This study observes the behavior of welded joints of structural steel type "SAC 50" under fatigue. The material was welded by use the electric arc with coated electrodes process. Besides using the traditional mechanical tests, Fractural Mechanical Methods were applied while performing tests on fracture resistance (COD) and crack propagation caused by fatigue. The behavioral features for the material's three areas (cast zone, thermally affected zone and base metal) were determined. In terms of resistance, the conclusions were that the material's three areas presented similar behavior considering the welding effect. The values obtained after the resistance tests coincide with those related to the Charpy impact tests. The cast zone presented a higher COD value than the base metal i.e. higher resistance to crack propagation. The effect of the R factor did not present a strong influence in the position of the curves of crack propagation caused by fatigue. However, for R = 0.7, the threshold value (deltaKth), was altered, being reduced in the case of the base metal. For the crack propagation test caused by fatigue, the threshold value for the base metal was lower than that in other areas of the specimens, indicating a poorer performance.
fatigue; welded joint; structural steel
