Influence of microstructural variation in thick section steels on the characterisation of fracture toughness using sub-size specimens

The challenges of performing full-thickness fracture toughness tests on steel plates of 100mm thickness and greater means that the use of sub-size specimens is desirable. In this work, 100mm thick parent plate of S690 high strength steel was characterised using SENB fracture toughness specimens with thickness of 12mm, 25mm, 50mm and 100mm. Sub-size specimens were extracted at two different locations through the plate thickness; mid-wall and quarter wall. Sufficient specimens were tested to apply the Master Curve method in ASTM E1921 to predict the behaviour of 100mm thick material from each set of sub-size specimens. The through-thickness microstructural variation in these heavy-wall steel plates meant that significantly different predictions of full-thickness fracture toughness were obtained from the two sampling locations. However, when sampled from the mid-wall location, sub-size specimens down to 25mm thick were able to conservatively predict full-thickness fracture toughness using Master Curve methods.