LCF-Weld

Creation of consolidated and engineering applicable procedures for fatigue assessment of non-reworked and reworked welded joints in the LCF range.

The subject of this research project is the investigation of the fatigue strength of welded joints under low-cycle fatigue. For this purpose, the necessary experimental basis is to be created on the basis of two very different materials on welded specimens with two wall thicknesses/seam thicknesses, in order to be able to investigate and further develop computational concepts on this basis in the project.

The aim of the project is to develop improved lifetime concepts for welded joints made of the austenitic steel material X6CrNiTi18-10 (1.4541) and the high-strength structural steel S960M or comparable for purely low-cycle stresses under constant amplitudes and plastic deformation and to validate them on the basis of experimental results. Here, both local, material-based concepts and simplifying correction functions for established stress-based concepts (nominal stress, structural stress, notch stress concepts) are used.

With an improved prediction capability in the purely low-cycle range, it is hoped to create a basis for better predicting the service life of structures with load spectra that lie in both the low- and high-cycle spectra in the future. This goal helps to improve component reliability, thereby minimizing product risks in a wide variety of industries and conserving resources. Since product development in vehicle, machine and plant construction is increasingly carried out by companies in the supply chain (engineering offices, development companies), the results are particularly relevant for SMEs.