Fatigue crack growth retardation of 304 L stainless steel is studied using a neutron diffraction method. Three orthogonal strain components(crack growth, crack opening, and through-thickness direction) are measured in the vicinity of the crack tip along the crack propagation direction. The residual strain profiles (1) at the mid-thickness and (2) at the 1.5 mm away from the mid-thickness of the compact tension(CT) specimen are compared. Residual lattice strains at the 1.5 mm location are slightly higher than at the mid-thickness. The CT specimen is deformed in situ under applied loads, thereby providing evolution of the internal stress fields around the crack tip. A tensile overload results in an increased magnitude of the compressive residual stress field. In the crack growth retardation, it is found that the stresses are dispersed in the crack-wake region, where the highest compressive residual stresses are measured. Our neutron diffraction mapping results reveal that the dominant mechanism is by interrupting the transfer of stress concentration at the crack tip.

Fatigue crack growth rate tests were conducted as a function of temperature, dissolved hydrogen (DH) level, and frequency in a simulated PWR environment. Fatigue crack growth rates increased slightly with increasing temperature in air. However, the fatigue crack growth rate did not change with increasing temperature in PWR water conditions. The DH levels did not affect the measured crack growth rate under the given test conditions. At 316 oC, oxides were observed on the fatigue crack surface, where the size of the oxide particles was about 0.2 μm at 5 ppb. Fatigue crack growth rate increased slightly with decreasing frequency within the frequency range of 0.1 Hz and 10 Hz in PWR water conditions; however, crack growth rate increased considerably at 0.01 Hz. The decrease of the fatigue crack growth rate in PWR water condition is attributed to crack closure resulting from the formation of oxides near the crack tips at a rather fast loading frequency of 10 Hz.

Sheet aluminum alloys have been used in manufacturing of machine structures. In fatigue crack propagation behavior of thin sheet aluminum alloys, it is important that fatigue crack growth rate is affected by crack closure phenomenon. In this work, we analyzed the characteristics of fatigue crack propagation behavior in experiment of constant stress condition for thin sheet Al 2024-T3 alloys, and identified the retardation behavior of crack growth by comparing experimental results of thin and thick plate specimen. We attempt to operate the fatigue life estimating process using the fatigue related material constants from referred fatigue crack propagation analysis. And we analyzed the experimental and prediction results of fatigue life of thin sheet aluminum alloy in order to identify the relation between retardation behavior of fatigue crack growth and crack closure phenomenon.

본 연구에서는 요소를 사용하지 않는 새로운 해석방법인 EFG(Element-Free Galerkin)법을 사용하여 복수의 초기균열을 지닌 강재가 반복피로하중을 받는 경우 균열들이 점진적으로 성장하여 부재가 파단에 이르는 과정을 해석적으로 규명하였다. 이를 위하여 본 연구에서는 일반적인 피로균열성장법칙을 EFG법을 이용한 균열해석 알고리즘에 적용하여 복수의 균열들이 각각의 응력상태에 따라 차별적으로 성장해 나가는 과정을 해석할 수 있는 알고리즘을 도입하고 이를 바탕으로 다양한 하중상태하에서 복수의 균열들의 성장경로를 추정함과 동시에 이에 따른 잔존수명을 산정할 수 있는 기법을 제시하였다. 본 연구에서 제안된 해석방법을 피로균열 발생빈도가 큰 몇가지의 강부재 형태에 적용해 본 결과 다수균열 함유 부재의 피로균열 성장거동과 균열들의 피로수명을 성공적으로 예측할 수 있었다.

GFRP복합재료의 피로거동은 하중형식, 재질 및 섬유의 강화구조, 환경적인 인자들의 영향을 크게 받는것으로 알려져 있다. 본 연구에서는GFRP의 피로거동에 미치는 증류수 흡습의 영향을 알아보기 위해 chopped strand glass mat강화 불포화 polyester수지 복합재료의피로특성을 조사하였다. 피로균열은 건조재와 흡습재 모두 피로 cycle초기에 발생하며 그 후 균열성장이 점차 둔화되는 영역과 가속되는 영역으로 나뉘어졌다. 또한 증류수의 흡습은 섬유와 기지재 사이의 결합력을 저하시키며 그로 인해 균영성장방향에 수직인곳에서의 fiber pull-out 발생과 균열성장방향에 있는 섬유들에서의 debonding이 증가하여 피로강도가 저하하였다.