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At least 397 records · Page 22

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NASA NTRS1989

Intrinsic fatigue crack propagation in aluminum-lithium alloys - The effect of gaseous environments

Gaseous environmental effects on intrinsic fatigue crack growth are significant for the Al-Li-Cu alloy 2090, peak aged. For both moderate Delta K-low R and low Delta K-high R regimes, crack growth rates decrease according to the environment order: purified water vapor, moist air, helium and oxygen. Gaseous environmental effects are pronounced near threshold and are not closure dominated. Here, embrittlement by low levels of H2O (ppm) supports hydrogen embrittlement and suggests that molecular transport controlled cracking, established for high Delta K-low R, is modified near threshold. Localized crack tip reaction sites or high R crack opening shape may enable the strong, environmental effect at low levels of Delta K. Similar crack growth in He and O2 eliminates the contribution of surface films to fatigue damage in alloy 2090. While 2090 and 7075 exhibit similar environmental trends, the Al-Li-Cu alloy is more resistant to intrinsic corrosion fatigue crack growth.

Piascik, Robert S.↗

NASA NTRS1990

ZIP3D: An elastic and elastic-plastic finite-element analysis program for cracked bodies

ZIP3D is an elastic and an elastic-plastic finite element program to analyze cracks in three dimensional solids. The program may also be used to analyze uncracked bodies or multi-body problems involving contacting surfaces. For crack problems, the program has several unique features including the calculation of mixed-mode strain energy release rates using the three dimensional virtual crack closure technique, the calculation of the J integral using the equivalent domain integral method, the capability to extend the crack front under monotonic or cyclic loading, and the capability to close or open the crack surfaces during cyclic loading. The theories behind the various aspects of the program are explained briefly. Line-by-line data preparation is presented. Input data and results for an elastic analysis of a surface crack in a plate and for an elastic-plastic analysis of a single-edge-crack-tension specimen are also presented.

Shivakumar, K. N.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Environmental fatigue of an Al-Li-Cu alloy. Part 1: Intrinsic crack propagation kinetics in hydrogenous environments

Deleterious environmental effects on steady-state, intrinsic fatigue crack propagation (FCP) rates (da/dN) in peak aged Al-Li-Cu alloy 2090 are established by electrical potential monitoring of short cracks with programmed constant delta K and K(sub max) loading. The da/dN are equally unaffected by vacuum, purified helium, and oxygen but are accelerated in order of decreasing effectiveness by aqueous 1 percent NaCl with anodic polarization, pure water vapor, moist air, and NaCl with cathodic polarization. While da/dN depends on delta K(sup 4.0) for the inert gases, water vapor and chloride induced multiple power-laws, and a transition growth rate 'plateau'. Environmental effects are strongest at low delta K. Crack tip damage is ascribed to hydrogen embrittlement because of the following: (1) accelerated da/dN due to part-per-million levels of H2O without condensation; (2) impeded molecular flow model predictions of the measured water vapor pressure dependence of da/dN as affected by mean crack opening; (3) the lack of an effect of film-forming O2; (4) the likelihood for crack tip hydrogen production in NaCl, and (5) the environmental and delta K-process zone volume dependencies of the microscopic cracking modes. For NaCl, growth rates decrease with decreasing loading frequency, with the addition of passivating Li2CO3, and upon cathodic polarization. These variables increase crack surface film stability to reduce hydrogen entry efficiency. The hydrogen environmental FCP resistance of 2090 is similar to other 2000 series alloys and is better than 7075.

Piascik, Robert S.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Treatment of singularities in cracked bodies

Three-dimensional finite-element analyses of middle-crack tension (M-T) and bend specimens subjected to mode I loadings were performed to study the stress singularity along the crack front. The specimen was modeled using 20-node isoparametric elements. The displacements and stresses from the analysis were used to estimate the power of singularities using a log-log regression analysis along the crack front. The analyses showed that finite-sized cracked bodies have two singular stress fields of the form rho = C sub o (theta, z) r to the -1/2 power + D sub o (theta, phi) R to the lambda rho power. The first term is the cylindrical singularity with the power -1/2 and is dominant over the middle 96 pct (for Poisson's ratio = 0.3) of the crack front and becomes nearly zero at the free surface. The second singularity is a vertex singularity with the vertex point located at the intersection of the crack front and the free surface. The second term is dominant at the free surface and becomes nearly zero away from the boundary layer. The thickness of the boundary layer depends on Poisson's ratio of the material and is independent of the specimen type. The thickness of the boundary layer varied from 0 pct to about 5 pct of the total specimen thickness as Poisson's ratio varied from 0.0 to 0.45. Because there are two singular stress fields near the free surface, the strain energy release rate (G) is an appropriate parameter to measure the severity of the crack.

Shivakumar, K. N.↗

NASA NTRS1991

The mode III crack problem in bonded materials with a nonhomogeneous interfacial zone

The mode 3 crack problem for two bonded homogeneous half planes was considered. The interfacial zone was modelled by a nonhomogeneous strip in such a way that the shear modulus is a continuous function throughout the composite medium and has discontinuous derivatives along the boundaries of the interfacial zone. The problem was formulated for cracks perpendicular to the nominal interface and was solved for various crack locations in and around the interfacial region. The asymptotic stress field near the tip of a crack terminating at an interface was examined and it was shown that, unlike the corresponding stress field in piecewise homogeneous materials, in this case the stresses have the standard square root singularity and their angular variation was identical to that of a crack in a homogeneous medium. With application to the subcritical crack growth process in mind, the results given include mostly the stress intensity factors for some typical crack geometries and various material combinations.

Erdogan, F.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Fatigue crack propagation in aluminum-lithium alloys

The principal mechanisms which govern the fatigue crack propagation resistance of aluminum-lithium alloys are investigated, with emphasis on their behavior in controlled gaseous and aqueous environments. Extensive data describe the growth kinetics of fatigue cracks in ingot metallurgy Al-Li alloys 2090, 2091, 8090, and 8091 and in powder metallurgy alloys exposed to moist air. Results are compared with data for traditional aluminum alloys 2024, 2124, 2618, 7075, and 7150. Crack growth is found to be dominated by shielding from tortuous crack paths and resultant asperity wedging. Beneficial shielding is minimized for small cracks, for high stress ratios, and for certain loading spectra. While water vapor and aqueous chloride environments enhance crack propagation, Al-Li-Cu alloys behave similarly to 2000-series aluminum alloys. Cracking in water vapor is controlled by hydrogen embrittlement, with surface films having little influence on cyclic plasticity.

Rao, K. T. V.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Environmental fatigue of an Al-Li-Cu alloy. I - Intrinsic crack propagation kinetics in hydrogenous environments

Deleterious environmental effects on steady-state, intrinsic fatigue crack propagation (FCP) rates (da/dN) in peak aged Al-Li-Cu alloy 2090 are established by electrical potential monitoring of short cracks with programmed constant delta K and K(sub max) loading. The da/dN are equally unaffected by vacuum, purified helium, and oxygen but are accelerated in order of decreasing effectiveness of aqueous 1 percent NaCl with anodic polarization, pure water vapor, moist air, and NaCl with cathodic polarization. While da/dN depends on delta K(sup 4.0) for the inert gases, water vapor and chloride induced multiple power-laws, and a transition growth rate 'plateau'. Environmental effects are strongest at low delta K. Crack tip damage is ascribed to hydrogen embrittlement because of the following: (1) accelerated da/dN due to part-per-million levels of H2O without condensation; (2) impeded molecular flow model predictions of the measured water vapor pressure dependence of da/dN as affected by mean crack opening; (3) the lack of an effect of film-forming O2; (4) the likelihood for crack tip hydrogen production in NaCl; and (5) the environmental and delta K-process zone volume dependencies of the microscopic cracking modes. For NaCl, growth rates decrease with decreasing loading frequency, with the addition of passivating Li2CO3, and upon cathodic polarization. These variables increase crack surface film stability to reduce hydrogen entry efficiency. The hydrogen environmental FCP resistance of 2090 is similar to other 2000 series alloys and is better than 7075.

Piascik, Robert S.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Environmental fatigue of an Al-Li-Cu alloy. Part 2: Microscopic hydrogen cracking processes

Based on a fractographic analysis of fatigue crack propagation (FCP) in Al-Li-Cu alloy 2090 stressed in a variety of inert and embrittling environments, microscopic crack paths are identified and correlated with intrinsic da/dN-delta K kinetics. FCP rates in 2090 are accelerated by hydrogen producing environments (pure water vapor, moist air, and aqueous NaCl), as defined in Part 1. For these cases, subgrain boundary fatigue cracking (SGC) dominates for delta K values where the crack tip process zone, a significant fraction of the cyclic plastic zone, is sufficiently large to envelop 5 micron subgrains in the unrecrystallized microstructure. SGC may be due to strong hydrogen trapping at T1 precipitates concentrated at sub-boundaries. At low delta K, the plastic zone diameter is smaller than the subgrain size and FCP progresses along (100) planes due to either local lattice decohesion or aluminum-lithium hydride cracking. For inert environments (vacuum, helium, and oxygen), or at high delta K where the hydrogen effect on da/dN is small, FCP is along (111) slip planes; this mode does not transition with increasing delta K and plastic zone size. The SGC and (100) crystallographic cracking modes, and the governing influence of the crack tip process zone volume (delta K), support hydrogen embrittlement rather than a surface film rupture and anodic dissolution mechanism for environmental FCP. Multi-sloped log da/dN-log delta K behavior is produced by changes in process zone hydrogen-microstructure interactions, and not by purely micromechanical-microstructure interactions, in contradiction to microstructural distance-based fatigue models.

Robert S Piascik↗

NASA NTRS1992

Analysis and prediction of Multiple-Site Damage (MSD) fatigue crack growth

A technique was developed to calculate the stress intensity factor for multiple interacting cracks. The analysis was verified through comparison with accepted methods of calculating stress intensity factors. The technique was incorporated into a fatigue crack growth prediction model and used to predict the fatigue crack growth life for multiple-site damage (MSD). The analysis was verified through comparison with experiments conducted on uniaxially loaded flat panels with multiple cracks. Configuration with nearly equal and unequal crack distribution were examined. The fatigue crack growth predictions agreed within 20 percent of the experimental lives for all crack configurations considered.

Dawicke, D. S.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Small-crack growth behavior in high-strength aluminum alloys - A NASA/CAE cooperative program

NASA and the Chinese Aeronautics Establishment have participated in a Fatigue and Fracture Mechanics Cooperative Program giving attention to small-crack effects in high-strength Al alloys. Experimental and analytical investigations studied crack initiation and growth behavior of small cracks in both bare 7075-T6 and clad LC9cs Al alloys, with a view to the improvement of their fracture-mechanics analyses in the cases of surface crack and corner crack configurations. It is also expected that superior life-prediction methods will be developed in order to correlate and predict small crack and large crack growth with various load histories.

Newman, J. C., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Analysis of delamination in cross-ply laminates initiating from impact induced matrix cracking

Two-dimensional finite element analyses of (02/90(8)/02) glass/epoxy and graphite/epoxy composite laminates were performed to investigate some of the characteristics of damage development due to an impact load. A cross section through the thickness of the laminate with fixed ends, and carrying a transverse load in the center, was analyzed. Inclined matrix cracks, such as those produced by a low-velocity impact, were modeled in the 90 deg ply group. The introduction of the matrix cracks caused large interlaminar tensile and shear stresses in the vicinity of both crack tips in the 0/90 and 90/0 interfaces, indicating that matrix cracking may give rise to delamination. The ratio of Mode I to total strain energy release rate, G(I)/G(total), at the beginning of delamination, calculated at the two (top and bottom) matrix crack tips was 60 and 28 percent, respectively, in the glass/epoxy laminate. The corresponding ratio was 97 and 77 percent in the graphite/epoxy laminate. Thus, a significant Mode I component of strain energy release rate may be present at the delamination initiation due to an impact load. The value of strain energy release rate at either crack tip increased due to an increase in the delamination length at the other crack tip and may give rise to an unstable delamination growth under constant load.

Salpekar, S. A.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Analysis of matrix cracking and local delamination in (0/theta/-theta)s graphite epoxy laminates under tensile load

Three-dimensional element analyses of (0/theta/-theta)s graphite epoxy laminates, where theta = 15, 20, 25, 30, and 45 deg, subjected to axial tensile load, were performed. The interlaminar stresses in the theta/-theta interface were calculated with and without a matrix crack in the central -theta plies. The interlaminar normal stress changes from a small compressive stress when no matrix crack is present to a high tensile stress at the intersection of the matrix crack and the free edge. The analysis of local delamination from the -theta matrix crack indicates a high strain energy release rate and a localized Mode I component near the free edge, within one-ply distance from the matrix crack. To examine the stress state causing the matrix cracking, the maximum principal normal stress in a plane perpendicular to the fiber direction in the -theta ply was calculated in an uncracked laminate. The corresponding shear stress parallel to the fiber was also calculated. The principal normal stress at the laminate edge increased through the ply thickness and reached a very high tensile value at the theta/-theta interface indicating that the crack in the -theta ply may initiate at the theta/-theta interface.

Salpekar, S. A.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Intrinsic fatigue crack growth rates for Al-Li-Cu-Mg alloys in vacuum

The influences of microstructure and deformation mode on inert environment intrinsic fatigue crack propagation were investigated for Al-Li-Cu-Mg alloys AA2090, AA8090, and X2095 compared to AA2024. The amount of coherent shearable delta-prime (Al3Li) precipitates and extent of localized planar slip deformation were reduced by composition (increased Cu/Li in X2095) and heat treatment (double aging of AA8090). Intrinsic growth rates, obtained at high constant K(max) to minimize crack closure and in vacuum to eliminate any environmental effect, were alloy dependent; da/dN varied up to tenfold based on applied Delta-K or Delta-K/E. When compared based on a crack tip cyclic strain or opening displacement parameter, growth rates were equivalent for all alloys except X2095-T8, which exhibited unique fatigue crack growth resistance. Tortuous fatigue crack profiles and large fracture surface facets were observed for each Al-Li alloy independent of the precipitates present, particularly delta-prime, and the localized slip deformation structure. Reduced fatigue crack propagation rates for X2095 in vacuum are not explained by either residual crack closure or slip reversibility arguments; the origin of apparent slip band facets in a homogeneous slip alloy is unclear.

Slavik, D. C.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Transverse cracking and stiffness reduction in composite laminates

A study of transverse cracking mechanism in composite laminates is presented using a singular hybrid finite element model. The model provides the global structural response as well as the precise local crack-tip stress fields. An elasticity basis for the problem is established by employing Lekhnitskii's complex variable potentials and method of eigenfunction expansion. Stress singularities associated with the transverse crack are obtained by decomposing the deformation into the symmetric and antisymmetric modes and proper boundary conditions. A singular hybrid element is thereby formulated based on the variational principle of a modified hybrid functional to incorporate local crack singularities. Axial stiffness reduction due to transverse cracking is studied. The results are shown to be in very good agreement with the existing experimental data. Comparison with simple shear lag analysis is also given. The effects of stress intensity factors and strain energy density on the increase of crack density are analyzed. The results reveal that the parameters approach definite limits when crack densities are saturated, an evidence of the existence of characteristic damage state.

Yuan, F. G.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Fatigue life and crack growth prediction methodology

This paper reviews the capabilities of a plasticity-induced crack-closure model and life-prediction code to predict fatigue crack growth and fatigue lives of metallic materials. Crack-tip 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. Some modifications to the Delta K(sub eff)-rate relations were needed in the near threshold regime to fit small-crackgrowth rate behavior and endurance limits. The model was then used to calculate small- and large-crack growth rates, and in some cases total fatigue lives, for several aluminum and titanium alloys under constant-amplitude, variable-amplitude, and spectrum loading. Fatigue lives were calculated using the crack-growth relations and microstructural features like those that initiated cracks. Results from the tests and analyses agreed well.

Newman, J. C., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Thermographic imaging of cracks in thin metal sheets

The presence of cracks significantly decreases the structural integrity of thin metal sheets used in aerospace applications. Thermographic detection of surface temperature variations due to these cracks is possible after external heating. An approximate line source of heat is used to produce an inplane flow of heat in the sheet. A crack in the sheet perturbs the inplane flow of heat and can be seen in an image of the surface temperature of the sheet. An effective technique for locating these perturbations is presented which reduces the surface temperature image to an image of variations in the inplane heat flow. This technique is shown to greatly increase the detectability of the cracks. This thermographic method has advantages over other techniques in that it is able to remotely inspect a large area in a short period of time. The effectiveness of this technique depends on the shape, position and orientation of the heat source with respect to the cracks as well as the extent to which the crack perturbs the surface heat flow. The relationship between these parameters and the variation in the heat flow is determined both by experimental and computational techniques. Experimental data is presented for through-the-thickness, subsurface and surface EDM notches. Data for through-the-thickness fatigue cracks are also presented.

Cramer, K. E.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Initiation and propagation of small corner cracks

The behaviour of small corner cracks, inclined or perpendicular to loading direction, is presented. There are two aspects to this investigation: initiation of small cracks and monitoring their subsequent growth. An initial pre-cracking procedure under cyclic compression is adopted to minimize the residual damage at the tip of the growing and self-arresting crack under cyclic compression. A final fatigue specimen, cut from the larger pre-cracked specimen, has two corner flaws. The opening load of corner flaw is monitored using a novel strain gauge approach. The behaviour of small corner cracks is described in terms of growth rate relative to the size of the crack and its shape.

Ellyin, Ferdnand↗

NASA NTRS1994

Statistical investigation of fatigue crack initiation and growth around chamfered rivet holes in Alclad 2024 T3 as affected by corrosion

In panel specimens with rivet holes cracks initiate in the blunted knife edge of the chamfered rivet hole and propagate inward as well as along the hole. The fatigue lifetime to dominant crack information was defined as the number of cycles, N500 micrometer, to formation of a 500 micrometer long crack. Statistical data on N500 micrometer and on crack propagation after N500 micrometer were obtained for a large number of uncorroded specimens and specimens corroded in an ASTM B 117 salt spray. Considerable variation in N500 micrometer and crack propagation behavior was observed from specimen to specimen of the same nominal geometry with chamfered rivet holes increased the probability for both early formation and later formation of a propagating 500 micrometer fatigue crack. The growth of fatigue cracks after 500 micrometer size was little affected by prior salt spray.

Fadragas, M. I.↗