Mechanical Properties Evaluation and Crack Propagation Behavior in Dissimilar Metal Welded Joints of 304 L Austenitic Stainless Steel and SA508 Low-Alloy Steel

The material mechanical properties and crack propagation behavior of dissimilar metal welded joint (DMWJ) of pressurized water reactor (PWR) was investigated. In this research, the mechanical parameters of the cladding layer materials (304L-SA508) of the DMWJ in PWRs were obtained by the continuous indentation test. Simultaneously, the user-defined (USDFLD) subroutine in ABAQUS was used to establish the heterogeneous materials model of the welded joint. On this basis, the local crack propagation path of DMWJs has been discussed based on the extended finite element method (XFEM). The result indicated that the strength value at the fusion boundary line (FB line) is the largest, and the yield strength reaches 689 MPa. The yield stress values of the cladding metal (304 L) and base metal (SA508) are 371 MPa and 501 MPa, respectively. Affected by the material constraint effect of the DMWJ, the crack will propagate through the FB line when the initial crack is perpendicular to the FB line. And when the initial crack parallels the FB line, the crack will deviate from it. Meanwhile, the crack propagation length is smaller as the initial crack tip is closer to the FB line when the load condition is constant.