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Title: Fatigue-crack propagation behavior of steels in vacuum, and implications for ASME Section 11 crack growth analyses

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6986437

Section XI of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code provides rules for the analysis of structures for which cracks or crack-like flaws have been discovered during inservice inspection. The Code provides rules for the analysis of both surface flaws as well as flaws that are embedded within the wall of the pressure vessel. In the case of surface flaws, the Code provides fatigue crack growth rate relationships for typical nuclear pressure vessel steels (e.g., ASTM A508-2 and A533-B) cycled in water environments typical of those in light-water reactors (LWR). However, for the case of embedded cracks, the Code provides crack growth relationships based on results from specimens that were cycled in an elevated temperature air environment. Although these latter relationships are often referred to as applying to ''inert'' environments, the results of this paper will show that an elevated temperature air environment is anything but inert, and that use of such relationships can result in overly pessimistic estimates of fatigue-crack growth lifetimes of embedded cracks. The reason, of course, is that embedded cracks grow in an environment that is probably much closer to a vacuum than an air environment.

Research Organization:
Hanford Engineering Development Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-77RL01030; AC06-76FF02170
OSTI ID:
6986437
Report Number(s):
HEDL-SA-3365-FP; CONF-8510406-1; ON: DE87005457
Resource Relation:
Conference: International cyclic crack growth rate committee meeting, Washington, DC, USA, 1 Oct 1985; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English