Brittle fracture in polycrystalline Ir-0.3 pct W

Polycrystalline iridium fails by brittle intergranular fracture at room temperature. We have previously shown that this fracture is intrinsic because segregation of impurity elements to the grain boundaries was not found. We examined the structure of grain boundaries in Ir-0.3 pct W by transmission electron microscopy and found numerous ledges in the boundaries. In most boundaries the ledges aligned with the {111} crystallographic planes in one of the grains. In addition to ledges we observed numerous microscopic cracks near the edges of the thin foils. Most cracks occurred along twin boundaries. However, a substantial number of cracks that were not associated with twins also aligned with {111} planes in the grain matrix, establishing the {111} planes as secondary cleavage planes; {100} are the primary planes. The ease of cleavage along {111} planes makes the predominantly {111} oriented ledges ideal sites for crack initiation and propagation along grain boundaries, thereby explaining the intrinsic nature of intergranular fracture in iridium.     

The effect of plastic deformation on fracture morphology of the sigma phase in the NbTiAl system

It has been observed that in bulk specimens indentation-induced plastic deformation at room temperature causes intergranular fracture in the σ-phse of the NbTiAl system. The TEM study of the indented regions has revealed that only intergranular microcracks, which develop when two slip bands impinge on both sides of a boundary or when a slip band arrives at a grain boundary triple point, are resulted by the dislocation—grain boundary interaction. Consequently, upon subsequent loading of the indented speciments the crack propagates intergranularly in these regions. In the undeformed σ-phase, the accidental cracks that develop during the thin foil preparation have been found to follower a predominantly transgranular path, similar to the bulk specimen, with no dislocation activity at their tips. In contrast, in the plastically deformed regions the accidental cracks follow the path along slip bands. This phenomenon is believed to be a thin-foil effect.     

A comparative study of the embrittlement of monel 400 at room temperature by hydrogen and by mercury

Slow strain rate tensile tests were performed at room temperature on Monel 400 specimens of grain sizes 35 to 500 μm, in the environments of air, mercury, and electrolytically generated hydrogen. Specimens of grain size 250 μm were tested at a range of strain rates in the three environments. It was found that cracks initiated easiest in hydrogen but propagated easiest in mercury; consequently the embrittlement was usually more severe in mercury. The embrittlement decreased with increasing strain rate, and with increasing grain size in hydrogen. Embrittlement in mercury was a maximum at intermediate grain sizes. A fracture sequence of intergranular to transgranular to microvoid coalescence was common. The intergranular and transgranular fractures are interpreted in terms of the reduced cohesive stress and enhanced shear models of embrittlement, respectively.     

A study on fractography in the low-temperature brittle fracture of an 18Cr-18Mn-0.7N austenitic steel

The fracture mode and crack propagation behavior of brittle fracture at 77 and 4 K in an 18Cr-18Mn-0.7N austenitic stainless steel were investigated using optical and scanning electron microscopy. The fracture path was examined by observing the side surface in a partially ruptured specimen. The relationship of the fracture facets to the microstructures was established by observing the fracture surface and the adjacent side surface simultaneously. Three kinds of fracture facets were identified at either temperature. The first is a smoothly curved intergranular fracture facet with characteristic parallel lines on it. The second is a fairly planar facet formed by parting along an annealing twin boundary, a real {111} plane. There are three sets of parallel lines on the facet and the lines in different sets intersect at 60 deg. The third is a lamellar transgranular fracture facet with sets of parallel steps on it. Fracture propagated by the formation of microcracks on a grain boundary, annealing twin boundary, and coalescence of these cracks. The observation suggests that the ease of crack initiation and propagation along the grain boundary and the annealing twin boundary may be the main reason for the low-temperature brittleness of this steel. A mechanism for grain boundary cracking, including annealing twin boundary parting, has been discussed based on the stress concentration induced by impinging planar deformation structures on the grain boundaries.     

Correlation of deformation mechanisms with the tensile and compressive behavior of NiAl and NiAl(Zr) intermetallic alloys

To identify the mechanisms controlling strength and ductility in powder-extruded NiAl and NiAl + 0.05 at. pct Zr, tensile and compressive testing was performed from 300 to 1300 K for several grain sizes. Grain size refinement significantly increased yield stress in both alloys and, in some cases, slightly lowered the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature (DBTT), although no room-temperature tensile ductility was observed even in the finest grain size specimens. The small Zr addition increased the DBTT and changed the low-temperature fracture mode from intergranular in NiAl to a combination of intergranular and transgranular in the Zr-doped alloy. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of compression specimens deformed at room temperature revealed the presence of grain-boundary cracks in both alloys. These cracks were due to the incompatibility of strain in the poly crystalline material, owing to the lack of five independent slip systems. The tendency to form grain-boundary cracks, in addition to the low fracture stress of these alloys, contributed to the lack of tensile ductility at low temperatures. The operative slip system, both below and above the DBTT, was {110} 〈001〉 for both alloys. The change from brittle to ductile behavior with increasing temperatures was associated with the onset of diffusional processes.     

The structure of tempered martensite and its susceptibility to hydrogen stress cracking

A series of 4130 steels modified with 0.50 pct Mo and 0.75 pct Mo were tempered at temperatures between 300 and 700 °C for one hour. The changes in the carbide dispersion and matrix substructure produced by tempering were measured by transmission electron microscopy. These measurements were correlated with resistance to hydrogen stress cracking produced by cathodic charging of specimens in three-point bending. Scanning electron microscopy showed that specimens tempered between 300 and 500 °C failed by intergranular cracking while those tempered at higher temperatures failed by a transgranular fracture mode. Auger electron spectroscopy showed that the intergranular fracture was associated with hydrogen interaction with P segregation and carbide formation at prior austenite grain boundaries. Transgranular cracking was initiated at inclusion particles from which cracks propagated to produce flat fracture zones extending over several prior austenite grains. The 4130 steels modified with higher Mo content resisted tempering and showed better hydrogen stress cracking resistance than did the unmodified 4130 steel. The transition in fracture mode is attributed to a decohesion mechanism in the low temperature tempered samples and a pressure mechanism in the highly tempered samples.     

Effect of Carbon on Grain Boundary Segregation of Phosphorus and Phosphorus-Induced Intergranular Fracture in High Purity Iron with Phosphorus

Ａｓｗｅｌｌｋｎｏｗｎ ,ｔｈｅａｄｄｉｔｉｏｎｏｆｃａｒｂｏｎｃａｎｐｒｅ ｖｅｎｔｔｈｅｐｈｏｓｐｈｏｒｕｓ ｉｎｄｕｃｅｄｉｎｔｅｒｇｒａｎｕｌａｒｆａｉｌｕｒｅｉｎｉｒｏｎ .ＢｕｔｉｔｉｓｔｈｅｒｅｓｕｌｔｏｆｕｓｉｎｇＡＥＳ (Ａｕｇｅｒｅｌｅｃ ｔｒｏｎｓｐｅｃｔｒｏｓｃｏｐｙ)ａｎａｌｙｓｉｓｉｎｆｒａｃｔｕｒｅｄｓｕｒｆａｃｅａｎａｌ ｙｓｉｓ .ＥｒｈａｒｔＨｅｔａｌ[1] ,ｉｎｏｒｄｅｒｔｏｅｘｐｌａｉｎｔｈｅｍｅｃｈ ａｎｉｓｍｏｆｃａｒｂｏｎｓｕｐｐｒｅｓｓｉｎｇｔｈｅｉｎｔｅｒｇｒａ…     

Effect of C–N Interaction on Hydrogen Embrittlement of 15Cr–15Mn–4Ni-Based Austenitic Stainless Steels

Hydrogen diffusion and embrittlement in an austenitic steel with 0.2 wt pct carbon and 0.2 wt pct nitrogen were investigated. The simultaneous alloying of both carbon and nitrogen did not reduce hydrogen diffusivity more than single alloying of nitrogen due to the interaction between carbon and nitrogen. During tensile straining, a low density of cracks initiated at the grain boundaries at an early deformation stage. The cracks propagated either along the grain boundaries and twin boundaries, or the paths where ε martensite was concentrated, which resulted in mixed intergranular and transgranular fracture modes. Still, the resistance to hydrogen embrittlement improved in comparison with the single alloying of either carbon or nitrogen due to enhanced austenite stability.

     

Fatigue damage and crack nucleation mechanisms at intermediate strain amplitudes

Polycrystalline copper was fatigued in rotary bending at constant intermediate surface strain amplitudes at 26 Hz under ambient conditions. The specimens were interrupted at various life fractions, their surfaces prepared metallographically and scrutinised to ascertain the types of fatigue damages, namely, short cracks which are confined to individual grains or isolated grain boundary facets, and their role in fatal crack formation. The results show that, at intermediate strain amplitudes, slip band and twin boundary crack damages predominate during early stages of cycling, while grain boundary crack damages remain relatively insignificant even at the stage when fatal cracks have developed. However, depending on the strain amplitude level, the transgranular crack damages may or may not be instrumental in fatal crack formation. At the lower amplitude end of the transition region, fatal cracks are formed by interlinkage of slip band and twin boundary damages. At the higher amplitude end, even though grain boundary damages are negligible initially, they degenerate rapidly on further cycling and eventually evolve into fatal cracks. The present findings show that some 0.05% plastic strain amplitude is required to propagate intergranular cracks. Once the above condition is met, cracks would propagate rapidly along the interface and the crack nucleation mode would change from transgranular to intergranular.     

Sulphur segregation and high-temperature brittle intergranular fracture in alloy steels

High temperature brittle intergranular fracture has recently been identified as a mode of failure in alloy steels. It is associated with the dynamic segregation of sulphur to cracks in hard microstructures stressed at elevated temperatures in a manner analogous to hydrogen embrittlement at ambient temperature. Several models have been proposed to describe the action of sulphur, but insufficient experimental data have been available for their evaluation. The present study characterises sulphur enrichment at cracks and on free surfaces at high temperature in detail using scanning Auger spectroscopy. Both intergranular and transgranular surfaces were studied at pressures of air from 10⁻⁹ to 10⁻³ torr. Two types of sulphur enrichment at cracks were identified; general segregation to crack faces and local enrichment close to crack tips. The source of sulphur was largely that dissolved in the ferrite matrix. Large sulphides, intersecting grain boundaries, made a minor contribution, while small “overheated” intergranular sulphides were inoperative as sulphur sources. The role of stress in encouraging sulphur segregation was confirmed. In addition, an intermediate pressure of air was found to enhance sulphur enrichment, but only at surface oxygen coverages of 15–25 at.%. These observations were generally consistent with the influence of the crack tip stress field on migration of the sulphur solute, described by the “pure drift” model of high temperature brittle intergranular fracture. Refinement of the model, using finite element stress analysis, is included.     

Fracture at elevated temperature

We have carried out a systematic experimental study of fracture in materials which contain hard second phase particles. The principal variables in this study were the average size and spacing of the second phase particles, grain size, temperature, and the strain rate. Polycrystalline copper containing a dispersion of silica particles was the material used in these experiments. Three modes of fracture were observed: transgranular necking fracture, fracture by the propagation of intergranular cracks initiated at the surface, and intergranular fracture by grain boundary cavitation throughout the entire specimen cross-section. The transition between the fracture modes was shown to shift systematically with temperature, strain rate, and the microstructure. The intergranular fracture mode was studied in detail. The growth of cavities in the grain boundaries was determined to be the rate limiting step in the fracture process. It was determined that in the range of 10^-4 to 10^-7 s-1 in strain rate, the dominant growth mechanism of the cavities was power-law creep rather than diffusional transport. The ductility of the material in the intergranular mode of fracture was found to be strongly dependent on the area fraction of the second phase in the grain boundary and on the strain rate sensitivity of the material; it was weakly dependent on the grain size. A theoretical lower bound and a practical upper bound of the ductility in the intergranular fracture mode were established. The results are in qualitative agreement with the data on nickel-base alloys and other materials published in the literature. formerly a Graduate Student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University     

The role of grain boundary migration during low-cycle fatigue of α-iron at 450° to 700°C

Low-cycle fatigue tests have been carried out on α-iron over the temperature range 450° to 700°C. With increasing temperature, the number of cycles to failure decreased and the fracture changed from mixed transgranular/intergranular to almost entirely intergranular. At 650° to 700°C, there was a marked tendency for grain boundaries to migrate and become aligned preferentially at 45 deg to the stress axis. The rate of migration was shown to be mainly dependent on the strain amplitude. Interrupted tests at 700°C showed that failure was due to nucleation, growth, and linkage of intergranular cavities. The onset of cavitation was delayed until grain boundaries had stabilized at 45 deg to the stress axis.     

基于UDEC-GBM的矿物晶粒解理特征对硬岩石破坏过程的影响

基于块体离散单元数值模拟方法（UDEC-GBM）,以钾长石矿物颗粒为例,详细研究了矿物晶粒解理倾角、解理倾角围压效应及解理间距对硬质岩石力学性质、微观开裂过程及机理的影响,并探讨了解理特征在工程实际中可能带来的影响。数值研究结果表明:（1）晶粒解理具有明显倾角效应,当解理倾角由0°增加到90°时,岩石的弹性模量、单轴压缩强度及峰后脆延特征都会发生变化,穿晶总裂纹数受影响明显,主要体现在钾长石张拉穿晶裂纹显著增加,钾长石剪切裂纹数量在60°增加到最大值后减少,石英穿晶张拉裂纹数量也有明显变化,总体而言不断增加,而沿晶裂纹数量呈减少趋势,整个开裂过程仍以张拉沿晶主导;（2）晶粒解理倾角效应受围压影响,围压会导致沿晶裂纹和穿晶裂纹数量和二者比值发生变化,但不同倾角下围压对沿晶裂纹和穿晶裂纹数量和比值变化影响不一样;（3）当解理间距由2 mm增加到4 mm时,穿晶裂纹数量有增加趋势,而沿晶裂纹数量减少,总剪切和张拉裂纹数量比值不变,对岩石微观张拉、剪切破坏机制无明显影响。此外,具有解理结构的矿物晶粒含量较高且矿物晶粒本身性质对岩石性质及响应影响显著时,解理特征对板裂、岩爆等破坏的影响应给予重视。      

Fatigue microcrack initiation in polycrystalline alpha-iron with polished and oxidized surfaces

Plastic-strain-controlled fatigue crack initiation experiments were conducted on unoxidized and oxidized, vacuum-melted iron. In the unoxidized, as-polished condition at low plastic strain amplitudes, e.g., 1 or 5 X 10⁻⁴, microcracks initiated along well defined slip bands and in the troughs of surface rumples. Such microcracks tended to stop short of grain boundaries. On increasing the plastic strain amplitude, initiation of fatigue cracks along grain boundaries became important. When the specimens were surface oxidized, intergranular microcrack initiation was the dominant mode even at the plastic strain amplitude of 5 x 10⁻⁴, where transgranular microcracks formed only very infrequently and then only considerably later in the fatigue lifetime. At 1 x 10⁻³ amplitude, transgranular microcracks initiated very early in the cycling compared to the polished condition, but such cracks did not grow or increase in number. Intergranular cracks formed later and led to failure. Surface oxidation led to approximately a 20 pct reduction in lifetime to final failure. Formerly with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Materials Research Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL     

The nature of quasicleavage fracture in tempered 5.5Ni steel after hydrogen charging

Quenched and tempered 5.5Ni steel was embrittled by hydrogen charging and broken in air at room temperature. The primary fracture mode was transgranular quasicleavage. The quasicleavage facets were studied by scanning electron fractography and by transmission electron microscopy of profile fractographic specimens. The latter were prepared by plating the fracture surface with nickel and thinning so that the fracture surface was contained within the region of the specimen that was transparent to the electron beam. The fracture surface generally followed martensite lath boundaries. In addition, interlath microcracks were frequently found in the material immediately beneath the fracture surface. These results suggest that transgranular hydrogen embrittlement in this steel is primarily an interlath cracking phenomenon. Since the lath boundary planes tend to lie in {110}, the results also explain the prevalence of {110} quasicleavage in the embrittled specimens, which contrasts with the {100} cleavage found in uncharged specimens broken below the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature.     

Interfacial Behavior of Sulfur and Yttrium in Yttrium Modified Ni3Al-Based Alloy IC6 during High Temperature Oxidation Process

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Influence of austenitizing temperature on stress corrosion in 4330m steel—The role of impurity segregation in stress corrosion cracking of high strength steel

Measurements of the threshold stress intensity for stress corrosion cracking (SCC), K_ISCC, and crack growth rate,da/dt, in distilled water were made, respectively, on bolt-loaded WOL and precracked three-point-bending specimens of a 4330M steel. A significant improvement of resistance to SCC was obtained by increasing quenching temperature and it is due to a reduction of segregated impurities of P and S at prior austenite grain boundaries. Intergranular cracking tendency increases with inter-granular concentration of impurities and the fracture mode changes from intergranular separation along prior austenite grain boundaries to transgranular quasi-cleavage as the segregated impurity becomes low enough. The combined effects of hydrogen and intergranular impurities on reducing intergranular cohesion and the time for approaching the critical concentration of hydrogen are dis-cussed in terms of a dynamic model which takes into account the accumulation of hydrogen ahead of a moving microcrack. Formerly with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China     

The transgranular SCC of a Mg-Al alloy: Crystallographic,fractographic and acoustic-emission studies

A study has been made of the propagation of transgranular stress-corrosion cracks in a Mg−7.5 wt pct Al alloy tested at room temperature in an aqueous NaCl-K₂CrO₄ solution; the studies were carried out on single cracks which initiated and propagated within single grains in coarse-grained bend specimens. The resulting fracture surfaces were flat, and two-surface analysis established their orientation to be {ie1155-01}. Specimens fractured at liquid-nitrogen temperature cleaved on {ie1155-02}, indicating that the {ie1155-03} are not the normal cleavage planes in this material. The stress-corrosion fracture surfaces were cleavage-like in appearance, containing shallow steps which were matching and interlocking on opposite faces. Discrete acoustic signals were emitted during crack propagation, and these are considered to result from discontinuous crack advance. It is concluded that stress-corrosion cracking in this system occurs by discontinuous cleavage on {ie1155-04} planes. Formerly a Research Assistant in the Department of Metallurgy and Mining Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. 61801.     

The effect of cathodic polarization on the corrosion fatigue behavior of a precipitation hardened aluminum alloy

Fatigue experiments were conducted on polycrystalline and monocrystalline samples of a high purity Al, 5.5 wt pct Zn, 2.5 wt pct Mg, 1.5 wt pct Cu alloy in the peak-hardened heat treatment condition. These experiments were conducted in dry laboratory air and in 0.5N NaCl solutions at the corrosion potential and at applied potentials cathodic to the corrosion potential. It has been shown that saline solutions severely reduce the fatigue resistance of the alloy, resulting in considerable amounts of intergranular crack initiation and propagation under freely corroding conditions for polycrystalline samples. Applied cathodic potentials resulted in still larger decreases in fatigue resistance and, for poly crystals, increases in the degree of transgranular crack initiation and propagation. Increasing amounts of intergranular cracking were observed when applied cyclic stresses were reduced (longer test times). The characteristics of cracking, combined with results obtained on tensile tests of deformed and hydrogen charged samples, suggest that environmental cracking of these alloys is associated with a form of hydrogen embrittlement of the process zones of growing cracks. Further, it is suggested that stress corrosion cracking and corrosion fatigue of these alloys occurs by essentially the same mechanism, but that the often observed transgranular cracking under cyclic loading conditions occurs due to enhanced hydrogen transport and/or concentrations associated with mobile dislocations at growing crack tips.     

Near- threshold fatigue crack growth in copper and alpha- brass: Grain- size and environmental effects

The fatigue propagation rates and fatigue threshold ( ΔK _th) values were studied (R = 0.1 and frequency = 20 Hz) on copper and 70-30 α-brass of two different grain sizes in laboratory air and dry argon. With decreasing grain size, the threshold increased in copper, while it decreased in α-brass. These results suggest that in copper, crack tip plasticity considerations were more important in determining the threshold values than crack closure effects. Dry argon increased ΔK _th slightly in copper and more significantly in α-brass. A transition from completely transgranular to partially intergranular and back to completely transgranular cracking was observed with decreasing crack growth rates in both materials and environments. The growth rates for which intergranular cracking was obtained were found to be consistent with a hydrogen embrittlement mechanism, associated with adsorption of water molecules and dislocation transport of hydrogen.