Abstract
Following the previous study1), the present paper reports tensile properties and impact fracture characteristics of naturally aged TIG welds, 2-pass and 3-pass welds with welding rods of an Al-Mg alloy 5356, of T4-treated Al-Zn-Mg and annealed Al-Mg plates between room temperature and-196°C.
The instrumented Charpy test revealed that the impact values of the above two welds were fairly decreased at-196°C. It was found that this decrease was caused by the reduction in crack-initiation and crack-propagation energies. Further, the reduction of ductility in terms of the deflection in Charpy impact test was observed at -196°C.
Fracture load of Al-Zn-Mg alloy in Charpy tests was observed to increase at low temperature in the same manner as tensile strength in tensile test. On the contrary, fracture load of Al-Mg alloy welds in Charpy test decreased at -196°C. This phenomenon had also been observed in mother plate1) and was believed to be characteristic of Al-Mg alloy.
Low temperature brittleness in welds was more remarkable than that in mother plates. It was shown from the fractographic observation that this embrittlement was caused by the intergranular or the interdendritic brittle fracture.