Experimental study on impact toughness of EH36 ship steel in Arctic areas

Polar ships are subjected to the ice loading. Low temperature impact toughness of ship steels is important for the ice-breaking efficiency and navigation safety of polar ships. In this paper, the impact absorption energy of EH36 steel under different temperatures, impact velocities and plate thickness is analyzed by experimental test, Taguchi and ANOVA method. The impact absorption energy was divided into crack formation and crack propagation absorption energy. The experimental results show that the impact absorption energy of EH36 steel is positively correlated with plate thickness and temperature, and negatively with impact velocity when it was in the toughness state. The order of significance ranking from high to low is thickness, temperature, and impact velocity. The ratio of the crack propagation absorption energy increases with the temperatures and reflects the impact toughness of EH36 steel. Furthermore, the best factor combination of impact toughness of EH36 steel was obtained.