Evaluation of Fatigue Strength of Similar and Dissimilar Welded Joints of Modified 9Cr–1Mo Steel

This paper presents an evaluation method for the fatigue strength of similar and dissimilar welded joints of modified 9Cr–1Mo steel, which is a candidate structural material for demonstration of fast-breeder reactor being developed in Japan. The discontinuity of the mechanical properties across a welded joint causes a nonhomogeneous strain distribution, and this effect should be considered in the evaluation of the fatigue strength of welded joints. In this study, a “two-element model,” which comprises base metal and welded metal, was employed. First, the strain ranges of each element are calculated, and second, the fatigue lives of each element are evaluated. Finally, the shorter fatigue life is selected as the fatigue life of the welded joint. The failure position can be also estimated by this model. The evaluation results were compared with experimental data obtained at elevated temperature, and the results were in good agreement.