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NASA NTRS1999

A Mixed-Mode I/II Fracture Criterion and Its Application in Crack Growth Predictions

A crack tip opening displacement (CTOD)-based, mixed mode fracture criterion is developed for predicting the onset and direction of crack growth. The criterion postulates that crack growth occurs in either the Mode I or Mode II direction, depending on whether the maximum in either the opening or the shear component of CTOD, measured at a specified distance behind the crack tip, attains a critical value. For crack growth direction prediction, the proposed CTOD criterion is shown to be equivalent to seven commonly used crack growth criteria under linearly elastic and asymptotic conditions. Under elastic-plastic conditions the CTOD criterion's prediction of the dependence of the crack growth direction on the crack-up mode mixity is in excellent agreement with the Arcan test results. Furthermore, the CTOD criterion correctly predicts the existence of a crack growth transition from mode I to mode II as the mode mixity approaches the mode II loading condition. The proposed CTOD criterion has been implemented in finite element crack growth simulation codes Z1P2DL and FRANC2DL to predict the crack growth paths in (a) a modified Arcan test specimen and fixture made of AL 2024-T34 and (b) a double cantilever beam (DCB) specimen made of AL 7050. A series of crack growth simulations have been carried out for the crack growth tests in the Arcan and DCB specimens and the results further demonstrate the applicability of the mixed mode CTOD fracture criterion crack growth predictions and residual strength analyses for airframe materials.

Sutton, Michael A.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Effect of crack initiation, stable crack growth and unstable crack propagation on the crack-tip plastic zone

A technique for measuring the plastic zones associated with initial crack-tip yielding, subcritical crack growth, and unstable fracture is discussed. The results of the measurement of the locus of these yield regions, on center-cracked sheet and compact tension specimens of 7075-T6, 7075-T651, and 2024-T3 aluminum, are reported in this paper. It was found that a very accurate representation of the strains was obtained by this method and that the results added significant insight into the fracture process. The plastic zones were found to be approximately eight times wider in 2024-T3 than in the 7075-T6 sheets. The yield zones approached a maximum value after unstable fracture was attained and maintained that size through the fast fracture region. As expected, the plastic zones in the compact tension specimen were associated only with the formation of the shear lips and no plastic zones were observed in the fatigue precracked regions of either the center-cracked or compact-tension specimens.

Poulose, P. K.↗

DOE OSTI2022

Constraint-dependent CTOA determination for stable ductile crack growth

The crack tip opening angle (CTOA) has been used as a reliable fracture toughness to characterize stable crack growth for thin-wall structures in low-constraint conditions. Recently, it is found that CTOA can also be utilized as a robust fracture parameter to describe the arrest fracture toughness for gas transmission pipelines in ductile steels. For better understanding the concept of CTOA, this paper presents a brief review on the CTOA definitions and its test methods. And then, four CTOA models are developed for determining the CTOA toughness using conventional single edge notched bend (SENB) specimens, including the load–displacement linear fit model, the logarithmic load–displacement linear fit model, the stable tearing energy model, and the J-differentiation model. Here fracture test data from SENB specimens in A285 carbon steel are employed to evaluate the proposed CTOA models. The results show that these CTOA models can determine either identical or comparable critical CTOA values for stable ductile crack growth using the SENB specimens. A constraint-corrected CTOA resistance curve and a constraint-corrected critical CTOA equation are also obtained for A285 carbon steel.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRS1985

Variables controlling fatigue crack growth of short cracks

A study was conducted to evaluate the roles of crack closure and microstructure in the fatigue growth of short cracks. Testing was performed at R ratios of 0.1, 0.5, and 0.7. At all R ratios short cracks exhibited accelerated growth rates in comparison to long cracks. It was concluded that crack closure could not entirely account for the accelerated growth rates of short cracks. The accelerated growth rates occurred over crack lengths on the order of grain size, suggesting a strong influence of microstructure. A significant effect of grain boundaries and inclusions on short crack FCG behavior was observed. For very short crack lengths, fatigue growth rates do not appear to be a function of either delta K or R ratio.

Telesman, J.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Alterations in crack-tip deformation during variable-amplitude fatigue crack growth

Fatigue crack growth rate changes caused by single overloads and an overload followed by an underload have been studied in the high-strength aluminum alloy 7091. Crack-tip plasticity parameters were measured at each step in the loading sequence using the stereoimaging technique. Effective stress-intensity factor was measured with high resolution immediately at the crack tip both before an overload and during the subsequent growth rate retardation period. Crack-tip opening displacement and strain were altered in the same way as growth rate following the overload/underload events, and similitude with respect to crack-tip plasticity was preserved during the growth retardation period. Effective stress-intensity factor was found to correlate well with crack growth rate. Strains within the plastic zone were converted to stress at each step in load change. These stresses were then summed to determine the zone of residual stress caused by the overload. The region of compressive residual stress ahead of the crack tip was found to increase with overload severity but was limited to yield stress in magnitude. An underload shrank the spatial extent of the residual stresses caused by the overload.

Davidson, David L.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Evaluation of the effect of crack closure on fatigue crack growth of simulated short cracks

A test program was performed to determine the influence of crack closure on fatigue crack growth (FCG) rates of short cracks. By use of the standard compact tension specimen, test procedures were devised to evaluate closure loads in the wake of the crack behind its tip. The first procedure determined the magnitude of crack closure as a function of the fatigued crack wave by incrementally removing the contacting wake surfaces and measuring closure load at each increment. The second procedure used a low-high loading sequence to simulate short crack behavior. Based on the results, it was concluded that crack closure is not the major reason for the more rapid growth of short cracks as compared to long crack growth.

Telesman, J.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Elevated temperature crack growth

Alloy 718 crack growth experiments were conducted to assess the ability of the selected path-independent (P-I) integrals to describe the elevated temperature crack growth behavior. These tests were performed on single edge notch (SEN) specimens under displacement control with multiple extensometers to monitor the specimen and crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD). The displacements in these tests were sufficiently high to induce bulk cyclic inelastic deformation of the specimen. Under these conditions, the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) parameter K does not correlate the crack growth data. The experimentally measured displacement gradients at the end of specimen gage length were used as the boundary conditions in elastic-plastic finite element method (FEM) analyses. These analyses were performed with a node release approach using CYANIDE, a GEAE FEM code, which included a gap element which is capable of efficiently simulating crack closure. Excellent correlation was obtained between the experimentally measured and predicted variation of stress and CMOD with crack length and the stress-CMOD loops for Alloy 718 tests conducted at 538 C. This confirmed the accuracy of the FEM crack growth simulation approach. The experimentally measured crack growth rate data correlated well the selected P-I integrals. These investigations have produced significant progress in developing P-I integrals as non-linear fracture mechanics parameters. The results suggest that this methodology has the potential of accurately describing elevated temperature crack growth behavior under the combined influence of thermal cycling and bulk elastic-inelastic deformation states.

Kim, K. S.↗

NASA NTRS1994

The application of Newman crack-closure model to predicting fatigue crack growth

Newman crack-closure model and the relevant crack growth program were applied to the analysis of crack growth under constant amplitude and aircraft spectrum loading on a number of aluminum alloy materials. The analysis was performed for available test data of 2219-T851, 2024-T3, 2024-T351, 7075-T651, 2324-T39, and 7150-T651 aluminum materials. The results showed that the constraint factor is a significant factor in the method. The determination of the constraint factor is discussed. For constant amplitude loading, satisfactory crack growth lives could be predicted. For the above aluminum specimens, the ratio of predicted to experimental lives, Np/Nt, ranged from 0.74 to 1.36. The mean value of Np/Nt was 0.97. For a specified complex spectrum loading, predicted crack growth lives are not in very good agreement with the test data. Further effort is needed to correctly simulate the transition between plane strain and plane stress conditions, existing near the crack tip.

Si, Erjian↗

NASA NTRS1982

Finite-element analysis of initiation, stable crack growth and instability using a crack-tip-opening displacement criterion

An elastic-plastic (incremental and small strain) finite element analysis was used with a crack growth criterion to study crack initiation, stable crack growth, and instability under monotonic loading to failure of metallic materials. The crack growth criterion was a critical crack-tip-opening displacement (CTOD) at a specified distance from the crack tip, or equivalently, a critical crack-tip-opening angle (CTOA). Whenever the CTOD (or CTOA) equaled or exceeded a critical value, the crack was assumed to grow. Single values of critical CTOD were used in the analysis to model crack initiation, stable crack growth, and instability for 7075-T651 and 2024-T351 aluminum alloy compact specimens. Calculated and experimentally measured CTOD values at initiation agreed well for both aluminum alloys. These critical CTOD values were also used to predict failure loads on center-crack tension specimens and a specially-designed three-hole-crack tension specimen made of the two aluminum alloys and of 304 stainless steel. All specimens were 12.7 mm thick. Predicted failure loads for 7075-T651 aluminum alloy and 304 stainless steel specimens were generally within + or - 15 percent of experimental failure loads, whereas the predicted failure loads for 2024-T351 aluminum alloy specimens were generally within + or - 5 percent of the experimental loads.

Newman, J. C., Jr.↗

DOE OSTI2020

Residually Stressed Bimaterial Beam Specimen for Measuring Environmentally Assisted Crack Growth

Background: Subcritical crack growth can occur in a brittle material when the stress intensity factor is smaller than the fracture toughness if an oxidizing agent (such as water) is present at the crack tip. Objective: Here we present a novel bi-material beam specimen which can measure environmentally assisted crack growth rates. The specimen is “self-loaded” by residual stress and requires no external loading. Methods: Two materials with different coefficient of thermal expansion are diffusion bonded at high temperature. After cooling to room temperature a subcritical crack is driven by thermal residual stresses. A finite element model is used to design the specimen geometry in terms of material properties in order to achieve the desired crack tip driving force. Results: The specimen is designed so that the crack driving force decreases as the crack extends, thus enabling the measurement of the crack velocity versus driving force relationship with a single test. The method is demonstrated by measuring slow crack growth data in soda lime silicate glass and validated by comparison to previously published data. Conclusions: The self-loaded nature of the specimen makes it ideal for measuring the very low crack velocities needed to predict brittle failure at long lifetimes.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NASA NTRS1987

Accelerated crack growth, residual stress, and a cracked zinc coated pressure shell

During a partial inspection of a 42 year old, operating, pressurized wind tunnel at NASA-Ames Research Center, a surface connected defect 114 in. long having an indicated depth of a 0.7 in. was detected. The pressure shell, constructed of a medium carbon steel, contains approximately 10 miles of welds and is cooled by flowing water over its zinc coated external surface. Metallurgical and fractographic analysis showed that the actual detect was 1.7 in. deep, and originated from an area of lack of weld penetration. Crack growth studies were performed on the shell material in the laboratory under various loading rates, hold times, and R-ratios with a simulated shell environment. The combination of zinc, water with electrolyte, and steel formed an electrolytic cell which resulted in an increase in cyclic crack growth rate by as much as 500 times over that observed in air. It was concluded that slow crack growth occurred in the pressure shell by a combination of stress corrosion cracking due to the welding residual stress and corrosion fatigue due to the cyclic operating stress.

Dittman, Daniel L.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Crack growth under spectrum loading: A crack closure model

A concept based on the crack-closure phenomenon was developed to replace random load spectra with constant amplitude loading in both analysis and tests. The maximum load and the crack opening load in the constant amplitude loading are chosen to be equal to those for the spectrum, so that both crack growth mode and the crack length at failure are equivalent to those under random load spectra. The number of cycles of constant- amplitude loading is chosen so that the amount of crack growth is equal to that due to a given sequence or block of the random spectrum loading. The concept was tested experimentally after predicting the equivalent number of constant-amplitude cycles for six different random load sequences. The agreement between predictions and test results was good.

Elber, W.↗

NASA NTRS2003

On Generating Fatigue Crack Growth Thresholds

The fatigue crack growth threshold, defining crack growth as either very slow or nonexistent, has been traditionally determined with standardized load reduction methodologies. These experimental procedures can induce load history effects that result in crack closure. This history can affect the crack driving force, i.e. during the unloading process the crack will close first at some point along the wake or blunt at the crack tip, reducing the effective load at the crack tip. One way to reduce the effects of load history is to propagate a crack under constant amplitude loading. As a crack propagates under constant amplitude loading, the stress intensity factor range, Delta K, will increase, as will the crack growth rate. da/dN. A fatigue crack growth threshold test procedure is experimentally validated that does not produce load history effects and can be conducted at a specified stress ratio, R. The authors have chosen to study a ductile aluminum alloy where the plastic deformations generated during testing may be of the magnitude to impact the crack opening.

Forth, Scott C.↗

NASA NTRS1979

The role of crack blunting in sustained load crack growth

Sustained load crack growth occurs in metals following critical crack extension above KIc and in aggressive environments while maintaining a constant load below KIc. In this paper, crack arrest measurements are performed on precracked, 0.0254-m thick, side-grooved WOL specimens exposed to 34.5 MN/sq m hydrogen at ambient temperature. The specimens are loaded inside a pressure vessel while in contact with the high pressure hydrogen environment. Crack growth is observed with each loading increment. The crack blunting observed in the fracture mechanics tests on 321 stainless steel is found to be similar to that produced in the 321 stainless steel tensile specimens. Rounding and branching of the crack decreases the effective stress intensity at the crack tip. It is possible, for materials in which cracks tend to blunt or branch in hydrogen, that although cracks will arrest at a relatively high stress intensity in decreasing stress intensity test, a crack may begin to grow at a lower stress intensity when loaded in hydrogen, and the crack may continue to grow when the stress intensity is continually increasing.

Walter, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Prediction of fatigue crack-growth patterns and lives in three-dimensional cracked bodies

Fatigue crack growth patterns and lives for surface cracks, surface cracks at holes, and corner cracks at holes in three dimensional bodies were predicted using linear-elastic fracture mechanics concepts that were modified to account for crack-closure behavior. The predictions were made by using stress intensity factor equations for these crack configurations and the fatigue crack-growth (delta K against rate) relationship for the material of interest. The crack configurations were subjected to constant-amplitude fatigue loading under either remote tension or bending loads. The predicted crack growth patterns and crack growth lives for aluminum alloys agreed well with test data from the literature.

Newman, J. C., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Prediction of fatigue crack-growth patterns and lives in three-dimensional cracked bodies

Newman, J. C., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Analyses of Fatigue and Fatigue-Crack Growth under Constant- and Variable-Amplitude Loading

Studies on the growth of small cracks have led to the observation that fatigue life of many engineering materials is primarily crack growth from micro-structural features, such as inclusion particles, voids, slip-bands or from manufacturing defects. This paper reviews the capabilities of a plasticity-induced crack-closure model to predict fatigue lives of metallic materials using small-crack theory under various loading conditions. Constraint factors, to account for three-dimensional effects, were selected to correlate large-crack growth rate data as a function of the effective stress-intensity factor range (delta K(sub eff)) under constant-amplitude loading. Modifications to the delta K(sub eff)-rate relations in the near-threshold regime were needed to fit measured small-crack growth rate behavior. The model was then used to calculate small- and large-crack growth rates, and to predict total fatigue lives, for notched and un-notched specimens under constant-amplitude and spectrum loading. Fatigue lives were predicted using crack-growth relations and micro-structural features like those that initiated cracks in the fatigue specimens for most of the materials analyzed. Results from the tests and analyses agreed well.

Newman, J. C., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Resolved shear stress intensity coefficient and fatigue crack growth in large crystals

Fatigue crack growth tests were carried out on large-grain Al 7029 aluminum alloy and the finite element method was used to calculate the stress field near the tip of a zigzag crack. The resolved shear stresses on all 12 slip systems were computed, and the resolved shear stress intensity coefficient (RSSIC) was defined. The RSSIC was used to analyze the irregular crack path and was correlated with the rate of single-slip-plane shear crack growth. Fatigue crack growth was found to be caused primarily by shear decohesion at a crack tip. When the RSSIC on a single-slip system was much larger than all the others, the crack followed a single-slip plane. When the RSSICs on two conjugate slip systems were comparable, a crack grew in a zigzag manner on these planes and the macrocrack-plane bisected the two active slip planes. The maximum RSSIC on the most active slip system is proposed as a parameter to correlate with the shear fatigue crack growth rate in large crystals.

Chen, Q.↗