MICRO-CRACK ANALYSIS IN THE STUDY OF FATIGUE FRACTURE IN THE HAZ IN THE HIGH YIELD STRENGTH MICRO-ALLOYED STEELS

Various applications have been described in the literature for the High-Strength and Low-Alloy steels (HSLA) industry, analysing their use both in industrial and marine equipment and machines and in structures that require appropriate resilience values and toughness at low temperatures. For successful operation under conditions as large structures under extreme service conditions, it is essential to ensure the proper toughness both in base metal (USITEN 355 0.5 Ni Grade I steel) and in the heat-affected area of the weld. (ZAC). This research carries out Crack Tip Opening Displacement (CTOD) tests, showing, in this article, the first part of the test corresponding to fatigue pre-cracking and a summary table of the results of fracture toughness, to guarantee that, under the conditions which exist in welding, both the fatigue fracture values and the fracture toughness are acceptable by the applicable standards. Keywords: SMAW, weld line, CTOD, stress intensity factor, input heat energy, crack growth rate, fatigue fracture, fracture toughness

Brittleness of Concrete under Different Curing Conditions

In order to shorten construction periods, concrete is often cured using steam and is loaded at an early age. This changes the performance and even the durability of the concrete compared to concrete that has been cured under normal conditions. Thus, the pattern and the mechanism of concrete performance change under different curing conditions, and loading ages are of great significance. The development of brittleness under different curing conditions and loading ages was studied. The evaluation methods that were used to determine concrete brittleness were expounded. Steam, standard, and natural curing conditions were carried out on single-side notched concrete beams as well as on a concrete prism and cubic blocks. The compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of the concrete blocks along with the fracture performance of the concrete beams were tested after 3, 7, 28, and 90 days. The steam curing condition significantly improved the strength of concrete before 28 days had passed, and the standard curing condition improved the strength of concrete after 28 days. Based on the experimental fracture parameters, a two-parameter fracture model was applied to study the development of fracture toughness KICS, critical crack tip opening displacement CTODc, and critical strain energy release rate GICS with hydration age under different curing conditions. With respect to long-term performance, the standard curing condition was better at resisting concrete crack propagations than the steam curing condition was. The characteristic length lch and the material length Q under the three curing conditions and the long-term development of brittleness in the concrete indicated that steam curing increased the concrete brittleness. Considering the effects of the curing condition and the loading age, a time-dependent concrete fracture toughness model was established, and the predicted value of the model was verified against the measured value. The results indicated that the model was able to accurately predict the fracture toughness with an error rate of less than 16%.

Effect of Sigma Phase in Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing of Superduplex Stainless Steel

In the present study, the thermal program in wire and arc additive manufacturing has been varied in terms of heat input and interpass temperature. Three walls were completed with subsequent Charpy V impact toughness and crack-tip opening displacement fracture toughness, together with a detailed microstructure characterization using light microscopy and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The results clearly demonstrate that the formation of sigma phase may deteriorate the toughness of superduplex components. Such formation may take place under prolonged cooling time, which may occur when subsequent passes are deposited with too high interpass temperatures. This transformation behavior may limit the productivity in additive manufacturing of such steels and care must be taken in selection of proper combination of arc energy and interpass temperature.

Evaluation of SSY boundary using DIC results

In this work the boundaries of small-scale yielding (SSY) and large-scale yielding (LSY) have been experimentally evaluated from the analysis of crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) measured by Digital Image Correlation (DIC). The approach published in a previous numerical work [18] has been used to define the boundaries of SSY and LSY. According to this approach, CTOD must be resolved into its elastic and plastic components, analysing the ratio between the elastic CTOD range and the total CTOD range ( Δδ/ Δδ) to define the boundary where SSY conditions can be established. Three materials have been studied, commercially pure titanium and 2024-T3 and 7050-T6 aluminium alloys, tested at different stress ratio values (0.1 and 0.6 for titanium, and 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5 for the aluminium alloys). SSY conditions are shown to dominate when Δδ/ Δδ≥79% and ≥78% for titanium and the two aluminium alloys, respectively. In addition, LSY can be established when Δδ/ Δδ≤66.3% and ≤67.2% for titanium and for 2024-T3 and 7050-T6 aluminum alloys, respectively. Transition or LSY conditions are more probable in fatigue tests conducted at low R-ratio than in tests at high R-ratio. In addition, crack lengths above 40% with respect to the width of the specimen promote transition or LSY conditions. The results obtained in this work can assist to a better understanding of the mechanisms driving fatigue crack growth.

Fracture Mechanical Analysis of Gleeble Simulated Heat Affected Zones in High Strength Steels

During the research work the fracture mechanical investigation of heat affected zones of thermomechanical rolled high strength steels (Voestalpine Alform 960M) were carried out. For production of appropriate heat affected zones Gleeble 3500 physical simulator was applied, with different heating cycles and specific cooling times. Following the simulation, fracture mechanical investigations were performed, in favor of determination crack tip opening displacement (CTOD or δ) values.

Investigation of Correlation Between Fracture Toughness and Charpy Impact Energy of Cryogenic Steel Welds

The high manganese steel was developed to improve the fracture toughness and safety at cryogenic temperatures, the austenite structure was formed by increasing the manganese (Mn) content. The developed weld high manganese steel was alloyed with austenite stabilizing elements (e.g., C, Mn, and Ni) for cryogenic toughness and fluxes contained less than 10% of acidic slag formers such as rutile (TiO2) and silica (SiO2). This paper describes the work carried out to enhance the fracture toughness of Mn contents in an economical way by means of increase of manganese up to 23% instead of using nickel (Ni) which has unique element to improve fracture toughness especially at cryogenic steel. The new cryogenic steels should be carefully evaluated in terms of safety for application in real structures including LNG ships. In this study, the fracture toughness performance was evaluated for recently developed cryogenic steels (high-Mn steels), especially the crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) parameter was evaluated using the prediction formula proposed by conventional equation. The CTOD value was investigated the effect of microstructure and mechanical properties of Fe–C–Mn and Fe–C–Mn–Ni high manganese steel, it was revealed that the e-martesnsite phase formed in high manganese steel of 0.2C–20Mn and 0.4C–20Mn as a result of a low stability of austenite upon strain-induced phase transformation.

Application of Failure Assessment Diagram (FAD) for Steel Welded Connection Based on BS7910 and DNV-RP-108

The failure assessment diagram (FAD) method has been widely accepted to evaluate the extent to which cracks may affect structural safety. The usage of this FAD method has been validated and included in [1]-[3]. The structure under investigation, described in four fully welded T-joint (BCC5) specimens, where these welded joints are a source of stress concentration and defects from which fatigue cracks can grow. The four specimens were modeled under different displacement loading using a finite element analysis program Ansys and SolidWorks software. In this work, the application of a FAD (Lr, Kr) using maximum stress, cumulative stress ranges, and the last half-cycle stress range was investigated. The results are showing that all the points were lying outside the FAD curve except for the BCC5D specimen point was inside FAD when using maximum stress. Conclusions made that the cumulative stress gives Lr and Kr are extremely large and hence predict failure too early. With the Crack Tip Opening Displacement (CTOD) of the test specimen assumed to be about 1mm rather than 0.1mm it was found that, if a FAD is to be used to indicate failure, then both Lr and Kr should be based on the maximum stress. It appears that the FAD methodology does help to predict the final failure (which is the usual application in such cases). This represents more effectively the structural behavior and would be more easily used by designers.

An Innovative ECA Approach For Reeled CRA Welds And Its Validation Programme

This paper presents an innovative defect growth ECA methodology for pipeline girth welds and its validation programme, applied specifically to reeling ECA of pipelines with under-matched strength welds. The ECA method is a tear-fatigue approach that accounts for the blunting limit in JR curves during pipe spooling and reel-lay. Fatigue crack growth may occur by low cycle high stress fatigue and by tearing, but the latter only if the crack tip opening displacement exceeds the blunting limit. Conventional ECA with BS7910 is limited because the weld's strength needs to be over-matched. Alternative industry methods for the application of FEA to under-matched strength welds are computationally more intensive than the presented innovative approach. Fatigue crack growth for low cycle high stress fatigue is calculated using Paris’ Law in the approach but, if the crack tip opening due to the tearing mechanism is less than the blunting limit then tearing growth is zero. With the innovative method, if the crack tip opening displacement exceeds the blunting limit then the tearing defect growth is included. Hence, the method is a combined tear-fatigue approach. Welded pipe strings were fabricated from pups composed of clad material; i.e. carbon backing steel pipe with a 3 mm layer of corrosion resistant alloy (CRA) on the inner circumference. Each test string was approximately 10.5m long and fabrication was from a mix of six 0.5m length pups in the central zone of each string and two longer end pups. Three girth welds included EDM notches for test purposes which simulated planar flaws. The notches were on the extreme tension fibre, as the test string gets pulled to the reel former in a reeling test rig. Full scale reeling simulations involved pulling the test strings up to 6 times to the reel former in a reeling test rig. Measurement of defect growth associated with the EDM notches was by scanning electron microscope (SEM), from specimen segments extracted from the test strings. Predictions of defect growth were by finite element models in combination with pipe-specific data that was the outcome of an associated small-scale test programme. Validation of the ECA-by-FEA approach is by a predictive best estimate study, for which there is excellent agreement between the measured values and the calculated defect growths. The ECA-by-FEA approach is conservative for project work, as shown by a high estimate study and an offset blunting limit study. Early development of the ECA approach was for small diameter CRA pipelines during the execution of the Guara-Lula project (Sriskandarajah et al, 2015). The presented full-scale tests, innovative defect growth measurement by scanning electron microscope and the FEA and defect growth calculations were full validation of the approach, with pipe strings that had outer diameter of 323.9mm.

Mode Mixity in the Fracture Toughness Evaluation of Heat-Affected-Zone Material Using SEN(T) Experiment

SEN(T) specimens provide good similitude for surface cracks (SC) in pipes, where a SC structure has lower constraint condition than typically used fracture toughness specimens such as SEN(B) , and C(T). Additionally, the SENT specimen eliminates concern of material anisotropy since the crack growth direction in the SENT is the same as in a surface-cracked pipe. While the existing recommended and industrial practices for SEN(T) have been developed based on assumption of homogenous or mono-material across the crack, their applicability for the evaluation of fracture toughness of heat-affected-zone (HAZ) were evaluated in this investigation. When conducting tests on SEN(T) specimens with prescribed notch/crack in the HAZ, the asymmetric deformation around the crack causes the occurrence of a combination of Mode-I (crack opening) and Mode-II (crack in-plane shearing) behavior. This mode mixity affects the measurement of the crack-tip-opening-displacement (CTOD) and evaluation of elastic-plastic fracture mechanics parameter, J. The CTOD-R curve depicts the change in toughness with crack growth, in a manner similar to the J-R curve methodology. The experimental observations of Mode-I and Mode-II behavior seen in tests of SEN(T) specimens with notch/crack in the HAZ and as the crack propagates through the weld/HAZ thickness were investigated. The issues related to and the changes needed to account for such behavior for the development of recommended practices or standards for SEN(T) testing of weld/HAZ are addressed.