Lamellar Tearing

Form of brittle fracture occurring in planes essentially parallel to the rolled surface of a plate under high through thickness loading

Lamellar Tearing
Highly restrained welded joints susceptible Localized strains due to weld metal shrinkage are very high (> yield) Service load stresses are usually to small to produce Thick plates more susceptible
Concentration of impurities from rolling Related to cooling of the ingot

Not as common in modern steels

Lamellar Tearing
(Fort Duquesne Bridge)

Lamellar Tearing
(Fort Duquesne Bridge)

Banding

Continuous Caster Segregation

Rolling Can Concentrate Segregation

Occurs in thin plates unlike lamellar tearing

Cracked VMS Support Structure

Support Structure at Lab

Photos of Cracks

Macro View of Exposed Fracture Surface

Cross Section

What can we tell?

View of Secondary Cracks 100x

Banding at Centerline
Allowed Fracture to propagate parallel to plate

Conclusions
Likely caused by liquid metal embrittlement (LME) during galvanizing of the towers.
Not hydrogen embrittlement, pure lamellar tearing, fabrication defects, material deficiencies, strain age embrittlement, or fatigue.

The physical and mechanical properties in conformance with ASTM A572 Gr. 50. No correlation between fillet weld reinforcement size and tendency for cracking. The combination of high weld metal strength, generally large weld reinforcements, and highly restrained geometry of the strut connection allowed the development of high weld residual stresses,
An important factor in the occurrence of LME.

High Performance Steel

What make it High Performance?

The main differences compared to conventional 70 ksi steels (or 50 or 100)
Improved weldability Improved toughness

Other properties such as corrosion resistance and ductility will be essentially the same

Weldability
Weldability is a property that is somewhat difficult to define. Conventional 485-MPa steels typically require
preheating of plates control of temperature between weld passes controlled handling of welding consumables precisely controlled energy input post-weld heat treatment in some cases

When all of these operations are performed correctly, it is usually possible to produce high-quality welds in conventional high-strength steel. Difficulties can arise, when one or more of these operations deviate from prescribed procedures.

Weldability
Minor differences in procedure and quality control are the norm for bridge construction,
Many different fabricators in different parts of the country work under different climates and conditions

The result is that conventional high-strength steels have experienced a higher percentage of weld problems compared to lower strength steels. In particular the control of temperature adds significantly to the cost and time required for welding

HPS Metallurgy
Many approaches were tried to develop a steel with high performance and 70 ksi strength. Both processing methods and alloy composition were varied until the optimum combination for HPS-70W was selected. The optimum alloy a modified version of the existing A709 grade 485W Q/T steel
The big difference is that the carbon level was greatly reduced, thereby providing the large boosts in weldability and toughness.

Definitions
Quenching
Most commonly used to harden steel by introducing martensite Cooling is very quick and austenite can be formed

Definitions
Tempering
Process involving slow and moderate heating to increase the hardness and toughness of metals that have undergone previous heat treatment Metals are usually hardened by being heated to high temperatures and quenched rapidly

Thermo-mechanical Controlled Processing (TMCP)

Highly controlled Process of temperature and reduction due to rolling
Hence the name ->Thermo-mechanical

Not Q/T Steel Generally up to 2 inches thick However, can roll much longer than Q/T
Q/T < 50 ft TMCP >150 ft

HPS Metallurgy
Compared to a conventional A709-70 ksi steel carbon is reduced from a maximum of 0.19 percent to about 0.10 percent
Other alloy adjustments, micro-alloy additions, and processing changes enable strength to be maintained

The low carbon level is the primary reason for the great improvements in weldability and toughness

CVN Histogram for A992 Steel at 40F

50 Mean: 121.1 Minimum: 11.2 Maximum: 283.3 Coefficient of Variation: 51.8 Number of Samples: 2279 100

40

80

30

60

20 13.95

17.16 12.29 10.93

40

11.54 9.00 6.06 9.43 20

10

9.57

0.09 0 15 40 65 90 115 140 165 190 215 Over 0

CVN (ft-lbs)

Cumulative Probability (%)

Occurrence (%)

CVN Histogram for A992 Steel at 70F

50 Mean: 130 Minimum: 14 Maximum: 278 Coefficient of Variation: 45.5 Number of Samples: 1058 100

40

80

30

60

20.89 20 15.31 12.76 10 3.50 8.88 7.56 6.90 6.14 5.95 12.10 20 40

0 40 65 90 115 140 165 190 215 240 Over

CVN

Cumulative Probability (%)

Occurrence (%)

HPS 70 W Fy vs. Thickness

HPS Improves Improves Structural Structural HPS Resistance to to Fracture Fracture Resistance
Increased crack tolerance a.k.a. Fracture Initiation Resistance
Yield on net section Better chance of catching cracks in inspection

High tolerance of bending and cold forming Higher dynamic crack arrest capability Backup for unforeseen problems

Variability in Properties

CVN Histogram for A992 Steel at 40F

50 Mean: 121.1 Minimum: 11.2 Maximum: 283.3 Coefficient of Variation: 51.8 Number of Samples: 2279 100

40

80

30

60

20 13.95

17.16 12.29 10.93

40

11.54 9.00 6.06 9.43 20

10

9.57

0.09 0 15 40 65 90 115 140 165 190 215 Over 0

CVN (ft-lbs)

Cumulative Probability (%)

Occurrence (%)

CVN Histogram for A992 Steel at 70F

50 Mean: 130 Minimum: 14 Maximum: 278 Coefficient of Variation: 45.5 Number of Samples: 1058 100

40

80

30

60

20.89 20 15.31 12.76 10 3.50 8.88 7.56 6.90 6.14 5.95 12.10 20 40

0 40 65 90 115 140 165 190 215 240 Over

CVN

Cumulative Probability (%)

Occurrence (%)

HPS 70 W Fy vs. Thickness