Weld Solidification Cracking Susceptibility in DC53 Cold Work Tool Steel (Part I: Trans -Varestraint Test Method)

This research aims to investigate the solidification cracking susceptibility of cold work tool steel Grade-DC53. By the trans-varestraint test (TVT), solidification cracking of a specimen was stimulated through immediately bending during GTAW welding. Bending blocks with different radius were provided in order to obtain strain levels of 0.7- 4.8%. After TVT, the cracks behind the weld pool were examined as the total number of cracks (TNC), total crack length (TCL), and the maximum crack length (MCL). The comparative study between the different tool steels was conducted, namely DC53, SKD11 cold work tool steel, and
S50C tool steel respectively. It was found that the total number of cracks of the different tool steels (DC53, SKD11, and S50C) were 50, 38 and 41. Whilst, the total crack lengths were 98.2, 52.2, and 41 mm, as well as, maximum crack length of 2.6, 1.87 and 1.9 mm respectively. It was revealed that DC53 cold work tool steel provided NC, CL, and MCL more than those of SKD11 and S50C for entire levels of strain. These results indicate that DC53 cold work tool steel has a tendency to be more susceptible to solidification
cracking than SKD11 and S50C.