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Environmentally assisted fatigue crack propagation in steel

  • Environmental Interactions
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Abstract

The influence of various gasenous environments on fatigue crack propagation has been determined for three quenched and tempered steels with yield strength levels of 800 to 1400 MN/m2. The crack growth rate was increased by an order of magnitude in low pressure (13 KPa) hydrogen, and by a factor of two in most mildly aggressive environments relative to the growth rate in vacuum. The gases oxygen, acetylene, carbon monoxide, and nitrous oxide were dominant in a combined environment with hydrogen while methane and carbon dioxide had only a small effect on crack propagation when added to hydrogen. The crack propagation in acetylene was intermediate between that in hydrogen and the mildly aggressive environments. The increase in fatigue crack propagation rate in the hydrogen environment was dependent on the temperature and the cyclic stress intensity. The fracture mode was transgranular for all conditions except the hydrogen influenced HP-9-4-20 fractures. These results are discussed relative to various stages of the hydrogen embrittlement mechanisms. In pacticular, the results are discussed with respect to the adsorption-dissociation of the environment, transport of the gaseous specie within the plasticly deformed zone by mobile dislocations and interaction with segregated impurities within the metal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Science Center, Rockwell International, 91360, Thousand Oaks, CA

    J. D. Frandsen (Senior Staff Associate)

  2. University of Texas at Austin, TX

    H. L. Marcus (Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Engineering)

Authors
  1. J. D. Frandsen
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  2. H. L. Marcus
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Additional information

H. L. MARCUS, formerly with Science center, Rockwell International, Thousand Oaks, CA

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Frandsen, J.D., Marcus, H.L. Environmentally assisted fatigue crack propagation in steel. Metall Trans A 8, 265–272 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02661639

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02661639

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