Interfacial fracture morphologies of stainless steel clad plates after uniaxial tension

The interfacial fracture morphologies of stainless steel clad plates, dividing into stainless steel layer, diffusion layer and carbon steel layer, after uniaxial tension loading are investigated. It is found that the fractures occur randomly along the interface line between the stainless steel and diffusion layers, which could be induced by the stress concentration effect. The relatively high ductility of the carbon steel reduces the stress concentration to avoid the possible generation of the interfacial fracture in its layer. Furthermore, the bonding forces between the stainless steel and diffusion layers determine the distribution of the fractures. High bonding force could retain the interface without fracture, while the fractures would occur in the domains with low bonding force. This work deepens the failure mechanism of the stainless steel clad plates and is useful in the safety evaluation in their applications.