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Liquid zinc penetration induced intergranular brittle cracking in resistance spot welding of galvannealed advanced high strength steel

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Abstract

This study aims to explore the mode of Zn transportation and the failure mechanism of cracking associated with liquid metal embrittlement (LME) using fractography as the key technique. A three-point bend test was performed on a TRIP steel resistance spot weld to open the LME crack in the form of a free fracture surface for the fractographic investigation. The presence of liquid Zn on the fracture surface was revealed by the Fe-Zn phase transformation and the spike-like morphology of the residual Zn, confirming that the mode of Zn transportation in LME cracks was liquid penetration through the austenite grain boundary. In addition, the fractography of the bend test samples and electron backscattered diffraction of the cracks revealed the failure mode of the LME crack as a complete intergranular brittle fracture without the generation of any microplasticity. Thus, the underlying failure mechanism of cracking in Zn-LME can be explained by the Stoloff-Johnson-Westwood-Kamdar brittle fracture model induced by the decohesion of interatomic bonds. Overall, a dramatic reduction in the interatomic bond strength by lowering the surface energy of the grain boundary with liquid Zn penetration causes the decohesion-induced intergranular brittle cracking.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Advanced Materials Engineering, Dong-Eui University, 995 Eomgwangno, Busanjin-gu, Busan, 614-714, Republic of Korea

    Siva Prasad Murugan & Yeong-Do Park

  2. Functional Components and Materials R&D Group, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Yangsan, South Korea

    Jong Bae Jeon

  3. Advanced Forming Process R&D Group, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Ulsan, 44413, South Korea

    Changwook Ji

Authors
  1. Siva Prasad Murugan
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  2. Jong Bae Jeon
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  3. Changwook Ji
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  4. Yeong-Do Park
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Siva Prasad Murugan (conceptualization, methodology, investigation, visualization, writing–original draft); Jong Bae Jeon (software, validation, writing–review and editing); Changwook Ji (software, validation, resources); Yeong-Do Park (conceptualization, methodology, supervision, validation, writing–review and editing).

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Correspondence to Siva Prasad Murugan.

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Murugan, S.P., Jeon, J.B., Ji, C. et al. Liquid zinc penetration induced intergranular brittle cracking in resistance spot welding of galvannealed advanced high strength steel. Weld World 64, 1957–1969 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40194-020-00975-3

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