Fatigue cracks in Eurofer 97 steel: Part I. Nucleation and small crack growth kinetics

• Published in: Journal of nuclear materials Vol. 412; no. 1; pp. 2 - 6
• Main Authors: Kruml, T., Polák, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-05-2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Controled nuclear fusion plants; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Fission nuclear power plants; Fuels; Installations for energy generation and conversion: thermal and electrical energy; Nuclear fuels; Ferritic steel; Martensitic steel; Fatigue strength; Crack; Crack propagation; Nuclear reactor
• ISSN: 0022-3115; 1873-4820
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2011.01.010

Fatigue crack nucleation and growth were studied in the Eurofer 97 ferritic–martensitic steel at room temperature. Cylindrical specimens with a shallow notch and no artificial crack starters were used. The constant strain amplitude cycling was adopted. First fatigue cracks nucleate at about 5% of the fatigue life along the surface slip bands. If a crack overcome the barrier of the first high angle boundary, its growth is regular and an exponential growth law is observed. This law may be used for the residual fatigue life prediction based on the small crack growth kinetics.