Characterisation of weld heterogeneity through hardness mapping and miniature tensile testing

Abstract

Welding is a widely adopted industrial process used for joining components. A fusion weld has a highly heterogeneous microstructure and characterisation of strength heterogeneity is difficult because of the potentially large variations over a limited distance. Hardness mapping and miniature tensile tests are two distinct approaches to this problem. This paper reports on the possibilities and limitations of both techniques. Hardness mapping is a well-documented procedure as opposed to miniature tensile testing, where the dimensions of the dogbone shaped specimens are smaller than what standards prescribe. A particular challenge is the measurement of strains in such small specimens. The authors have achieved this measurement by means of Digital Image Correlation (DIC). To that end, a sufficiently fine speckling method has been developed.