A Study on the application for Z-Quality steel

Z-Quality 강재 적용에 대한 고찰

The rolled carbon steel plate has anisotropic property in Z-direction(thickness direction). This is induced by cooling rate difference of Z-direction and sulfur which make non-metallic inclusion(MnS) at center line of thickness direction. Z-directional mechanical properties of normal steel plate are not generally specified and it is defined for Z-Quality steel only through tensile test in Z-direction. If Z-quality steel is not applied for cruciform joint, the lamella tearing will be occurred by tensile stress after welding & during operation of the structure. In this research, one equation estimating Z-directional(orthogonal to plate) stress was developed to prevent lamella tearing by welding. This equation deals with plate thickness & joint configuration(eccentricity, angle and curvature). Analyses were done by strain boundary method using sectional FE modeling and FE 3D models are also used for some cases. Designers can predict the possibility of lamella tearing by adequately applying the result and can appropriately minimize the application of Z-quality steel by revising welding design to some extent.