Assessment of low temperature toughness in welding of extra low carbon steel for Arctic application

For steel structures to be installed in the Arctic region, the risk of brittle fracture represents a primary concern due to the ductile to brittle usually transition taking place at sub-zero temperatures. Therefore, the present investigation addressed the heat affected zone and weld metal toughness of two extra low carbon steels of 420 MPa yield strength grade, supplied in 20 and 50 mm thickness. The testing included tensile, Charpy V and CTOD. The results obtained showed that the Charpy V toughness was relatively high at -600C, but that some low values may occur for the fusion line position. The fracture toughness at -600C, based on SENB05 (a/t=0.5) geometry, appeared to be low for both weld metal and fusion line positions. More specific measures may be taken into account in welding procedure qualification of the current steels, such as using lower crack length (e.g., a/t=0.2), tension instead of bending (SENT testing) or a full engineering critical assessment.