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Near-threshold fatigue propagation of physically through-thickness short and long cracks in a low alloy steel

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Abstract

In this paper, the near-threshold fatigue behavior of physically through-thickness short cracks and of long cracks in a low alloy steel is investigated by experiments in ambient air. Physically through-thickness short fatigue cracks are created by gradually removing the plastic wake of long cracks in compact tension specimens. The crack closure is systematically measured using the compliance variation technique with numerical data acquisition and filtering for accurate detection of the stress intensity factor (SIF) at the crack opening. Based on the experimental results, the nominal threshold SIF range is shown to be dependent on the crack length and the characteristic of the crack wake which is strongly dependent on the loading history. The effective threshold SIF range and the relation between the crack propagation rate and the effective SIF range after the crack closure correction are shown to be independent on crack length and loading history. The shielding effect of the crack closure is shown to be related to the wake length and load history. The effective threshold SIF range and the relationship between the crack growth rate and the effective SIF range appear to be unique for this material in ambient air. These properties can be considered as specific fatigue properties of the couple material/ambient air environment.

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Acknowledgement

The financial support of this work by DALIA/CAMELIA project from EDF R&D is greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département Analyse Mécanique et Acoustique, EDF R&D, 92141, Clamart, France

    Tuan-Hiep Pham & Van-Xuan Tran

  2. Laboratoire de Mécanique des Structures Industrielles Durables, UMR CNRS-EDF-CEA 2832, 1 Av. du Général de Gaulle, 92141, Clamart, France

    Tuan-Hiep Pham & Van-Xuan Tran

  3. Institut P’, CNRS - Université de Poitiers–ENSMA, UPR 3346, SP2MI - Téléport 2, 1 avenue Clément Ader, BP 40109, 86961, Futuroscope Chasseneuil Cedex, France

    Gaëlle Chretien, Catherine Gardin, Christine Sarrazin-Baudoux & Jean Petit

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  1. Tuan-Hiep Pham
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  2. Van-Xuan Tran
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  3. Gaëlle Chretien
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  4. Catherine Gardin
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  5. Christine Sarrazin-Baudoux
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  6. Jean Petit
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Correspondence to Van-Xuan Tran.

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Pham, TH., Tran, VX., Chretien, G. et al. Near-threshold fatigue propagation of physically through-thickness short and long cracks in a low alloy steel. J Mater Sci 50, 242–250 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8582-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8582-8

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