In this paper, the fatigue crack growth rates of typical pressure vessel material 4130X under different corrosion conditions are investigated, and the effects of corrosion modes and loading frequency on the fatigue crack growth rate of 4130X are discussed. The results show that under the same loading conditions, the pre-corroded crack propagation rate is increased by 1.26 times compared with the uncorroded specimens. The plastic deformation mechanism of the crack tip in air is dominated by phase transformation but the hydrogen introduced by pre-corrosion causes a small number of dislocations at the crack tip. The crack growth rate obtained by corrosion fatigue is four times that of the uncorroded specimen, and the fracture surface shows a strong corrosion effect. The molecular dynamics simulation shows that the hydrogen atoms accumulated at the crack tip make the plastic deformation mechanism dominated by dislocation in the crack propagation process, and the coupling interaction between low frequency and the corrosion environment aggravates the hydrogen embrittlement of the crack tip. In the air condition, the loading frequency has no obvious effect on the crack growth rate: when the frequency decreases from 100 Hz to 0.01 Hz and other conditions remain unchanged, the fatigue crack growth rate increases by 1.5 times. The parameter n in the Paris expression is mainly influenced by frequency. The molecular dynamics simulation shows that low frequency promotes crack tip propagation.
21 August 2022 in Advances in Materials Science and Engineering
This article studies the effect of microstructure on the corrosion fatigue crack growth behavior of low and medium carbon steels. 45 steel and 15CrMo were selected and five typical microstructures were obtained by different heat treatment processes. The microstructures of 45 steel and 15CrMo after annealing and normalizing are both ferrite and pearlite, but the proportions of ferrite and pearlite in the four microstructures are different. The quenching and tempering microstructure of 45 steel is tempered fine pearlite. Corrosion fatigue tests were conducted on specimens with different microstructures of the two materials. Expressions of corrosion fatigue crack growth rate and da/dNΔK fitting curves of different microstructures were obtained. Comparison of da/dN∼ΔK curves of 45 steel shows that tempered fine pearlite has the best resistance to corrosion fatigue crack growth, and the content of pearlite has a great impact on the corrosion fatigue crack growth behavior for specimens with the microstructure of ferrite and pearlite. In the low ΔK region, the corrosion factor plays a dominant role in fatigue crack growth, and the corrosion resistance of pearlite is weak, which leads to a higher da/dN in the normalized state. In the high ΔK region, fatigue factor dominants, since the fatigue resistance of pearlite is strong, da/dN of the annealed state is higher. The experimental results of 15CrMo showed the same crack growth rate change regulation as that of 45 steel, which further proves the effect of pearlite on the corrosion fatigue crack propagation behavior.
The corrosion behavior and cracking susceptibility of the disbonded coating in the X80 steel pipeline were investigated by different methods. The oxygen content in the trapped solution decreased rapidly with the formation of an airtight disbonded area. The airtight system affected the electrode reaction process, resulting in the inhibition of corrosion in the center of the disbonded area and the more refined surface finish of the sample. The bottom of the disbonded area underwent a relatively intense and accelerated corrosion reaction controlled by the diffusion process. The cracking susceptibility of the X80 steel firstly decreased and then increased in the pointing direction.
Stainless steel is extensively applied in oil and gas, chemical and marine engineering owing to its superior corrosion resistance, mechanical properties and process adaptability. Nevertheless, stress corrosion cracking (SCC) under tensile stress and aggressive corrosive media serves as a critical catastrophic failure risk for structural service. This review systematically summarizes the current research progress on stainless steel SCC, and comprehensively analyzes its failure mechanisms, multi-factor coupling effects and mainstream characterization methodologies. The dominant mechanisms consist of anodic dissolution (including slip dissolution and tunnel corrosion models) and hydrogen-induced cracking (involving hydrogen pressure and adsorbed hydrogen surface energy reduction theories), alongside their synergistic coupling behaviors under complex service conditions. Influencing factors are classified into environmental, material and mechanical aspects, whose combined coupling effects dominate the SCC susceptibility of materials. Moreover, mainstream research methods are elaborated, including mechanical tests (e.g. Slow Strain Rate Test (SSRT)), electrochemical techniques (e.g. polarization curve, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS)) and micro-area electrochemical measurements, with distinct advantages of each method clarified in mechanism interpretation and sensitivity assessment. In view of existing controversies and unsolved bottlenecks in current stainless steel SCC research, this review concludes overall research status and provides theoretical references for subsequent in-depth mechanism exploration and industrial corrosion control applications.