Indentation for investigation of strain rate effect on mechanical properties in structural steel weld zone

In this study, instrumented indentation testing was conducted at room temperature for the investigation of the effect of strain rate on the hardness and yield strength in the weld zone of a commonly used structural steel, SM520. A number of indentation tests were undertaken at a number of strain rate values from 0.02 s-1 to 0.2 s-1 in the weld metal (WM), heat-affected zone (HAZ), and base metal (BM) regions of the weld zone. The mechanical properties including yield strength (σy) and hardness (H) in WM, HAZ, and BM were then computed from the applied load-penetration depth curves using a proposed method. As the result, the effects of strain rate indentation on yield strength and hardness in all regions of the weld zone were evaluated. The results displayed that hardness and yield strength in the weld zone’s components are influenced on the strain rate, where both hardness and yield strength decrease with the decreasing strain rate. Keywords: indentation; mechanical properties; strain rate effect; structural steel; weld zone.