Welding is an integral part of the fabrication process for realization of the components and sub-components for any structural system. The weld process and the evaluation of the weld zone properties become more significant for the critical application like structural components of an aero engine. Standard tensile testing of the welded specimens provides the ductility for the composite joint i.e. the parent, heat affected zone and the weld zone. Standard bend tests (Three point bend) are specified as the qualitative tests for evaluating the ductility of the welded joints. For these bend tests, the ductility of the parent specimens are utilized for calculating the bend test parameters and the bend angles are specified after performing the tests on the parent specimens. But during the bend tests on the TIG welded specimens of specific materials and the thickness combinations like Ti-64 with thickness of 1.2 and 4.0 mm, it was observed that the specimens used to get fractured during bend tests before the specified bend angle is achieved. Though this suggests that the ductility of the welded joint is lesser than that of the parent specimens, it is not quantified with the premature failure of the test specimen. In the present study, bend tests on these material samples are performed on TIG welded specimens. Load and the displacement were monitored during the bend tests and maximum plunger depth and bend angle was recorded. A term called virtual plunger diameter is introduced in this work. Based on this plunger depth, span length, virtual plunger diameter is estimated at the onset of the fracture. From this plunger diameter the ductility of the weld joint is recalculated and is found to be lesser than the ductility of the welded joint as observed during the tensile test. The proposed bend test result analysis technique provides the quantitative results i.e. weld ductility from the bend test data.

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