Review on the Effects of Material Heterogeneity on Fracture Toughness in Steel Weldment

The evaluation of fracture toughness in weldment is necessary for the safety performance of industrial structures with large scale such as various power plants, LNG (liquefied natural gas) storage tanks, etc. It is generally known that weldments have material heterogeneity, which results in the serious changes in fracture characteristics of HAZ (heat-affected zone). Nevertheless, the systematic study on material heterogeneity of weldment has not been performed yet in Korea. Therefore in this paper, the effects of material heterogeneity on the fracture toughness of structural steel HAZ were introduced and reviewed.