A MICRO-MECHANICS MODEL OF CORROSION-FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH IN STEELS

Principles of Microstructural Fracture Mechanics (MFM) are used to develop a model for the characterization of environment-assisted short fatigue crack growth. Fatigue cracks are invariably initiated at corrosion pits formed at inclusions, hence the analysis includes stress concentration effects at pits that lead to the propagation of fatigue cracks the rates of which are considered to be proportional to the crack tip plastic displacement. This plasticity is constrained by microstructural barriers which are overcome in a non-aggressive environment at critical crack lengths only when the applied stress is higher than the fatigue limit. However, the superposition of an aggressive environment assists fatigue damage via crack tip dissolution, enhancement of crack tip plastic deformation, the introduction of stress concentrations at pits and a reduction of the strength of the microstructural barrier. These environment effects are manifested in a drastic reduction of the fatigue limit and higher crack propagation rates. The model is compared with fatigue crack propagation data of a BS251A58 steel tested in reversed torsion when submerged in a 0.6M NaCl solution.     

(Al2O3)f/Al复合材料在强界面结合下的疲劳损伤模式

在拉-拉载荷下测定了(Al₂O₃)_f/Al复合材料的疲劳寿命(S-N)曲线。通过夭折试验以及SEM疲劳断口和纵截面组织结构分析,研究了复合材料的疲劳损伤模式。研究结果表明,(Al₂O₃)_f/Al复合材料的疲劳极限为750MPa,远高于SCS-6碳化硅纤维增强钛基复合材料。该复合材料兼有钛基和树脂基纤维复合材料疲劳损伤的特点,高应力下由单个裂纹的起源和生长导致复合材料的失效;低应力下,疲劳损伤模式包括纤维劈裂、众多基体裂纹和单个基体裂纹的横向扩展。其中纤维劈裂是主控机制。其更高的疲劳极限可归因于低应力下纤维的纵向劈裂。     

Mechanisms of crack nucleation in ice

This paper reviews the literature on the mechanisms by which cracks are nucleated in polycrystalline ice. In the absence of preexisting cracks, crack nucleation is the first step in mechanical failure. A variety of mechanisms have been discussed, mostly involving the propagation of microcracks or precursors from initial sizes below the level of convenient detection to easily observable cracks. True crack nucleation without preexisting precursors requires that stresses be locally concentrated to levels matching the theoretical cleavage or cohesive strength. Candidate mechanisms for this concentration of stress include: dislocation glide (leading to pile-ups of dislocations on particular slip planes); grain-boundary-sliding (leading to stress concentrations at the triple junctions at the edge of grain-boundary facets); thermal expansion of extraneous inclusions (such as produced by progressive freezing of brine pockets upon cooling); and elastic anisotropy of the ice crystals. Both dislocation glide and boundary sliding are kinetic processes in which the stress redistribution occurs at a finite, temperature-dependent rate. These processes also contribute temperature-dependent internal friction and anelasticity and their operation can therefore be independently measured. Elastic anisotropy leads to stress concentrations in an athermal manner and therefore becomes more important at very low temperatures and high loading rates. It has been shown, however, that in the absence of stresses due to brine pockets, the inherent elastic anisotropy of ice is not sufficient to nucleate cracks in purely two-dimensional models, such as perfectly columnar grains in plane strain. Calculated nucleation energies are far beyond available thermal activation energies and some additional stress concentrating effects are required. Irregularities in the third dimension (e.g. jogs in column boundaries) have not been completely investigated. Although inclusions (e.g. brine pockets or particulate inclusions) may sometimes be important, we should not neglect the kinetic processes mentioned above. Various experiments on fresh-water ice have provided evidence that crack nucleation is usually associated with grain boundaries in a manner consistent with grain-boundary sliding and the associated stress concentration fields.     

The fatigue properties of cross-plied boron 6061 aluminium

The mechanical properties of 0/90° and 0/90/+-45° boron-aluminium laminates have been examined at room temperature, 200 and 300° C. The increase in test temperature resulted in decreases in both the tensile and fatigue properties. Relatively constant critical stress intensity values were obtained from centre-notched static tensile specimens, indicating high notch sensitivity. Smaller values were obtained from specimens tested at elevated temperatures.The tension-compression (R=–1) fatigue behaviour of unnotched specimens cut from either material indicated 10⁷ cycle endurance limits of about 255 MPa (37×10³psi) and endurance ratios of 0.3 to 0.4. Microscopic examination of failed specimens detected the presence of off-axis fibre splitting and multiple cracks that were distributed throughout the matrix. Fractographic observations indicated that the fatigue crack had propagated completely through the matrix before final failure of the fibres occurred.Notched specimens failed by fracture at the fatigue extended notch at approximately the same values of the critical stress intensity that had been determined statically. However, fatigue lives obtained from centre-notched specimens subjected to identical net section stresses indicated that the rate of propagation of the premachined notch was faster for specimens containing longer crack sizes only for crack length: specimen width ratios, 2a/w, up to 0.4; thereafter, larger ratios yielded slower crack propagation rates.     

Fatigue damage of low amplitude cycles in low carbon steel

The influences of low load cycles on fatigue damage in 0.15% C steel (C15E, No. 1.1141) are investigated in the very high cycle fatigue regime using ultrasonic fatigue testing equipment. Constant amplitude (CA) endurance limits at limiting lifetime of 10⁹ cycles are determined in cyclic tension–compression and cyclic torsion tests. Non-propagating fatigue cracks are found in specimens subjected to cyclic torsion loading at the endurance limit. The endurance limit is considered as maximum stress amplitude where possibly initiated fatigue cracks do not propagate to failure. Two-step variable amplitude (VA) tension–compression endurance tests are performed with repeat sequences consisting of high stress amplitudes above the endurance limit and far greater number of cycles below. The measured lifetimes are compared with linear damage accumulation calculations (Miner calculations). If the high stress amplitude is more than approximately 13% above the CA endurance limit, detrimental influences of low load cycles and failures at low damage sums are found. If the high stress is less than 13% above the CA endurance limit, numerous low load cycles cause prolonged fatigue lifetimes and specimens can sustain large damage sums without failure. Two-step VA fatigue crack growth investigations show that load cycles below the threshold stress intensity accelerate crack growth, if the high stress intensity is 18% or more above the CA threshold stress intensity. In repeat sequences with high stress intensities 14% above threshold stress intensity, low load cycles decelerated and stopped fatigue crack growth. Low load cycles can reduce or prolong fatigue lifetimes of low carbon steel and one reason is the accelerated or retarded fatigue crack growth due to numerous low amplitudes, and the maximum load amplitude of a VA load sequence determines whether detrimental or beneficial effects prevail.     

Life extension of self-healing polymers with rapidly growing fatigue cracks

Self-healing polymers, based on microencapsulated dicyclopentadiene and Grubbs' catalyst embedded in the polymer matrix, are capable of responding to propagating fatigue cracks by autonomic processes that lead to higher endurance limits and life extension, or even the complete arrest of the crack growth. The amount of fatigue-life extension depends on the relative magnitude of the mechanical kinetics of crack propagation and the chemical kinetics of healing. As the healing kinetics are accelerated, greater fatigue life extension is achieved. The use of wax-protected, recrystallized Grubbs' catalyst leads to a fourfold increase in the rate of polymerization of bulk dicyclopentadiene and extends the fatigue life of a polymer specimen over 30 times longer than a comparable non-healing specimen. The fatigue life of polymers under extremely fast fatigue crack growth can be extended through the incorporation of periodic rest periods, effectively training the self-healing polymeric material to achieve higher endurance limits.     

Numerical investigation of fatigue characteristics of concrete pavement

In concrete pavements, fatigue is one of the major causes of distress. Repeated loads result in the formation of cracks. The propagation of these cracks cause internal progressive damage within the structure, which ultimately leads to failure of the pavement due to fatigue. This paper presents a theoretical investigation of crack propagation within concrete pavement and its fatigue characteristics under cyclic loading. A numerical fatigue performance model has been developed for this purpose. The model is based on fictitious crack approach for the propagation of cracks and stress degradation approach for estimating the bridging stress under cyclic loading. Using the numerical model, a parametric study has been performed for a typical concrete pavement to evaluate its fatigue characteristics for different foundation strengths. The method can be used for prediction of crack propagation in concrete pavement under cyclic loading and gives an estimate of the incremental damage or the entire crack history of the pavement.     

Prediction of short fatigue crack growth of Ti‐6Al‐4V

It is observed that the short fatigue cracks grow faster than long fatigue cracks at the same nominal driving force and even grow at stress intensity factor range below the threshold value for long cracks in titanium alloy materials. The anomalous behaviours of short cracks have a great influence on the accurate fatigue life prediction of submersible pressure hulls. Based on the unified fatigue life prediction method developed in the authors' group, a modified model for short crack propagation is proposed in this paper. The elastic–plastic behaviour of short cracks in the vicinity of crack tips is considered in the modified model. The model shows that the rate of crack propagation for very short cracks is determined by the range of cyclic stress rather than the range of the stress intensity factor controlling the long crack propagation and the threshold stress intensity factor range of short fatigue cracks is a function of crack length. The proposed model is used to calculate short crack propagation rate of different titanium alloys. The short crack propagation rates of Ti‐6Al‐4V and its corresponding fatigue lives are predicted under different stress ratios and different stress levels. The model is validated by comparing model prediction results with the experimental data.     

Effect of inclusions on fatigue behaviour of hardened spring steel

Abstract

The fatigue lifetimes of hourglass shaped specimens of a hardened spring steel were studied. The failure probability was determined experimentally at one loading level and causes of fatigue failure were identified on fracture surfaces. The depth profile of residual stresses after fatigue testing was determined using X-ray techniques. Cyclic flow data, long crack growth data, and the threshold for crack propagation were determined. Inclusion size distributions of the steel were obtained using different techniques. A model for the probability of fatigue failure of the hourglass specimens was formulated. Microcracks are assumed to exist at all inclusions and specimen failure is controlled by those cracks which can propagate to failure. Two different models based on linear fracture mechanics were used to determine critical inclusion sizes for crack propagation. The models take into account all the above independent experimental data, i.e. residual stresses, cyclic flow data, threshold for crack propagation, inclusion distribution, etc. Experimental failure probabilities were satisfactorily reproduced by the model.

MST/1648     

Der Einfluß von Festigkeit und Druckeigenspannungen auf die Wechselfestigkeit von Stählen bei höheren Temperaturen

Influence of Hardness and Comprehensive Residual Stresses on the Fatigue Limit of Steels under Elevated Temperatures The room temperature fatigue behaviour under alternating stresses of bcc steels is characterized by two stationary states existing below two different reversed stress limits: Below the one no crack initiation occurs, below the other no crack propagation can be found even after an unlimited number of stress cycles. The fatigue endurance of unnotched parts is determined by the crack initiation conditions that can be improved by higher hardness of the material. The fatigue strength of notched parts under reversed stresses is decidently determined by the minimum stress required to propagate a crack; this stress can be raised by compressive residual stresses. – At elevated temperatures these two stationary states are not further existent and there are no alternating stress amplitudes that can be endured either without crack initiation or without crack propagation to fracture. Both influencing parameters hardness and compressive residual stresses are dependend on the temperature, this can be explained by Snoek's and by Cottrell's mechanisms and with the temperature depending release of residual stresses corresponding to the temperature sensitive yield point.     

Standing contact fatigue testing of a ductile material: surface and subsurface cracks

During standing contact fatigue testing of case hardened steel plates, four different fatigue crack types are found: ring/cone; lateral; radial; and median cracks. Fatigue results are presented as load versus cycle number, with endurance limits and initiation laws for the ring/cone and lateral cracks. The behaviour of the radial surface strain outside the contact is altered by the presence of cracks. In particular this makes in situ crack detection possible for the lateral crack. The ductility of the tested material is found to be important for fatigue crack initiation. Numerical elastoplastic computations are used to derive the stress cycles responsible for each crack type. Stress cycles at different locations and in different directions are compared in order to explain why a particular crack type initiates. It is noted that cracks are produced normal to principal stresses of sufficient range, which are tensile sometime during the load cycle. Implications for spalling are discussed.     

FATIGUE LIMIT MODEL FOR HARDENED STEELS

A fracture mechanics-based model is developed for the fatigue limit of hardened steels. In such steels, non-metallic inclusions are known to initiate fatigue cracks. In this work, these inclusions are modelled as spherical voids and, as the fatigue process continues, fatigue cracks are thought to develop from these sites. The growth or arrest of these cracks is analysed in terms of the effective stress intensity range and the corresponding effective threshold for crack propagation. Elasto-plastic crack closure is evaluated by finite element calculations. The fatigue limit of a sample is defined in terms of crack arrest at all inclusions. Simple equations of the model are presented and compared to experimental data from the literature as well as to an earlier model by Murakami.     

Inclined standing contact fatigue

An experimental method is presented, in which a sphere is repeatedly pressed against a surface with an inclined contact load. The method is a development of the normally loaded standing contact fatigue test. Experiments are performed for three inclination angles below the angle of friction and the results are compared to those of the normally loaded standing contact fatigue test. The influence of tangential load on endurance limit load, number of cycles to crack initiation, contact mark appearance and crack behaviour in the surface as well as in cut views are evaluated. The surface crack behaviour outside the contact mark is analysed based on the cyclic contact stresses in the test specimen. The trajectories of the largest principal stresses are followed in both the surface view and in the cut view on the symmetry plane. These stress trajectories are compared to the experimental crack results. The connection between the inclined standing contact fatigue cracks and surface distress micro‐cracks is also discussed.     

Fatigue strength of gas turbine compressor blades

An experimental procedure has been developed for the investigation of fatigue and crack growth resistance of materials and real compressor blades. Methods for the determination of stress intensity factors in specimens and in blades with cracks have been justified. Investigations have been performed into the influence of manufacturing residual stresses and surface defects in the form of simulators of dents, corrosion pits, and nonmetallic inclusions on fatigue strength of steels and a titanium alloy. The characteristics of the material crack growth resistance have been studied considering the effect of the medium (sea water) and stress ratio in a cycle, as well as fatigue strength of newly-manufactured blades and those after being in operation. Specific features of fatigue crack propagation in blades have been considered and a method for predicting the life of blades with cracks has been justified.     

Some Peculiarities of Fatigue Crack Growth at Various Stages of Its Development

The author considers some peculiarities of fatigue crack growth in metals at the stages of its initiation and initial development, and stable and unstable growth that precedes final fracture. It is shown that at the stage of initial growth of fatigue cracks, the stress state, nonlocalized fatigue damage that precedes initiation of the main fatigue crack, residual surface stresses, surface manufacturing and in-service defects, and contact interactions are the factors that determine the crack paths. Stable growth of a fatigue crack is primarily determined by the stress-strain state of a structure as a whole and by the stress-strain state at the crack tip with allowance for its variation due to crack propagation, which is evaluated by the criteria of fracture mechanics. The author also studied peculiarities of fatigue crack development in compressor blades of marine gas turbines. It is shown that for embrittled steels, when fatigue cracks develop under plane strain conditions, final fracture occurs at very small crack sizes. In this case, the characteristics of fatigue fracture toughness are appreciably lower than the static values. The paper also considers peculiarities of unstable fatigue crack propagation.     

A MICROCRACK GROWTH LAW FOR MULTIAXIAL FATIGUE

Within the past decade, critical plane approaches have gained increasing support based on correlation of experimentally observed fatigue lives and microcrack orientations under predominately low cycle fatigue (LCF) conditions for various stress states. In this paper, we further develop an engineering model for microcrack propagation consistent with critical plane concepts for correlation of both LCF and high cycle fatigue (HCF) behavior, including multiple regimes of small crack growth. The critical plane microcrack propagation approach of McDowell and Berard serves as a starting point to incorporate multiple regimes of crack nucleation, shear growth under the influence of microstructural barriers, and transition to linear crack length-dependent growth related to elastic-plastic fracture mechanics (EPFM) concepts. Microcrack iso-length data from uniaxial and torsional fatigue tests of 1045 steel and IN 718 are examined and correlated by introducing a transition crack length which governs the shift from nonlinear to linear crack length dependence of da/dN. This transition is related to the shift from strong microstructural influence to weak influence on the propagation of microcracks. Simple forms are introduced for both the transition crack length and the crack length-dependence of crack growth rate within the microcrack propagation framework (introduced previously by McDowell and Berard) and are employed to fit the 1045 steel and IN 718 microcrack iso-length data, assuming preexisting sub-grain size cracks. The nonlinear evolution of crack length with normalized cycles is then predicted over a range of stress amplitudes in uniaxial and torsional fatigue. The microcrack growth law is shown to have potential to correlate microcrack propagation behavior as well as damage accumulation for HCF-LCF loading sequences and sequences of applied stress states.     

CRACK GROWTH ARRESTING PROPERTY OF A HOLE AND BRINELL-TYPE DIMPLE

Abstract— Fatigue tests of sheet specimens having a central crack were carried out to study the effects of holes and dimples on the arrest of fatigue crack propagation. Two holes were drilled at some distance from, and at either side of, a crack tip, and the dimple of a certain diameter was introduced by pressing steel balls in the specimen at a crack tip. Results showed that the two holes produced an increase in crack propagation life (about 3 times) when the holes were drilled at an appropriate distance. On the other hand, the effect of a dimple on the fatigue strength was remarkably large, i.e. in the greatest case a 2.2 times increase in the fatigue endurance limit of cracked specimens and about a 50 times increase in the crack propagation life, at stresses above the fatigue limit. The main reason for the remarkable recovery of fatigue strength was the residual compressive stresses produced by the dimple. To evaluate the effect of residual compressive stresses on the da/dN vs. δK relation, a simple model is proposed. By using this model, the effect of residual stresses on crack propagation can be estimated quantitatively. Furthermore, the fatigue life of dimpled specimens was estimated based on the model.     

Initiation and early growth of short fatigue cracks at inclusions

In this study, the initiation and early growth behaviour of short fatigue cracks in En 7A steel with a high content of elongated MnS inclusions was investigated, by generating and evaluating data on the growth of short fatigue cracks under various stress levels and stress ratios for the six principal specimen orientations. Short cracks usually initiated at the debonded interfaces between the matrix and the inclusions. If there was no debonding, cracking sometimes occurred in the inclusions. In the early stages, short cracks propagated by a mechanism of inclusion influenced growth. Under low stress levels, usually one short crack was initiated which dominated most of the fatigue life, while under high stress levels there was multicrack interaction.

MST/3249A