Fatigue Crack Growth Behavior of Ferritic and Austenitic Steels at Elevated Temperatures

Abstract

Abstract For the integrity assessment and damage-tolerant design of components operating at elevated temperatures under cyclic loading conditions, evaluation of fatigue crack growth (FCG) properties in the threshold and Paris regimes is important. The FCG behaviors of a modified 9Cr-1Mo steel (P91) and SS 316L(N) for applications in the prototype fast breeder reactor to be commissioned shortly at Kalpakkam, India have been studied extensively in our laboratory over a wide range of temperatures. Some aspects of high-temperature FCG observed in these investigations will be reviewed in this paper. It has been observed that for many engineering alloys, dynamic strain aging plays an important role in the temperature-dependent variations in deformation and fracture behavior, including the FCG parameters. Another important aspect in deciding the FCG behavior is the crack closure behavior, the mechanisms of which may vary with temperature. Effect of crack closure and DSA on the FCG properties of P91 steel and SS 316L(N) welds will be discussed. The DSA mechanism has been identified from the activation energy for the process determined from the temperature dependence of the crack tip strain rates. During FCG of engineering materials, there can be stress shielding at the crack tip because of various factors, like crack bridging, branching, closure, etc. Effect of stress shielding at the crack tip at different conditions was quantified using a procedure incorporating the inter relations between compliance, crack length, and stress intensity factor. The paper will summarize the results of the above studies.