Fatigue-Crack Growth-Rate Studies of Low-Alloy Pressure-Vessel Steels

Fatigue-crack growth rates were determined at room temperature for ASTM A302-Class B and A 508-Class 2 steels in two characteristic plate and forging directions. Tests were performed under zero-to-tension cyclic loading using both through-crack and part-through-crack plate specimens. Crack growth rates in the through-crack specimens, though affected by plate or forging directions, were found to correlate well upon the hypothesis that the crack extension per cycle is proportional to a positive power of the range of alternating stress intensity factor. In addition, the rate of crack extension through the plate thickness of the surface-crack specimens was successfully correlated with data from through-crack specimens.