Fracture toughness of functionally graded steels

In this study, fracture toughness of functionally graded steels in both crack divider and crack arrester configurations has been studied. Spot-welded plain carbon steel and austenitic stainless steel with different thicknesses and arrangements were used as electrodes of electroslag remelting to produce functionally graded steels. Fracture toughness of the specimens in crack divider configuration was found to depend on the arrangements of the primary electrodes' pieces together with the type of the containing phases. In crack arrester configuration, the fracture toughness was found to depend on the crack tip position and the distance of the crack tip with respect to the bainitic or martensitic intermediate layers