Fatigue Characterization and Fractographic Analysis of Aluminium 6063 Alloy

Aluminium and its alloy are widely employed in various automobile and aircraft areas because of their unique specific strength and formability. Al alloys that have been employed in aerospace structural components will undergo dynamic loading, which leads to fatigue due to mechanical stress and thermal conditions. Considering studies toward the low cycle fatigue behaviour of Al alloys are significantly narrowed, this chapter sighted to the analysis of fatigue behaviour of Al 6063 alloy at the various total strain amplitude (TSA) of 0.4% and 0.8%, which performed through the low cycle fatigue testing machine at the frequency rate of 0.2 Hz. The test results show that for 0.4% TSA, the number of cycles to failure (N) is 1786, whereas as the TSA increases, N got reduced. For 0.8% TSA, the cycle to failure is 291 and samples undergone cyclic softening during the test. The rate of cyclic plastic strain raised up with the increase in the TSA. Crack propagation was observed along with the quasi-cleavage fracture for 0.4% TSA and cleavage fracture for 0.8% TSA.

Background and New Revision of DNVGL-RP-F108

DNV-RP-F108 [1] was first issued in 2006. The Recommended Practice was developed to provide guidance on testing and analyses for fracture control of pipeline girth welds subjected to cyclic plastic deformation, e.g. during installation by the reeling method, but also for other situations where pipelines may be subjected to large plastic strains. The Recommended Practice was based upon a Project Guideline developed within the Joint Industry Project “Fracture Control for Installation Methods Introducing Cyclic Plastic Strain - Development of Guidelines for Reeling of Pipelines”. The new revision is based on the extensive experience and knowledge gained over the years use of the previous versions, as well as new knowledge from recent R&D projects. The main content of Appendix A of DNV-OS-F101 (now DNVGL-ST-F101) [2] have been transferred to DNVGL-RP-F108. Only the requirements relative to ECA and testing have been retained in DNVGL-ST-F101 [2]. The new revision has got a new number and new title, i.e. DNVGL-RP-F108, “Assessment of Flaws in Pipeline and Riser Girth Welds”. This paper lists the fundamental changes made in the new RP from the old Appendix A of the previous DNV-OS-F101 and discusses some of the changes, although within this paper it is not possible to cover all changes. The focus is on clarification of use of S-N versus the fracture mechanics approach for fatigue life computation, classification of fatigue sensitive welds, calculations of more accurate crack driving force by re-introduction of the plate solution, for which a new Lr,max (plastic collapse) calculation and a modified way to account for residual stresses have been specified. The RP presents new assessment procedures pertaining to use of finite element analyses for fracture mechanics assessments. A unique feature of the new RP is the guidance on sour service testing and assessments included in the Appendix C of the document to support pipeline/riser ECAs to develop flaw acceptance criteria for NDT.

A cyclic slip irreversibility based model for fatigue crack initiation of nickel base alloys

The opportunity to define a microscopic law of fatigue crack initiation using Manson-Coffin law formulated in terms of cyclic slip irreversibility deduced from AFM measurements is discussed for a polycrystalline superalloy with different grain sizes and precipitate sizes. The results show that the modified Manson-Coffin law, relating cyclic slip irreversibility parameter to fatigue crack initiation life, is sustained through a two-parameter power law: ε′f and c. The analysis suggests that the exponent c-value can be related to the degree of plastic strain incompatibility between grains, and the cumulative irreversible cyclic plastic strain to crack initiation is a relevant damage indicator for crack initiation. Consequently, our approach allows giving a physical base of engineering law.