EFFECT OF RESIDUAL-STRESS ON FRACTURE-BEHAVIOR OF MILD-STEEL

The fracture behavior of mild steel with residual stress is studied. R esults show that at the characteristic transition temperature of low-t emperature brittleness T(C), which has been recommended as the critic al temperature to evaluate the brittleness of mild steel, the material possesses the crack arrest property. A steep transition of the fractu re load of the material with residual stress occurs at the temperature T(C). This finding is very important, allowing the critical temperat ure T(C) to be used to evaluate the brittleness of welded structures.