Stress-fatigue cracking

Hickerson, J.P., Hertzbeig, R.W. The role of mechanical properties in low-stress fatigue crack propagation. Metallurgical Transactions 3, 179 (1972)... 

Corrosion fatigue is a type of failure (cracking) which occurs when a metal component is subjected to cyclic stress in a corrosive medium. In many cases, relatively mild environments (e.g., atmospheric moisture) can greatly enhance fatigue cracking without producing visible corrosion. 

This optimum condition is designed to ensure that the botes of all components yield at the same time. If the cylinder is subjected to fatigue conditions, it has been suggested (39) that a better design criterion would arrange for the maximum normal stress, which controls fatigue crack propagation, to be the same in each component. 

Another important appHcation of LEFM is the rate of growth of a fatigue crack under cycHc loading. This is also controlled by the stress intensity factor through an equation of the following form (110) ... 

One aspect of pressure vessel design which has received considerable attention in recent years is the design of threaded closures where, due to the high stress concentration at the root of the first active thread, a fatigue crack may quickly initiate and propagate in the radial—circumferential plane. Stress intensity factors for this type of crack are difficult to compute (112,113), and more geometries need to be examined before the factors can be used with confidence. 

Pitting corrosion may occur generaHy over an entire aHoy surface or be localized in a specific area. The latter is the more serious circumstance. Such attack occurs usuaHy at surfaces on which incomplete protective films exist or at external surface contaminants such as dirt. PotentiaHy serious types of corrosion that have clearly defined causes include stress—corrosion cracking, deaHoying, and corrosion fatigue (27—34). 

The impact forces on car couplers put high stresses in sills, anchors, and doublers. This may start fatigue cracks in the shell, particularly at the corners of welded doubler plates. With brittle steel in cold weather, such cracks sometimes cause complete rupture of the tank. Large end radii on the doublers and tougher steels will reduce this hazard. Inspection of older cars can reveal cracks before failure. 

Slime masses or any biofilm may substantially reduce heat transfer and increase flow resistance. The thermal conductivity of a biofilm and water are identical (Table 6.1). For a 0.004-in. (lOO-pm)-thick biofilm, the thermal conductivity is only about one-fourth as great as for calcium carbonate and only about half that of analcite. In critical cooling applications such as continuous caster molds and blast furnace tuyeres, decreased thermal conductivity may lead to large transient thermal stresses. Such stresses can produce corrosion-fatigue cracking. Increased scaling and disastrous process failures may also occur if heat transfer is materially reduced. 

Most cracking problems in cooling water systems result from one of two distinct cracking mechanisms stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) or corrosion fatigue. 

Several theories have been proposed to explain the corrosion-fatigue phenomena. One is that cyclic stressing causes repeated rupture of protective coatings. Corrosion-fatigue cracks propagate as the coating is successively reformed and ruptured along a plane. 

Numerous factors can have a potentially significant effect on corrosion-fatigue cracking. Most of these relate to stress and the corrosiveness of... 

Intergranular corrosion-fatigue cracks in copper may he difficult to differentiate from stress-corrosion cracking. The longitudinal orientation of the cracks revealed that the cyclic stresses were induced by fluctuations in internal pressure. 

General description. In incomplete fusion, complete melting and fusion between the base metal and the weld metal or between individual weld beads does not occur (Fig. 15.8). Incomplete fusion that produces crevices or notches at surfaces can combine with environmental factors to induce corrosion fatigue (Chap. 10), stress-corrosion cracking (Chap. 9), or crevice corrosion (Chap. 2). See Fig. 15.9. 

Figure 15.18 Examples of crack patterns due to stress-corrosion cracking and corrosion fatigue in butt welds. (Reprinted with permission from Helmut Thielsch, Defects and Failures in Pressure Vessels and Piping, New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1965.)...

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