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Effects of hydrogen on fatigue of vanadium and niobium. Annual report

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7116496· OSTI ID:7116496

The fatigue behavior of unalloyed vanadium and niobium as well as their alloys with hydrogen is described. The response of vanadium-hydrogen alloys to cyclic loading is shown to depend markedly upon the presence or absence of notches, the hydrogen level, method of test, and frequency. In general, hydrides improve high cycle life of unnotched alloys, but are detrimental in the presence of a notch. Low test frequencies also lead to reduced fatigue lives. Stress-assisted hydride growth in previously hydrided alloys has been noted both in fatigue and in delayed failure experiments. Unalloyed vanadium and solid solution vanadium-hydrogen alloys do not undergo delayed failure. Preliminary tests on unalloyed niobium and several niobium-vanadium alloys reveal improvements in stress-controlled fatigue life and decreased low cycle life, in agreement with previous observations on vanadium-hydrogen alloys.

Research Organization:
Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (USA)
Sponsoring Organization:
US Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA)
DOE Contract Number:
EY-76-S-02-3459
OSTI ID:
7116496
Report Number(s):
COO--3459-12
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English