns for mismatched plates can be categorised as four , for y 1 , y F + YB [7] 50 y 50 kinds ,thedetaisofwhichwillnotbegivenforthesakeof space. In the present work, there are two kinds of plastic deformation patterns.Fig. 4 shows the plastic deformation where patterns of the present SEC (T) specimens extracted from 4 the FEresults,andrelevant information on M,,anda/W 0.8exp[ - 5( M - 1)], for 0 < a / W 0.3, is given in each figure. The first one is that the plastic y 1 = (5) deformationdevelopsfromthecracktipandpenetratesinto 0.82 exp[ - 1 ( M - 1)], for 0.3 a / W . the base metal, as shown in Fig. 4(a). This case usually 10 occurs for slight M or large . The other one is that the plastic deformation is mostly confined to the weld metal InEq.(4)andEq.(5),1 representsthemaximumvalue andthere islittleplastic deformation in the base metal, as ofthe,uptowhichstrengthovermatchinghasnoeffect shown in Fig. 4(b). This case is typical for extreme onthelimitloads. undermatchingorsmall . Forundermatching:
Loadratio F /(Ws ) YB YB

YLu Wei,etal: LimitLoadSolutionforElectronBeamWeldedJointswithSingle EdgeWeldCenterCrackinTensile

F (1) F(2) FYM = min YM , YM , FYB FYB F YB for 0 y 1.1, F(1) M, YM = 1.1. FYB 1 - 1.1(1 - M) / y , for y
2.0 1.8 1.6 1.4 M=1.2,1.4,1.6 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 a/W=0.3 M=0.8,0.6,0.4 a/W=0.5 0.4 FEresults a/W=0.7 0.2 a/W=0.9 0.0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415 Ligamenttoweldwidthratio y (a)a/W=0.30.9 1.2 1.1 1.0 0.9 M=0.8,0.6,0.4 0.8 FEresults 0.7 a/W=0.1 15 M=1.2,1.4,1.6

(6)
Loadratio F /F YM YB Load ratio F /F YM YB

(7)

Eq.(7)isgivenforthecasewhentheplasticdeformation penetratesintothebaseplate.Itisfoundthatforthecaseof over-matching and undermatching when the plastic deformation penetrates into the base plate, the limit load solutionsareonlydependedonthe Mand.Forspecimens with different a/W, the limit loads solutions are the same under the same M and . However, when the plastic deformationismostlyconfinedtotheweakerweldmetal,it is found that for the deep cracks (0.2 a/W) and the shallowcracks(a/W<0.2),theFYM/FYB isdifferentunder the same M and . The similar situation is found for the [8] SE(B)specimens .Thus,thefollowingdifferentsolutions aregivenfortheplateswithdeepandshallowcrack. Fordeepcracks(0.2 a/W ):
for 0 y 1.1, M, 2 M 0.699 + 2.573 y + 0.718 y 10 10 F(2) YM = 3 F YB y -1.896 , for 1.1 y 7.0, 10 y y M 2.018 + 0.278 , for 7.0 . 10

9 10 11 12 13 14 Ligamenttoweldwidthratio y (b) a/W=0.1

(8)

Fig.5. Comparisonof themismatchinglimit loadssolutionswiththeFEresults

Forshallow cracks(a/W <0.2):

3 2 F(2) y y YM = M 0.748 - 3.253 FYB 10 10

(9)

y +4.871 - 0.168 . 10

Eq.(9)isproposedunderthelimited a/W andweldwidth (2H=6,8,10),whichisonly usefulwhenthevalueofis largerthan8.Forthecaseoflessthan8,thefuturestudy may be needed. All of the above solutions drawn by solid lines are compared with the FE results for various M and a/W,asseeninFig.5,andwellagreementsarefound.

3.2 Recommendationsforlimitloadsolutions oftheEBWstructureswithSEC(T) Fromaboveanalysis,itiswellknownthatthe limit loads ofelectronbeamweldedthickTi6Al4Valloyplateswith SEC(T)mostly depend on the strength mismatching ratio M and geometryrelated parameters such as a/W and . With the increasing of , the limit load of mismatching specimennormalizedbythatofbasemetalismorecloseto unit.Inthissection,thedifferencesbetweenthelimitloads of EBW joints and those assuming the components are whollymadeofbasemetalareanalysed.Astheweldwidth 2H of the electron beam welded joints is in a specified range, =(Wa)/H is mostly related to a and W. In the engineeringapplications,thecrackdepth/widthratio a/W of thecomponentsusuallycannotreachto0.5beforetheyare replaced or repaired. Thus, the limit loads for the case of a/W lessthan0.5arediscussed. Therangeofissmallerthan5forthe EBWspecimens with a/Wless than 0.5. As seen from Fig.5 (a),we know thatforthe specimenswithdeepcracks,whenMequals1.2 and1.4,theFYM/FYB islessthan4%and7%,respectively. WhenMreachesto1.6,FYM/FYBincreasesfrom4%to10% with varying from 15 to 5. For slight undermatching specimens,whenMequals0.8,FYM/FYB issmallerthan6%. When Mreaches0.6,FYM/FYB issmallerthan9%.Forthe

CHINESEJOURNALOFMECHANICALENGINEERING
extreme undermatching(M=0.4) specimens, FYM/FYB variesfrom5%to23%with decreasingfrom15to 5. For the specimens with shallow cracks (a/W< 0.2), the valueof islargerthan7.AsseenfromFig.5(b),weknow thatinthecaseof overmatchingwiththeMvaryingfrom 1.6 to 1.2, the FYM/FYB is less than 5%, 4% and 2%, respectively. In the case of small undermatching with the M varying from 0.8 to 0.6, FYM/FYB is less than 3% and 5.5%, respectively. Moreover, in the case of high undermatching (M = 0.4), FYM/FYB increases from 7% to 20%withthe varyingfrom15to7. From theabove all, itis concluded that for EBW joints with SEC(T), when M changing from 1.6 to 0.6, the mismatching limit loads can be obtained assuming the components are wholly made of base metal. The error is less than 10%. When M decreasing to 0.4, the mismatching limit loads can be obtained assuming the componentsarewhollymadeofbasemetalonlyforlarge . Therecommendationmaybeveryusefulforevaluatingthe limitloadsoftheEBWstructureswithSEC(T).
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4 Conclusions
(1) The mismatching limit load solutions of electron beam welded thick plates with single edge weld center crackintensionwereproposedbasedonthebasicformsof the available mismatching limit load solutions and systematicFElimitanalysis. (2)FortheEBWstructureswithsingleedgeweldcenter crack in tension, the mismatching limit loads can be obtained assuming the components are wholly made of basemetal,whenMchangingfrom1.6to0.6. (3)FortheEBWstructureswithsingleedgeweldcenter crackintension,whenMdecreasingto0.4,thelimitloads canbeobtainedassumingthecomponentsarewhollymade ofbasemetalonlyforlarge . References
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Biographicalnotes
LUWei,bornin1988,iscurrentlyaPhDcandidateatCollegeof Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, China, in 2010. His research interests include electronbeamwelding and integrity assessmentofstructures. Tel:+861067392523Email: luwei87@emails.bjut.edu.cn SHIYaowu,bornin1941,iscurrentlyanprofessoratCollegeof Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, China. He received his PhD degree from Aston University, United Kingdom, in 1982. His research interests include numerical simulation and integrity assessment of weld structure. Tel:+861067392523Email: shiyw@bjut.edu.cn LIXiaoyan,bornin1963,iscurrentlyanprofessoratCollegeof Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, China. He received his PhD degree from Harbin Institute of Technology, China, in 1992. His research interests includeweldingmechanics,weldingstructuresandNDT,etc. Tel:+861067391856Email: xyli@bjut.edu.cn LEIYongping,bornin1957,iscurrentlyanprofessoratCollege of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, China. He received his PhD degree from Xian JiaotongUniversity,China,in1994. Hisresearchinterestsinclude numerical simulationandassessmentofautoparts. Tel:+861067391759Email: yplei@bjut.edu.cn

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