Normalizing effect on fatigue crack propagation at the heat-affected zone of AISI 4140 steel shielded metal arc weldings

The fractography and mechanical behaviour of fatigue crack propagation in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of AISI 4140 steel welded using the shielded metal arc process was analysed. Different austenitic grain size was obtained by normalizing performed at 1200 °C for 5 and 10 hours after welding. Three point bending fatigue tests on pre-cracked specimens along the HAZ revealed that coarse grains promoted an increase in fatigue crack growth rate, hence causing a reduction in both fracture toughness and critical crack length, and a transgranular brittle final fracture with an area fraction of dimp...