Effects of strength mis-matching on the fracture behavior of nuclear pressure steel A508-III welded joint

In this paper, according to the nuclear pressure steel A508-III, the effect of strength mis-matching on the fracture behavior was analyzed by fracture mechanics test and the crack tip stress field of three-point bend specimen was analyzed by using finite element analysis method (FEM). The fracture of heat-affected zone (HAZ) was emphasized especially. The results of FEM show that if the under-matching weld was used, the opening stress and stress triaxiality in the vicinity of crack tip would increase for weld-crack specimen, and would reduce for HAZ-crack specimen. This tendency was confirmed by the test results.