Effects of Tension-Compression Cycling on Fatigue Crack Growth in High Strength Alloys

1971 ◽  
Vol 93 (4) ◽  
pp. 893-896 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. W. Crooker

Crack growth by low-cycle fatigue is a potential failure mechanism for welded pressure vessels. Residual stresses remaining from fabrication or caused by localized plastic deformation incurred in shakedown can result in operating stress cycles approaching fully-reversed tension-compression. However, virtually all of the fatigue crack propagation data reported in the literature for structural alloys are generated under simple, zero-tension cycling, and their direct application to such problems is questionable. This paper presents the results of a study which shows that the compression portion of fully-reversed tension-compression cycling can contribute substantially to fatigue crack growth rates in plate thickness medium-to-high strength alloys. Data from several alloys show a 50 percent increase in fatigue crack growth rates due to tension-compression cycling. The implications of these findings and methods for applying the results of this study are discussed.

Author(s):  
Zengliang Gao ◽  
Weiming Sun ◽  
Weiya Jin ◽  
Ying Wang ◽  
Fang Zhang

Fatigue failures often take place in high temperature pressure vessels and equipment because of fluctuation of pressure and temperature. Fatigue crack growth properties of materials at high temperatures are very important for safety assessment of high temperature equipment. A series of fatigue crack growth tests were carried out, and fatigue crack growth rates were determined at 25∼500°C for typical steels 316L and 16MnR. The laws of fatigue crack growth of two materials at different temperatures and the effect of temperature on fatigue crack growth rates were studied. The results show that the crack growth rates increase with temperature for 316L steel. Both the exponent n and constant C for Paris law change with temperature. The fatigue cracks of 16MnR propagate at 150 °C and 300 °C more slowly than at room temperature and 425 °C. The fatigue crack growth rate at 425 °C is the highest for temperature range of 25–425 °C.


Author(s):  
Kevin A. Nibur ◽  
Chris San Marchi ◽  
Brian P. Somerday

Fatigue crack growth rates and rising displacement fracture thresholds have been measured for a 4130X steel in 45 MPa hydrogen gas. The ratio of minimum to maximum load (R-ratio) and cyclic frequency was varied to assess the effects of these variables on fatigue crack growth rates. Decreasing frequency and increasing R were both found to increase crack growth rate, however, these variables are not independent of each other. Changing frequency from 0.1 Hz to 1 Hz reduced crack growth rates at R = 0.5, but had no effect at R = 0.1. When applied to a design life calculation for a steel pressure vessel consistent with a typical hydrogen trailer tube, the measured fatigue and fracture data predicted a re-inspection interval of nearly 29 years, consistent with the excellent service history of such vessels which have been in use for many years.


1968 ◽  
Vol 90 (4) ◽  
pp. 648-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. F. Mowbray ◽  
W. R. Andrews ◽  
A. J. Brothers

Fatigue-crack growth rates were determined at room temperature for ASTM A302-Class B and A 508-Class 2 steels in two characteristic plate and forging directions. Tests were performed under zero-to-tension cyclic loading using both through-crack and part-through-crack plate specimens. Crack growth rates in the through-crack specimens, though affected by plate or forging directions, were found to correlate well upon the hypothesis that the crack extension per cycle is proportional to a positive power of the range of alternating stress intensity factor. In addition, the rate of crack extension through the plate thickness of the surface-crack specimens was successfully correlated with data from through-crack specimens.


Author(s):  
Stephen J. Hudak ◽  
James H. Feiger ◽  
Jason A. Patton

Corrosion-fatigue is a significant design consideration in deepwater floating production systems. Mechanical loading is accentuated due to the compliant nature of these structures, and sour service conditions can also occur either due to the nature of the crude production or due to seawater flooding of the reservoir to enhance production yield. New high-strength riser steels have recently been developed to meet the demands of deepwater development. The objective of this study was to characterize the corrosion-fatigue resistance of these materials in terms of crack growth rates as a function of applied stress intensity factor range (ΔK), as well as cyclic loading frequency. Experiments were performed on five different steels with yield strengths ranging from 848 to 1080 MPa. Two environments were considered: seawater with cathodic protection to simulate the environment outside of the riser, and a sour brine environment with low oxygen (< 10 ppb) to simulate the environment inside the riser. Not all steels were tested in the sour brine environment since not all were designed to operate in sour service. For both environments, higher strength steels were found to exhibit higher growth rates and lower saturation frequencies. Fatigue crack growth rates as a function of ΔK were also measured, and exhibited two different frequency responses. At high ΔK, the classical frequency response occurred: decreased frequency gave increased crack growth rates. At low ΔK, an inverse frequency effect was observed: deceased frequency gave decreased crack growth rates, as well as increased corrosion-fatigue crack growth thresholds. These differences are believed to be caused by different underlying processes controlling crack growth — specifically, material-environment reaction kinetics at high ΔK, and crack closure due to corrosion-product wedging at low ΔK. The practical significance of these results is discussed, including selection of frequencies for corrosion-fatigue crack growth testing, and applicability of results to structural integrity assessments.


Author(s):  
Gustavo Henrique B. Donato ◽  
Fábio Gonçalves Cavalcante

High responsibility components operating under cyclic loading can have their resistance against initiation and growth of fatigue cracks highly influenced by previous thermomechanical processing. Within the interest of the present work, different manufacturing processes and installation techniques incorporate cold plastic straining to engineering structures; two typical examples on the oil and gas fields are: i) the offshore pipelines installation method called reeling; ii) the fabrication of pipes using the UOE method and pressure vessels through calendering. Within this scenario, this work investigates the effects of plastic prestrain on the fatigue crack growth rates (da/dN vs. ΔK) of a hot-rolled ASTM A36 steel. Different from previous results from the literature, in which prestrains were applied directly to machined samples, in this work uniform prestraining was imposed to steel strips (1/2” thick) and specimens were then extracted to avoid (or minimize) residual stress effects. Prestrain levels were around 4, 8 and 14% and C(T) specimens were machined from original and prestrained materials according to ASTM E647 standard. Fatigue crack growth tests were carried out under load control in an MTS 810 (250 kN) equipment using R = 0.1. Results revealed that plastic prestraining considerably reduced crack growth rates for the studied material, which was expected based on the literature and hardening behavior of the studied material. However, results also revealed two interesting trends: i) the larger is the imposed prestrain, the greater is the growth rate reduction in a nonlinear asymptotic relationship; ii) the larger is imposed ΔK, the more pronounced is the effect of prestraining. Crack closure effects were also investigated, but revealed no influence on the obtained mechanical properties. Consequently, results could be critically discussed based on effective crack driving forces and elastic-plastic mechanical properties, in special those related to flow and hardening. The conclusions and success of the employed methods encourage further efforts to incorporate plastic prestrain effects on structural integrity assessments.


Author(s):  
Joseph Ronevich ◽  
Chris San Marchi ◽  
Kevin A. Nibur ◽  
Paolo Bortot ◽  
Gianluca Bassanini ◽  
...  

Abstract Following the ASME codes, the design of pipelines and pressure vessels for transportation or storage of high-pressure hydrogen gas requires measurements of fatigue crack growth rates at design pressure. However, performing tests in high pressure hydrogen gas can be very costly as only a few laboratories have the unique capabilities. Recently, Code Case 2938 was accepted in ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC) VIII-3 allowing for design curves to be used in lieu of performing fatigue crack growth rate (da/dN vs. ΔK) and fracture threshold (KIH) testing in hydrogen gas. The design curves were based on data generated at 100 MPa H2 on SA-372 and SA-723 grade steels; however, the data used to generate the design curves are limited to measurements of ΔK values greater than 6 MPa m1/2. The design curves can be extrapolated to lower ΔK (< 6 MPa m1/2), but the threshold stress intensity factor (ΔKth) has not been measured in hydrogen gas. In this work, decreasing ΔK tests were performed at select hydrogen pressures to explore threshold (ΔKth) for ferritic-based structural steels (e.g. pipelines and pressure vessels). The results were compared to decreasing ΔK tests in air, showing that the fatigue crack growth rates in hydrogen gas appear to yield similar or even slightly lower da/dN values compared to the curves in air at low ΔK values when tests were performed at stress ratios of 0.5 and 0.7. Correction for crack closure was implemented, which resulted in better agreement with the design curves and provide an upper bound throughout the entire ΔK range, even as the crack growth rates approach ΔKth. This work gives further evidence of the utility of the design curves described in Code Case 2938 of the ASME BPVC VIII-3 for construction of high pressure hydrogen vessels.


2014 ◽  
Vol 891-892 ◽  
pp. 211-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Knop ◽  
Nick Birbilis ◽  
Stan Lynch

The processes involved in corrosion fatigue in general are briefly outlined, followed by a brief review of recent studies on the effects of cycle frequency (rise times) and electrode potential on crack-growth rates at intermediate ΔK levels for cathodically protected high-strength steels. New studies concerning the effects of fall times and hold times at maximum and minimum loads on crack-growth rates (for Kmax values below the sustained-load SCC threshold) are presented and discussed. Fractographic observations and the data indicate that corrosion-fatigue crack-growth rates in aqueous environments depend on the concentration of hydrogen adsorbed at crack tips and at tips of nanovoids ahead of cracks. Potential-dependent electrochemical reaction rates, crack-tip strain rates, and hydrogen transport to nanovoids are therefore critical parameters. The observations are best explained by an adsorption-induced dislocation-emission (AIDE) mechanism of hydrogen embrittlement.


Author(s):  
Brian Somerday ◽  
Chris San Marchi ◽  
Kevin Nibur

The objective of this work is to enable the safe design of hydrogen pressure vessels by measuring the fatigue crack growth rates of ASME code-qualified steels in high-pressure hydrogen gas. While a design-life calculation framework has recently been established for high-pressure hydrogen vessels, a material property database does not exist to support the analysis. This study addresses such voids in the database by measuring the fatigue crack growth rates for three heats of ASME SA-372 Grade J steel in 100 MPa hydrogen gas at two different load ratios (R). Results show that fatigue crack growth rates are similar for all three steel heats and are only a mild function of R. Hydrogen accelerates the fatigue crack growth rates of the steels by at least an order of magnitude relative to crack growth rates in inert environments. Despite such dramatic effects of hydrogen on the fatigue crack growth rates, measurement of these properties enables reliable definition of the design life of steel hydrogen containment vessels.


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