Sj Lewis

Diffraction measurements for evaluating plastic strain in A533B ferritic steel—a feasibility study

It is known that the physical properties of many engineering materials may be strongly affected by previous loading, in particular prior plastic deformation. Most obviously, work hardening will alter subsequent yielding behaviour. Plastic deformation may also preferentially align the material microstructure, resulting in anisotropy of subsequent behaviour and a change in material fracture resistance.When physical characterization is undertaken by experimental testing it is, therefore, important to have some knowledge of the current state of the material. As a result, it is desirable to have methods of quantitatively evaluating the level of plastic deformation which specimen material may have experienced prior to testing.This paper presents the results of a feasibility study, using a ferritic reactor pressure vessel steel, into the use of diffractive methods for plastic strain evaluation. Using neutron diffraction, changes in diffraction peak width and anisotropy of peak response were correlated with plastic deformation in a tensile test. The relationships produced were then used to evaluate permanent deformation levels in large samples, representative of standard fracture toughness test specimens.

A comparison of two- and three-dimensional fracture assessments in the presence of residual stresses

The influence of various assumptions on the modeling of cleavage fracture in the presence of residual stresses was investigated. Analyses were undertaken for modified single edge notched bend specimens, manufactured from A533B ferritic steel. The influence of residual stress fields, introduced by a method of in-plane compression, was investigated through the use of a modified J-integral, designed to retain path independence in the presence of initial stress and strain fields and nonproportional loading. Application of modified J values to predict fracture using probabilistic methods, and their use in a well-known structural integrity assessment code, showed that assumptions about levels of out-of-plane constraint, material hardening behavior, and the method of crack introduction have a significant influence on the conservatism of the resulting failure predictions. It was found that more realistic modeling of crack introduction had a major effect on the accuracy of failure predictions, with the effects of material hardening being of secondary importance.

Implications of Cleavage Fracture Criteria for Structural Integrity Assessment of RPV Steels

To accurately assess the safe operation of structures containing defects, it is necessary to consider the influences of previous load cycles on crack propagation. A number of current assessment codes contain advice to account for strain history and residual stress, but are generally known to be highly conservative which may potentially result in the unnecessary and expensive repair or replacement of infrastructure. This paper considers the results of previous investigations into cleavage fracture of an A533b RPV steel to determine the accuracy of the widely used R6 structural integrity assessment procedure for fracture following significant load history. The levels of conservatism associated with a number of assessment methods are discussed and compared with experimental data. The general trends suggested an improvement in assessment accuracy may be obtained by using local approach methods, compared to crack tip failure parameters. It is noted however that all the methods used produced some unsafe estimates of failure load, which is felt to be related to an over estimate of the characteristic material toughness.Copyright

Modelling of Prestrain Effects on Fracture Using Local Approach Methods

The effects of load history on component fracture behaviour have been studied at length in terms of the generation and resulting influence of residual stresses. Despite this, the effect of plastic strain history, separate from the generation of residual stresses, is still not clearly defined. This work presents an investigation into the effect of accumulated strain on subsequent fracture behaviour. The effects of load history on low temperature cleavage fracture are modelled by means of a number of local approach methods, accounting for variations in stress and strain throughout the component’s load history. Prior strain was found to reduce the mean fracture load of 20mm thick CT specimens, irrespective of the level of room temperature strain applied. Local approach methods, calibrated to low and high constraint fracture data, were able to correctly predict a reduction in fracture load, although the exact magnitude of the reduced loads were not always correctly resolved. Further experimental data and further work on model formulation is needed to confirm the conclusions drawn here.Copyright

Measurement and Prediction of the Residual Stress Field in an Autogenously Welded Stainless Steel Plate

There has been a concerted effort over recent years to develop and refine finite element models of welds in order to predict residual stresses. These residual stresses are required to ever improved accuracies in order to provide continued confidence in the safe operation of ageing plant. Not only have computing hardware and software developed at a rapid rate, but guidelines for weld modelling ‘best practice’ have started to be documented. In order to validate and verify weld modelling procedures, test specimens are required which may be subjected to a suite of residual stress measurement techniques in order to allow comparison and ‘benchmarking’ of the numerical predictions. An abundance of such test specimens have been developed over the last few years. These are typically studied via large multi-national ‘round robins’ and results used to fine tune methodologies. A specific example is the NeT ‘bead on plate’ specimen [1, 2] which considered a single weld bead on an austenitic stainless steel plate. Whilst the major thrust worldwide now is to fabricate and study test specimens more representative of real plant, by considering larger specimens, many weld passes, different materials (including ferritic steels and their associated phase change during welding), the research presented in this paper considers an even simpler test specimen. Thus, an autogenous (no filler material) weld on a stainless steel plate is considered. There were two principal motivations for this work. Firstly, numerical and experimental results were required to validate analytical models of welding induced residual stresses. These analytical models [3] are currently under development but, to date, have been formulated only for parent material. Secondly, the lessons learned on weld modelling from previous studies were desired to be tested on the simplest test specimen available.© 2008 ASME

Measurement and Modelling of Residual Stresses in Fracture Toughness Specimens Extracted From Large Components

A number of previously published works have shown that the presence of residual stresses can significantly affect measurements of fracture toughness, unless they are properly accounted for when calculating parameters such as the crack driving force. This in turn requires accurate, quantitative residual stress data for the fracture specimens prior to loading to failure. It is known that material mechanical properties may change while components are in service, for example due to thermo-mechanical load cycles or neutron embrittlement. Fracture specimens are often extracted from large scale components in order to more accurately determine the current fracture resistance of components. In testing these fracture specimens it is generally assumed that any residual stresses present are reduced to a negligible level by the creation of free surfaces during extraction. If this is not the case, the value of toughness obtained from testing the extracted specimen is likely to be affected by the residual stress present and will not represent the true material property. In terms of structural integrity assessments, this can lead to ‘double accounting’ — including the residual stresses in both the material toughness and the crack driving force, which in turn can lead to unnecessary conservatism. This work describes the numerical modelling and measurement of stresses in fracture specimens extracted from two different welded parent components: one component considerably larger than the extracted specimens, where considerable relaxation would be expected as well as a smaller component where appreciable stresses were expected to remain. The results of finite element modelling, along with residual stress measurements obtained using the neutron diffraction technique, are presented and the likely implications of the results in terms of measured fracture toughness are examined.Copyright

Use of Local Approach Methods With Non-Proportional Load Histories

So-called ‘local approach’ methods for fracture analyses, such as the commonly used Beremin model, are attractive as a means to predict component failure due to their flexibility and applicability to a wide range of geometries. However, in cases where cyclic loading occurs, resulting in the accumulation of plastic strain and accompanying residual stress, the validity of the Beremin approach is questionable. This work investigates the applicability of a range of alternative local approach methods to model material failure behaviour in such cases, as well as commenting on the calibration and physical basis of such methods.Copyright

Prediction of Brittle Fracture Under Generalised Elastic Plastic Loading

This article describes an investigation into the ability of a number of different fracture mechanics approaches to predict failure by brittle fracture under general elastic/plastic loading. Data obtained from C(T) specimens of A508 ferritic steel subjected to warm pre-stressing and side punching were chosen as such prior loadings produce considerably non-proportionality in the resulting stress states. In addition, failure data from a number of round notched bar specimens of A508 steel were considered for failure with and without prior loading. Failure prediction, based on calibration to specimens in the as received state, was undertaken using two methods based on the J integral and two based on local approach methodologies.Copyright