ABSTRACT
This work presents selected results from a study characterizing the aged steel from the decommissioned Royal Canadian Navy destroyer ex-HMCS IROQUOIS, in addition to the mechanical behaviour of new similar grade steel. The aim of this work is to determine whether the present-day mechanical properties of the aged steel still meet their original design requirements. The testing program included orthotropic tensile behaviour, fracture energies, ductile-to-brittle transition temperature, hardness and post-failure fractographic analyses to better identify the associated failure mechanisms. The aged steel (IROQ-steel) specimens were cut from the hull plating, as well as primary/secondary stiffener flanges and webs. In addition, the new steel specimens were prepared from a similar grade steel (300W) for comparison purposes. The initial results show that the steel from all locations still meet the design requirements and compare favourably well with the new 300W steel behaviour. Interestingly, results also showed differences in tensile behaviour for the 300W steel based on tensile specimen thickness, but no similar behaviour was observed for the IROQ steel.
