Cracking Driving Force at the Tip of SCC under Heterogeneous Material Mechanics Model of Safe-End Dissimilar Metal-Welded Joints in PWR

The complicated driving force at the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) tip of the safe-end dissimilar metal-welded joints (DMWJs) in the pressurized water reactor (PWR) is mainly caused by the heterogeneous material mechanical properties. In this research, to accurately evaluate the crack driving force at the SCC in DMWJs, the stress-strain condition, stress triaxiality, and J-integral of the crack tip at different positions are analyzed based on the heterogeneous material properties model. The results indicate that the larger driving force will be provided for the I-type crack when the crack is in the SA508 zone and the interface between the 316L region and base metal. In addition, the heterogeneous material properties inhibit the J-integral of the crack in the 316L region, which has a promoting effect when the crack is in the SA508 zone and weld metal. It provides a new idea for analyzing driving force at the crack tip and safety evaluation of DMWJs in PWRs.

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF MULTI-RECYCLING ON THE FRACTURE BEHAVIOR OF POST CONSUMER HIGH IMPACT POLYSTYRENE FROM DISPOSABLE CUPS EVALUATED BY THE J-INTEGRAL APPROACH.

The aim of the present paper is to study the effect of multi-recycling on the fracture behavior of high impact polystyrene from disposable cups. After collecting and washing the material, it was subjected to six cycles of recycling. After each cycle, it was subjected to tensile tests to determine the R-curves. The theory of the J-integral contour has been used for the development of a characterization method of the fracture strength appropriate to the case of this non-linear elastoplastic polymer material. To this end, the method of multiple specimens (Single edge notch tension SENT) of thin thickness was used, by introducing cracks of the same lengths to several identical test pieces. The results suggested a slight decrease in crack resistance of recycled high impact polystyrene, especially during the first cycle, demonstrated by a comparison of JIC values related to initiation of crack propagation. The fracture energy absorbed as a function of the cycles suggested a weakening within the material. ABSTRAK: Tujuan kajian ini adalah bagi mengkaji kesan tindak balas pada pelbagai peringkat-kitar semula ke atas kerapuhan polisterin berimpak tinggi pada cawan pakai buang. Selepas mengumpul dan membasuh cawan ini, terdapat enam peringkat kitar semula. Pada setiap peringkat, ianya akan melalui ujian tegangan bagi mendapatkan lengkung-R. Teori kamiran-J kontur telah digunakan bagi mencipta kaedah khas bagi mengkaji kekuatan retakan bersesuaian bagi kes bahan polimer elastoplastik yang tidak-linear. Sehingga kini, kaedah Regangan Tepi Takuk Tunggal (SENT) telah digunakan pada spesimen berketebalan rendah, dengan menghasilkan keretakan sama panjang di permulaan kajian di buat pada pelbagai bahan uji yang serupa. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan rintangan pada retakan telah berkurang sedikit pada polisterin kitar semula berimpak tinggi, terutama pada kitaran pertama, yang ditunjukkan pada nilai JIC pada permukaan rambatan retakan awal. Tenaga kerapuhan yang meresap pada setiap kitaran menunjukkan bahan telah melemah dari dalam.

Analytical studies on Mode III fracture in flexoelectric solids

Due to the stress concentration near crack tips, strong flexoelectric effect would be observed there, which might lead to new applications of flexoelectricity in material science and devices. However, different from the flexoelectric effect in cantilever beams or truncated pyramids, at the crack tip, multiple components of strain gradients with nonuniform distribution contribute to the flexoelectric effect, which makes the problem extremely complex. In this paper, with the consideration of both direct and converse flexoelectricity, the electromechanical coupling effect around the tip of a Mode III crack is studied analytically. Based on the Williams' expansion method, the displacement field, polarization field, strain gradient field along with the actual physical stresses field are solved. A path independent J-integral for Mode III cracks in flexoelectric solids is presented. Our results indicate that the existence of flexoelectricity leads to a decrease of both the J-integral and the out-of-plane displacement in Mode III cracks, which means that the flexoelectric effect around the tip of Mode III cracks enhances the local strength of materials.

Fracture Modelling of a Cracked Pressurized Cylindrical Structure by Using Extended Iso-Geometric Analysis (X-IGA)

In this study, a NURBS basis function-based extended iso-geometric analysis (X-IGA) has been implemented to simulate a two-dimensional crack in a pipe under uniform pressure using MATLAB code. Heaviside jump and asymptotic crack-tip enrichment functions are used to model the crack’s behaviour. The accuracy of this investigation was ensured with the stress intensity factors (SIFs) and the J-integral. The X-IGA—based SIFs of a 2-D pipe are compared using MATLAB code with the conventional finite element method available in ABAQUS FEA, and the extended finite element method is compared with a user-defined element. Therefore, the results demonstrate the possibility of using this technique as an alternative to other existing approaches to modeling cracked pipelines.

XFEM Simulation of Tensile and Fracture Behavior of Ultrafine-Grained Al 6061 Alloy

In the present work, the tensile and fracture behavior of ultra-fine grained (UFG) Al 6061 alloy was simulated using extended finite element method (XFEM). UFG Al 6061 alloy processed by cryorolling (CR) and accumulative roll bonding (ARB) was investigated in this work. Numerical simulations of two-dimensional and three-dimensional models were performed in “Abaqus 6.14” software using an elastic-plastic approach, and the results obtained were validated with the experimental results. The specimens corresponding to the three-point bend test, compact tension test with center crack, and double edge cracks were analyzed using XFEM (eXtended Finite Element Method) approach. In XFEM, the partition of unity (PU) was used to model a crack in the standard finite element mesh. The tensile and fracture properties obtained from the simulation were in tandem with the experimental data. UFG Al alloy showed higher tensile strength and fracture toughness compared to their bulk solution treated counterparts. Fracture toughness was measured in terms of stress intensity factor and J integral. In CR Al alloys, with increasing thickness reduction, an increase in stress intensity factor and a decrease in the J integral was observed. This behavior is attributed to the increase in strength and decrease in ductility of CR samples with increasing thickness reduction. In ARB Al alloys, the strength and ductility have increased with an increase in number of cycles. It also revealed an increase in both the stress intensity factor and J integral in ARB processed Al alloys with increase in number of cycles, as evident from XFEM simulation results.