Effect of weld width on EB weld metal toughness of carbon steels. Toughness of electron beam welds. Report 2.

This paper describes the effect of the weld width on the toughness of electron beam (EB) weld metal. The relationship between them has been investigated on the EB welds with weld width in the range 2.6-4.6 mm, using 50 mm thick laboratory carbon steels with various C, Si and Mn content.The major results are summarized as follows;(1) The effect of weld width on the weld metal toughness of carbon steels was significant in the range of carbon equivalent (CE) 0.30-0.50% for the as-welded condition, while more than CE 0.26% for PWHT condition. Toughness could be improved with decreasing the weld width due to the formation of finer microstructure.(2) For a given weld width, the strong correlation was observed between CE and hardness of weld metal.(3) For a given weld width, the weld metal toughness of carbon steels depended strongly on hardness, and a reduction in hardness resulted in improved toughness