Experimental Investigation of Structural Steel Welds at High Temperature

This paper reports a set of experiments on the ultimate strength and fractural performance of structural steel welds at elevated temperatures. The results show that structural steel welds show distinctly different behavior below (including) 400 degrees C and above 400 degrees C. Below 400 degrees C, the ultimate failure resistance fluctuates about the room temperature resistance and the failure was brittle fracture occurring to various locations of the welded region. Above 400 degrees C, the ultimate failure resistance reduces quickly and the failure was by the tensile fracture of the interface between the weld and the steel with noticeable tensile elongation of the specimen. The results were supposed to help the design of structural steel connections for fire safety.