Modifications of the Beremin model for cleavage fracture in the transition region of a ferritic steel

Abstract

A numerical model based on the ‘local approach’ of Beremin for predicting cleavage fracture in the transition temperature region of a ferritic steel is presented. For that purpose, two modifications of the Beremin model are introduced. The first modification accounts for the decreasing number of cleavage initiation sites due to preceding ductile void formation. The second modification concerns the parameter determination. The Weibull exponent is fixed a priori to avoid numerical problems. Compared to the original Beremin model, the new model is better suited for a material characterisation which is, to a great extent, independent of geometry, temperature, and strain rate.