2nd International Symposium on High Strength Steel, 23.-24.

April, 2002, Verdal, Norway

Notch tensile testing of high strength steel weldments

V. Olden*, Z. L. Zhang*, E. stby*, B. Nyhus*, C. Thaulow**
*
**

SINTEF Materials Technology, Trondheim, Norway

Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, Trondheim

Abstract: Notch tensile testing has proven to be a suitable method of testing the tensile properties of
welded joints. In combination with a simple procedure of geometry correction of the stress level, true
stress strain data for the transversal direction of the heat affected zone and weld metal can be
retrieved. The paper presents the method of notch tensile testing and its application on welded joints of
690 MPa yield strength structural steel.

Introduction
Transversal stress strain curves for the heat affected zone (HAZ) and weld metal
(WM) can not be obtained by the traditional cross weld tensile testing method.
However, by using round notched tensile specimens, deformation will occur only in
the notched area and material data for limited material zones, as the HAZ and WM
can be established.
By a simple geometry correction, material specific true stress strain curves for the
zones can be retrieved from the tensile results. This implicates the possibility of
having correct input to material models calculating load bearing capacity and critical
failures of structural welds.
This paper will give a thorough description of the method of notch tensile testing and
geometry correction. Results from the method applied on welded joints in high
strength 690 Mpa structural steel will also be presented.

Test specimen geometry

L

d
17.5

a)
Figure 1

Notch tensile specimen a) specimen geometry

b)
b) notch geometry 5

In general there are no specific requirements related to the length (L) or diameter of
the specimen (D) outside the notched area (Figure 1). The requirements are only
related to the notch geometry and the width of the material zone of interest, ref. 1

2nd International Symposium on High Strength Steel, 23.-24. April, 2002, Verdal, Norway

If the notch radius is less than the specimen radius in the notched area, the angle
between the straight area of the notch surface and the perpendicular axis of the
specimen should be 17.5, as specified in Figure 1b.

d
R

Figure 2 Notch area geometry of tensile specimen 1, 5

1)
The diameter of the specimen in the notch (d) should at least be twice the
radius of the notch (R). The d/R relationship should however be limited to a value of
6 1, 3, 5.
2)
To ensure that plastic deformation is limited to the material zone of interest,
the diameter (d) should not exceed the length of this zone (H) 1.
To ensure the quality of the machined notch and an accurate monitoring of the notch
deformation during testing, the radius should however not be less than 0.4 mm. The
test specimen geometry requirements are summarised in Table 1.
Table 1
Geometry
d0/R0
d0/H
R0

Specimen geometry requirements 5

Requirements min
2
0.4 mm

Requirements max
6
1
H/2

The diameter of the specimens in the notch area is measured at the position giving the
smallest cross-sectional area. The dimension measurements should be performed with
a micrometer or other measuring equipment with the sufficient accuracy (Preferred
resolution 1/100 mm). The radius control can be performed by randomly picking
some specimens for R0 control by feeder gauge or by using a microscope measuring
table. 5
Location of the notch
The notch should be located in the middle of the material zone of interest. In case of
welds, specimens extracted in the transversal direction of the weld should apply to the
following general directions:
Testing of WM:

Notch located in the cross mid-weld position

2nd International Symposium on High Strength Steel, 23.-24. April, 2002, Verdal, Norway

Testing of HAZ:

Notch located in coarse grained HAZ.

Positioning of the notch in HAZ should be verified by macroetching of the microstructure near the fusion line before
machining.

Testing
Testing shall be performed in a calibrated tensile testing machine with sufficient load
capacity. The cross head displacement rate should be in the range 0.002 - 0.011 mm/s.
The sharpest notched specimen should be tested at the lower displacement rates
Measuring of diameter reduction during deformation
To obtain a true stress-strain curve, it is required to measure the smallest cross-section
in the notch area during deformation. The diameter must be measured in two
perpendicular directions either optically or with inductive displacement gauges. If
using displacement gauges with knife edges, the edges must be rounded to avoid
damaging the surface. (suggestion R=0.2 mm) It is vital however that the knife edges
are straight, located in the same plane and perpendicular to the tensile direction. The
displacement gauges must be carefully monitored to ensure that the smallest crosssection is measured at all times. 5
Registration of test data and determination of material curves for notched
samples
The following data can be retrieved during testing:
Load vs time
Load vs cross head displacement
Load vs vertical displacement in notch
From the load vs vertical displacement data, the following curves can be determined
Load vs diameter reduction
Nominal stress vs nominal strain
True stress vs true strain
Diameter reduction is taken as the mean vertical displacement of the two measured
directions at every registration point.
Nominal stress, s [MPa], is P/A0, where P is the registered load in kN and A0 is the
initial minimum cross-sectional notch area in mm2 calculated from the initial diameter
of the notch.
True stress, sT [MPa], is P/A, where A is the true cross-sectional notch area calculated
from the diameter reduction.
True strain, e [mm/mm], is calculated by:
d
e = 2 ln 0 , where d0 is the initial diameter and d the actual diameter at the notch.
d

2nd International Symposium on High Strength Steel, 23.-24. April, 2002, Verdal, Norway

Nominal strain, e [mm/mm], is retrieved from the established relation between

nominal and true strain: e = ln( 1 + e )
Typical material curves for different notch geometries compared to a smooth
specimen curve, all for a 500 MPa yield strength steel is given in Figure 3. Load and
stress level rises with the sharpness of the notch.

a)

b)

Figure 3 Material curves for a 500 MPa yield strength steel for different notch
geometries 2 a)
Load vs diameter reduction b)
True stress vs true strain
Establishing true stress strain curves for the material by a geometry correction
of the notch stress strain curves
The geometry dependent stress strain curves, both nominal and true, can be converted
to stress strain curves for the material by dividing the notched sample stress, sN , by a
geometry factor G (d0/R0, ePmax).1
sM =

sN
G

G is a function of the relation between initial diameter and notch radius, d0/R0, and the
strain at maximum load, ePmax, and is described by the following equation.1
2

d0
d0
G = 1.007 + 0.18777 - 0.01313 (1.053 - 0.53e P max )

R0
R0

Figure 4 presents a plot of the geometry factor. The equation is valid within the
following ranges:
d0/R0 : 2 - 6
ePmax : 0.05 - 0.20

2nd International Symposium on High Strength Steel, 23.-24. April, 2002, Verdal, Norway

Do/R=6

Do/R=4

Do/R=2

Figure 4

The geometry facture presented as a function of fracture strain at

maximum load and geometry

Notch tensile testing of 690 MPa welded joints.

The base metal used in the investigation was a 50 mm thick QT steel plate with a
prescribed yield strength of minimum 690 MPa. The chemical composition is given in
Table 2. Yield and tensile strength in the mid-thickness position were 655 MPa and
745 MPa respectively.

Chemical composition of the 690 MPa steel 4

Table 2
C
.16

Si
.430

Mn
1.20

P
S
Al
N
Cu
.013
.001
.039 .008 .035
V
Nb
Ti
B
.043 .026 .003 .0002

Mo
.31

Ni
.34

Cr
.425

The welding procedures were designed to give one yield strength evenmatch and one
yield strength overmatch welded joint. The weld configuration was a K- butt joint
with a root angle of 45. The welding position was horizontal. Flux cored arc welding
(evenmatch ) and submerged arc welding (overmatch) were used. The heat input was
in the range of 1.7-2.5kJ/mm. Preheating was minimum 100C, and interpass
temperature was max 200C. A typical macro section is presented in Figure 5.

Top
Middle

Figure 5: Typical macro section of the welded joints 4

2nd International Symposium on High Strength Steel, 23.-24. April, 2002, Verdal, Norway

Test specimens
Longitudinal and transversal notch tensile specimens were machined from the top and
middle section of HAZ and WM. Specimens were also extracted from the transversal
direction of the base metal. The notch centre in the HAZ transversal specimens were
localised approximately 1mm from the straight fusion line. All the specimens had a
sample diameter of 6 mm in the notch area. Three different notch geometries were
machined: R=3.0 mm, R=1.5 mm and R=0.8 mm.

Typical tensile stress strain curves for weld metal middle section are presented in
Figure 6. In the evenmatch weld metal (Figure 5b), somewhat higher stress and lower
fracture strain could be observed in the transversal direction. This tendency was not
present in the overmatch weld metal (Figure 5a) or in the HAZ. G-corrected true
stress strain data for R=1.5 mm in HAZ and WM overmatch is presented in Figure 7.
G-correction within the small strain range
The yielding pattern for smooth and notched specimens is different. Smooth
specimens usually have a sharp transition between the elastic and plastic part of the
stress strain curve. This transition is not present in the notched specimens. This
implicates that the G -correction strictly not is appliccable within 1% strain 1. By
comparing the G-corrected yield strength (Rp0.2) in this study with the smooth
specimen results, it is evident that the yield strength after G-correction always is
lower than in the smooth specimens, Figure 8. Hence, it is a conservative estimate of
the stress level. 3

a)
b)
Figure 6: Tensile tress strain curves from notch tensile testing of
a) overmatch WM
b ) evenmatch WM 4

2nd International Symposium on High Strength Steel, 23.-24. April, 2002, Verdal, Norway

a)

b)

Figure 7: True stress strain curves derived from notch tensile results
a) HAZ
b) overmatch WM 4
The difference in yield strength increases with sharpness of the notch. For D0/R0=2,
the yield strength is reprodused within an error of 5%. For the sharpest notched
specimen the G-corrected yield strength is about 10-15% lower than in the smooth
specimen curves. This implicates that if a reproduction of the yield strength level is a
main objective in the notch tensile testing, a D0/R0 ratio of 2 preferably should be
used. 3
Best overall fit with respect to the plastic range of the stress strain curve is obtained
with a D0/R0 ratio of 4 ( Figure 7). This implies, that when stress strain data for the
plastic range is the main objective in the notch tensile testing, the D0/R0 =4 is the
geometry which should be preferred. 3
G corrected true stress strain

G corrected true stress strain

690 MPa - Base metal - top

1200.0

690 MPa - HAZ- longitudinal - middle - overmatch

1200.0

1000.0

1000.0

Rp0.2

Rp0.2

800.0

MPa

MPa

800.0

True Stress

Stress

600.0

Bridgeman (smooth)
Do/Ro=2, R=3.0 mm
Do/Ro=4, R=1.5
Do/Ro=7.5, R=0.8 mm
E-mod at 0.2% strain

400.0

Bridgeman
D0/R0=2, R=3.0 mm
D0/R0=4, R=1.5 mm
D0/R0=7.5, R=0.8 mm
E-mod at 0.2% strain

400.0

200.0

0.0
0.000

600.0

200.0

0.010
Eq

0.020
strain

Figure 8

0.030
mm/mm

0.040

0.050

0.0
0.000

0.010

0.020
0.030
Eq strain mm/mm

0.040

0.050

Stress strain curves for BM and HAZ within 5% strain

2nd International Symposium on High Strength Steel, 23.-24. April, 2002, Verdal, Norway

Conclusion
The notch tensile test in combination with a geometry correction factor has proven a
unique possibility of retrieving true stress strain curves for WM and HAZ in the
transversal direction of welded joints.
Acknowledgement
This work has been performed within the European research project PRESS
(Prediction of Structural Behaviour on the Basis of Small Scale Specimen Testing).
Grants have been given from ESCS (European Coal and Steel Research ) and the
Research Council of Norway.
References:
1

Z.L. Zhang, M.Hauge, C.Thaulow, J. degrd: "A notched cross weld tensile
testing method for determining true stress strain curves for weldments",
Engineering Fracture Mechanics. 69, 353-366, 2002

V. Olden: "PRESS, Task 11-Notch tensile testing and Gurson parameter fitting
of steel D (500 MPa)", SINTEF Report STF24A01246, 2001

V. Olden: "PRESS, Task 15 - Notch tensile testing and Gurson parameter

fitting of steel S (690 MPa)", SINTEF Report STF24 F01318, 2001 -

V. Olden, Z.L. Zhang: "Material characterisation for ductile fracture by testing

of notched tensile specimens", Accepted for presentation on ECF14, Cracow,
8-13 Sept. 2002

V. Olden: SINTEF Engineering Guideline for Notch Tensile Testing, 2002