Indentation plastometry for welds and heat-affected zones
Characterise the weld where the decision matters, not only where specimen preparation is possible. Indentation plastometry provides local mechanical insight across weld metal, heat-affected zone and adjacent base material.
Fig. - Local indentation plastometry across weld metal, HAZ and base material.
Why do global tensile data often miss the critical weld behaviour?
Welded components rarely behave like homogeneous base material. The weld metal, the heat-affected zone and the adjacent parent material can differ significantly in strength, ductility and deformation behaviour. For development teams, this creates a central challenge: global specimen data often cannot describe the real local mechanical behaviour well enough.
Indentation plastometry is valuable because it characterises local mechanical properties directly on the relevant zone of the welded component. Instead of relying only on destructive specimen extraction and global tensile values, engineering teams gain localised insight exactly where the material condition changes.
Which local questions can indentation plastometry answer on welds?
How does local strength change from base material into the weld?
Where are the mechanically critical weak zones?
How do process changes influence local weld behaviour?
Which joining strategy produces the more stable transition?
"For weld development, i3D turns local uncertainty into engineering-relevant material knowledge."
How can yield strength, tensile strength and flow-curve behaviour be mapped across the weld?
The i3D workflow uses local indentations and optical 3D evaluation to derive local yield strength, local tensile strength and flow-curve related behaviour from relevant positions along the weld path. This helps engineers compare welding concepts, assess process influences, validate joining strategies and identify critical weak zones earlier in the development cycle.
Define the path: select weld metal, transition and HAZ positions.
Measure locally: perform indentation-based testing on the relevant zones.
Evaluate point by point: derive the local response from the measured imprint geometry.
Compare mechanically: identify where the welded structure changes most critically.
Why is local weld information valuable for development and qualification?
The result is a more realistic understanding of welded structures and a stronger basis for design, qualification and simulation decisions. Local behaviour becomes visible where global testing or simple hardness conversion may not be specific enough.
Fig. - Weld mapping also supports local material input for simulation and qualification.
