Abstract:
Short crack propagation under cyclic loading is compared experimentally in hydrogen charged and un-charged
SA508 Gr. 3 Cl. I low alloy steel (LAS). This LAS is used in manufacturing of pressure vessels installed in nuclear
power plants and is susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement (HE) during operation. Single edge notch tension
(SENT) specimens with an initial notch of 85 μm–90 μm are used for this short fatigue crack propagation study.
The short crack growth from the notch of SENT specimen subjected to cyclic loading is measured using moving
digital microscope fitted on the servo-hydraulic fatigue testing machine. The short fatigue crack growth rate in
hydrogen charged SA508 Gr. 3 Cl. I LAS is found to be one order higher as compared to the un-charged subject
reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steel. Both trans-granular and inter-granular crack propagation is observed in uncharged and hydrogen charged specimens. In un-charged specimens, inter-granular crack propagation along the
prior austenite grain boundaries (PAGBs) occurred only when the short fatigue crack encounters the martensite/
austenite (M/A) island present along the PAGB. Whereas, in hydrogen charged specimens, inter-granular crack
propagation occurred along the PAGBs of large size prior austenite grains and trans-granular crack propagation
through the small size prior austenite grains. Strong resistance to short fatigue crack propagation is provided by
PAGBs in un-charged specimens whereas, these PAGBs offered negligible resistance to short fatigue crack growth
in hydrogen charged subject RPV steel. A new perspective of studying HE in materials by conducting short
fatigue crack growth experiments is demonstrated.
