Short fatigue crack growth behaviour of a ferritic steel weld metal

Abstract

The present study deals with the short fatigue crack growth behaviour of a ferritic steel (nuclear grade SA 333 Grade 6 steel) weld metal at two load ratios R of 0.1 and –1. Single edge notched weld joint specimens were tested at different stress levels. The acceleration and deceleration in short crack growth with increasing stress intensity factor range was explained in terms of microstructure of weld metal. Acicular ferrite and grain boundary ferrite acted as barriers to crack growth. Non-propagating cracks were observed due to multiple cracks and blocking by ferrite grain boundaries. Transition crack length, the limiting crack length above which the crack exhibited a typical long crack behaviour, was determined to be 1 mm at R=0.1 and 1.5 mm at R=2 1.

Keywords

SHORT FATIGUE CRACKS NON-PROPAGATING CRACKS TRANSITION CRACK LENGTH FERRITE STEEL WELD MICROSTRUCTURE-CRACK INTERACTION

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