Fatigue life assessment of improved joints welded with alternative welding techniques

• Fatigue assessment of alternative welding improvement techniques is performed.
• The assessment is conducted using fatigue testing and crack growth analysis.
• The different improvement techniques provide the same enhancement in fatigue life.
• One of the assessed techniques is recommended for implementation in production.

In this study, the fatigue life improvement by adopting the toe weaving technique on non-load carrying cruciform welded joints has been investigated. Fatigue testing was conducted on two batches of specimens welded using double-pass manual welding. One batch had a straight second pass and the other was weaved. The influence of different weaving shape parameters was analyzed by performing crack growth analyses. The fatigue testing shows a slightly improved fatigue life for the two different batches compared to as-welded joints; the improvement is similar for both batches. The crack growth analysis concludes that the batch with the straight second pass should provide slightly higher fatigue life compared to the toe weaved batch. Measurements show a presence of undercuts in the vicinity of the crack initiation site. Nonetheless, an increased fatigue life is obtained, due to the low flank angle created during welding of the second pass, which reduces the stress concentration in the weld toe, prolonging the fatigue life.