The effect of the welding cycle on the fracture toughness properties of high-strength low alloy (HSLA) steels is examined by means of thermal simulation of heat-affected zone (HAZ) microstructures. Tensile tests on notched bars and fracture toughness tests at various temperatures are performed together with fracture surface observations and cross-sectional analyses. The influence of martensite-austenite (M-A) constituents and of “crystallographic” bainite packets on cleavage fracture micromechanisms is, thus, evidenced as a function of temperature. Three weakest-link probabilistic models (the “Master-curve” (MC) approach, the Beremin model, and a “double-barrier” (DB) model) are applied to account for the ductile-to-brittle transition (DBT) fracture toughness curve. Some analogy, but also differences, are found between the MC approach and the Beremin model. The DB model, having nonfitted, physically based scatter parameters, is applied to the martensite-containing HAZ microstructures and gives promising results.

Mechanisms and modeling of cleavage fracture in simulated heat-affected zone microstructures of a high-strength low alloy steel

A review of the CTOA/CTOD fracture criterion

This review paper is devoted to the local approach to fracture (LAF) for the prediction of the fracture toughness of structural steels. The LAF has been considerably developed over the past two decades, not only to provide a better understanding of the fracture behaviour of materials, in particular the failure micromechanisms, but also to deal with loading conditions which cannot easily be handled with the conventional linear elastic fracture mechanics and elastic-plastic fracture mechanics global approaches. The bases of this relatively newly developed methodology are first presented. Both ductile rupture and brittle cleavage fracture micromechanisms are considered. The ductile-to-brittle transition observed in ferritic steels is also briefly reviewed. Two types of LAF methods are presented: (i) those assuming that the material behaviour is not affected by damage (e.g. cleavage fracture), (ii) those using a coupling effect between damage and constitutive equations (e.g. ductile fracture). The micromechanisms of brittle and ductile fracture investigated in elementary volume elements are briefly presented. The emphasis is laid on cleavage fracture in ferritic steels. The role of second phase particles (carbides or inclusions) and grain boundaries is more thoroughly discussed. The distinction between nucleation and growth controlled fracture is made. Recent developments in the theory of cleavage fracture incorporating both the effect of stress state and that of plastic strain are presented. These theoretical results are applied to the crack tip situation to predict the fracture toughness. It is shown that the ductile-to-brittle transition curve can reasonably be well predicted using the LAF approach. Additional applications of the LAF approach methods are also shown, including: (i) the effect of loading rate and prestressing; (ii) the influence of residual stresses in welds; (iii) the mismatch effects in welds; (iv) the warm-prestressing effect. An attempt is also made to delineate research areas where large improvements should be made for a better understanding of the failure behaviour of structural materials.

Development of the local approach to fracture over the past 25 years: Theory and applications

The Merging of Fatigue and Fracture Mechanics Concepts: A Historical Perspective

Verification of the transferability of micromechanical parameters by cell model calculations with visco-plastic materials

Fundamentals of ductile fracture numerical studies on stable crack growth j integral calculations in mixed-mode elastic - plastic crack problems j integral for thin shells on stress relaxation at the tip of a crack under normal tension assessment of crack initiation and crack growth in multiphased materials using FEM and microstructural models an energy analysis of elastic - plastic fracture on the crack extension energy rate in elastic - plastic bodies thermoelastic - plastic FEM-analysis of a semi-elliptical surface crack in a cylinder under non-axi-symmetric cooling finite element fracture simulation of A533B steel sheet specimens on the criteria of fracture mechanics and local parameters based on the energy - momentum tensor (part contents)

Deutscher Verband für Materialforschung und prüfung

Papers

Defect assessment in components : fundamentals and applications