Tensile overload-induced plastic deformation and fatigue behavior in weld-repaired high-strength low-alloy steel

•Overload-induced plastic deformation of weld-repaired HSLA was measured.•The overload influence on subsequent fatigue behavior was studied.•Buffer layer thickness has great influence on fatigue behavior in fatigue tests.•The relationships among plastic deformation, SEM details and da/dN were correlated.

The effects of tensile over-load (OL) on fatigue crack growth behavior of a weld-repaired high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steel were studied by measuring both the fatigue crack growth rate and sample-thickness variation along the fatigue crack growth path. The thickness variation, indicating the degree of plastic deformation (PD), provided an indirect measurement of associated residual compressive stresses at the crack-tip. The applied tensile OL with one-hour holding period in each test generated a damage zone at the crack tip. Microscopic details of the crack-tip damage zone were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Three groups of expanded compact-tension (E-CT) samples, 10 mm in thickness, were tested: weld-repaired HSLA without soft buffer layer (BL), and weld-repaired HSLA with 4 mm or 10 mm thick BL. The experimental results showed that the OL-induced PD, closely linked to the crack-tip residual compressive stresses, reduced the subsequent fatigue crack growth rate, and that the HSLA with a 10 mm BL had the lowest growth rate, indicating a soft BL with an adequate thickness could further improve the fatigue resistance.