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Mechanisms of corrosion fatigue below K Iscc

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Abstract

Information on corrosion-fatigue crack growth in engineering structures is necessary for the prediction of service lives of structures subjected to both fatigue loading and an aggressive environment. The rate of crack growth in corrosion fatigue is governed by the interaction between the chemical mechanisms and the mechanical mechanisms occurring at the crack tip. Thus, as part of a long-range program aimed at establishing the necessary relations for predicting the corrosion-fatigue behavior of structural steels, the crack-tip mechanisms in corrosion fatigue were studied by using controlled-potential techniques, pH measurements at the crack tip, and fractographic analysis of the crack surface. The tests were conducted on 12Ni-5Cr-3Mo maraging steel at a cyclic-stress frequency equal to 6 cycles per minute in a room-temperature pH 7, 3 percent solution of sodium chloride.

The results showed that the controlled-potential technique is inadequate for isolating the crack-tip mechanisms in thick specimens subjected to fatigue loading and an aggressive environment. At the crack tip the pH was 3. In addition, localized neighboring regions of basic and acidic solutions were observed in the proximity of the central portion of the crack tip. Hence, it is concluded that the effectiveness of cathodic protection decreases as the crack front moves away from the free surface. The fractographic tests showed that hydrogen embrittlement is the primary mechanism responsible for acceleration of fatigue cracks in 12Ni-5Cr-3Mo steel in 3 percent sodium chloride solution.

Finally, by using the corrosion-fatigue crack-propagation law

$$\frac{{{\text{d}}a}}{{{\text{d}}N}} = D(t){\text{ [}}\Delta {\text{(}}\delta \sigma {\text{,)]}}$$

10 where da/dN is crack-growth rate per cycle, δ is the crack-opening displacement, σ y is the yield strength, and D(t) is a time- or frequency-dependent function, it is shown that, for the environment-material system investigated, hydrogen embrittlement accelerates corrosion-fatigue crack propagation by changing the ductility of the material (or δ).

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  1. Applied Research Laboratory Monroeville, United States Steel Corporation, 15146, Pennsylvania, USA

    J. M. Barsom

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Barsom, J.M. Mechanisms of corrosion fatigue below K Iscc . Int J Fract 7, 163–182 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00183804

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