1985 Volume 3 Issue 4 Pages 869-874
The processes of ductile fracture of Type 304 stainless steel weld metal specimens, which are cut from weldments produced by using four types of welding condition, are observed. Although quite few large voids are observed at a relatively low strain level, they have no important role in fracture processes. As soon as micro-voids nucleate at some strain level, which is the stage just before final fracture, they rapidly grow and coalesce. The volume fraction of micro-inclusions which are nuclei of micro-voids, seems to control true fracture strain of weld metal specimens.
