Development of ferrous-based weldable seismic damping alloy with prolonged plastic fatigue life

Abstract

Abstract A new weldable Fe-Mn-Cr-Ni-Si seismic damping alloy with high fatigue resistance was developed by controlling phase transformation behaviour during both solidification and fatigue deformation. The solidification phase transformation was controlled by changing the Cr/Ni ratio to induce ferrite-austenite transformation and thus reduce the solidification cracking susceptibility. The Gibbs free energy difference between the austenite and e-martensite was optimized to exhibit reversible transformation during fatigue deformation. The resultant alloy exhibited a prolonged fatigue life, and no solidification cracking was observed in a melt-run welding test. By using the newly developed alloy, a weld damper with excellent fatigue resistance can be fabricated.