Nature of scatter of fracture toughness in static loading

The previously proposed model of unstable fatigue crack growth is used to explain a large (in comparison with other mechanical characteristics) scatter of static fracture toughness for 15Kh2MFA and 15Kh2NMFA steels at temperatures below the tactile-brittle transition temperature. The results show that for the materials for which K_fc¹ < K_Ic the critical stress intensity factor K_Ic depends on the specific energy of inelastic strain W at the tip of the initial fatigue crack in its formation stage. The value of W is a function of the number of load cycles (in the conditions with a constant range of the stress intensity factor K) as a result of irregular fatigue crack growth. Here K_fc¹ is the minimum cyclic fracture toughness. A method is proposed of evaluating the minimum fracture toughness of the material in static loading based on inspection of the process of irregular fatigue crack growth in the stage of crack initiation.Translated from Problemy Prochnosti, No. 2, pp. 10–16, February, 1990.