1 Copyright 2014 by ASME

Proceedings of the ASME 2014 33rd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering
OMAE2014
June 8-13, 2014, San Francisco, California, USA
OMAE2014-24692
DRAFT: FATIGUE PRECRACKING METHODOLOGY FOR HDPE


Thais Pereira de Sequeira
Departamento de Engenharia Metalrgica
e de Materiais
Marysilvia Ferreira da Costa
Programa de Engenharia Metalrgica
e de Materiais

Celio Albano da Costa Neto
Programa de Engenharia Metalrgica
e de Materiais

Laboratrio de Processamento e Caracterizao de
Materiais (LPCM) - PEMM/COPPE/UFRJ,
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ,
Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21941-972, Brazil



ABSTRACT
With the discovery of new reservoirs of petroleum and gas
in ultra high deep-water, the offshore exploration conditions
have been turned tougher. Structural polymers applied in these
conditions may resist through offshore/subsea exigencies. As an
example, we can apply High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) as a
thermoplastic jacket in subsea umbilicals which the existence of
cracks can impair its performance. However, the long-term
behavior of this material is not well established and it is not
known how your fracture behavior and fatigue crack opening
and growth are. This knowledge is quite important because it
enables to determine safer conditions of operation. Therefore,
the crack opening and growth of HDPE will be evaluated using
auxiliary tests as Tension Tests and Dynamical-Mechanical
Analysis (DMA) to find auxiliary mechanical parameters.
Finally, it will be formulated a crack opening and growth
methodology and then calculate KIC value of HDPE respecting
the Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics.

1 INTRODUCTION
Fracture mechanics has been used to evaluate the
presence of cracks or flaw in structural applications. Metals, for
instance, dates from de 40s with linear elastic fracture
mechanics (LEFM) [1] and 60s with elastic-plastic fracture
mechanics (EPFM) [1,2]. Both methodologies require the
presence of a very sharp crack, namely, the radius of curvature
at the crack tip must be zero (or very close to it). In metals, the
sharp crack is easily obtained via fatigue pre-cracking and,
additionally, standards controlling the parameters are well
established. Polymers, on the other hand, are viscoelastic
materials and pre-cracking by fatigue has not been an easy
process. For instance, Parsons et al. [3] and Vlad et al [4]
opened with razor blade, a typical procedure found in the
literature.
Chan and Williams [5] reported that razor blade does
not simulate an ideal crack plane and the sharpest tip;
furthermore, the blade can cause damage to the polymeric
matrix and it may interfere with the fracture test result. At this
moment, to compare fracture mechanics parameters using a
razor blade with fatigue pre-cracking does not seen
appropriated because a paper comparing both pre-cracking
techniques for the same material was not found
The use of polymers for structural applications has
been increasing and the petroleum and gas industry is no
exception. For ultra-high deep-waters exploration where scCO2
may be present and cause damage to the material, life prediction
will be even more necessary and fracture mechanics may be a
powerful tool for this work.
Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to
evaluate the fatigue pre-crack opening conditions that lead to an
acceptable crack, as those preconized in metals standard, with
focus in a zero radius of curvature at its tip. HDPE was chosen
because it is easily processed; plenty of references and it is used
for jacket of subsea umbilicals and flexible risers.

2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
The material investigated was a high density poly-
ethylene (HDPE). It was selected because of its process
2 Copyright 2014 by ASME
simplicity, low cost, ease of obtainment and has use in P&G
industry.
The specimens for tensile and fracture toughness tests
were produced according to ASTM D 638 and ASTM D5045,
respectively. The tensile sample was type I, with a gage length
of 57.0 +/- 0.5 mm. The fracture mechanics specimens were a
CT type, 25.5 mm thick, with dimensions shown in Figure 1.


Figure 1. Dimensions of Compact Tension (CT) specimen
in mm, as ASTM D5045.

The pre-cracking is the first and essential step to
conduct fracture toughness tests and, as will be demonstrated
below, to fatigue near the glass transition temperature (Tg)
resulted in controllable fatigue crack growth process. It was
then necessary to determine the Tg of the HDPE. DMA tests
(Netsch, model TA800), using a three point bend fixture and
specimen size of 60 x 12 x 3 mm, were conducted and the Tg
was obtained as function of frequency and temperature. Firstly,
the frequency was fixed at 1, 3 and 5 Hz and the temperature
continuously increased from -150 to 100
o
C. Secondly, the
temperature was fixed at -70, -20, 0 and 23
o
C and the frequency
varied from 1 to 100 Hz, at each temperature.
Tension tests were conducted in a Instron machine
(model 5582R), load cell of 10 kN, optical extensometer, at
room temperature and cross head speed of 50 mm/min. The
tests were conducted according to ASTM D638. The yield
strain, yield stress and Young Modulus were obtained; and they
were used to calculate the fracture mechanics parameters.
Before the fatigue pre-crack tests, monotonic tensile
tests was executed in notched CT samples (ASTM D5045). It
was conducted to guarantee that maximum fatigue force would
never surpass the tearing resistance of the sample. The fatigue
pre-crack test loads were far below the maximum load
supported by the sample, avoiding plasticity at the notch/crack
tip.
The fatigue pre-crack condition was implemented as
close as possible of the linear region of the material (HDPE),
determined by the DMA tests above. The procedure was as
follows.
The fatigue pre-crack was opened in a servo-hydraulic
MTS Landmark

, using displacement-control mode and a

minimum-to-maximum load ratio (R) of 0.1. The best results
were obtained at 23C, 6000 cycles and 10 Hz (a value
determined by DMA) with sinusoidal waveform. A small cut
with razor blade at the end side of the notch tip showed to be
necessary to reduce plain stress state at border of the CT
sample.
To evaluate the efficiency to methodology, just after
the fatigue tests, dye penetrant liquid was sprayed into the pre-
crack, the specimens placed with the notch opening up, and let
it to infiltrate for 15 minutes. This technique marked the fatigue
pre-crack boundaries, making its visual observation easier. The
length of the crack was measured by a Nikon profile projector
Model 6C 12666. The fatigue pre-crack parameters established
above resulted in a crack length according to the ASTM D
5045, D6068 and E399 standards, which are pretty much the
same. With the pre-crack methodology established, the Linear
Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) Standard (ASTM D5045)
was applied to evaluate fracture toughness and, possibly, KIC.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Typical tension curves and yield point/modulus of the
HDPE are shown in Figure 2 and Table 1, respectively. The
result shows the material to be very homogeneous, having
similar behavior to others HDPE reported in the literature [6].

0 15 30 45 60 75
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Specimen 1
Specimen 2
T
e
n
s
i
l
e

S
t
r
e
n
g
h
t

(
M
P
a
)
Strain (%)



Table 1. Yield point and modulus of HDPE at 25
o
C.

Sample
Yield strain
(%)
Yield strenght
Y (MPa)
Young Modulus
E (MPa)
1 9.79 27.27 1466.34
2 9.78 25.63 1377.18
Figure 2. Stress-strain curves of HDPE at 25 C

3 Copyright 2014 by ASME
To determine the materials Tg, DMA tests were firstly
executed under different conditions, as shown in Figures 3 and
4. The DMA tests conducted at 1, 3 and 5 Hz, from -150 to 100
o
C, showed the same Tg at -110
o
C, approximately (Figure 3).
This condition would require cooling down the CT sample to
open the pre-crack, which is not a desirable condition to
perform pre-cracking, since it is costly and troublesome. When
the DMA conditions were to fix temperature and vary the
frequency (Figure 4), the Tg measured was about 11 Hz, for all
condition, even at 23
o
C. This test condition is easily
implemented in servo hydraulic systems and there is no need for
cooling or any costly setup. With this condition, 23
o
C and 11
Hz, the material should exhibit almost nil viscoelastic behavior
during cycling, allowing the pre-crack to be opened by fatigue.




Figure 3. Dependence of Tg for low frequencies.




Figure 4. Dependence of Tg for high frequencies.


3.1 Fatigue crack opening and growth methodology
Semicrystalline polymers possess viscoelastic behavior
then fatigue pre-cracking is very difficult to be accomplished
due to combined phenomena of time dependent properties
(stress relaxation), stress-strain out of phase, for instance. Due
to its nature, the pre-cracking opening is usually done through a
reciprocation movement of a sharp razor blade at the notch tip,
until the dimensions are according to the test standard - a
procedure completely different from metals. However, this
method may not simulate an ideal crack plane, the sharpest
crack tip and, furthermore, can cause damage to the polymeric
matrix, which can alter the fracture toughness result [5].
Some authors [4, 7] have proposed crack growth
methodologies for polymers, but they did not declare all the
conditions used in their experiments. The present study will
focus on the establishment of a methodology that may be used
to open fatigue pre-crack in polymers, using HDPE as an
example.
Primarily, the state of stress at the tip of the notch, and
then the growing crack, shall be free of plastic deformation as
much as possible, during all loading period. To do so, a
monotonic tensile test with a load (or displacement) rate similar
to the fatigue test (11 Hz) shall be conducted to determine the
maximum load supported by the sample. For the HDPE and CT
sample used, the result is shown in Figure 5, where 1500 N is
the force that causes the crack growth from the notch, causing a
huge plastic zone ahead of the notch. To avoid the plastic zone,
the maximum fatigue load has to be lower than 1500 N.
0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
LVDT
F
o
r
c
e

(
N
)
Displacement (mm)


Figure 5. Tensile test in a notched CT specimen.

An important feature that must be avoided is the
presence of crack tunneling, which is caused by a huge
difference in the state of stress along the notch/crack front. At
the very end border of the notch (sample lateral surface) there is
always a plane stress state, while in the middle thickness plane
strain takes over. In ductile materials, this difference may be
very high and tunneling then happens, and this is not allowed
for corrected KIC/CTOD computation. Many CT samples were
tested with different frequencies and the condition that resulted
4 Copyright 2014 by ASME
in the minimum crack tunneling was the 10 Hz, which was the
Tg frequency already determined. Nonetheless, in the present
study, the only way to avoid the crack tunneling was to execute
a small razor blade cut at the end of the notch, at the CT
surface. This cut looks like a triangle with 1 mm side.
It was noted that a manual cut with a razor blade along
the tip of the notch was also necessary. Without this small cut,
cracks did not propagate, as shown in Figure 6. This slight cut
is the crack starter due to local stress concentration. The depth
of the razor blade cut is about 1 mm.



Figure 6. On the right, a specimen which was cycled
without initial razor blade cut. On the left, fatigue pre-crack
with previous razor blade cut.

The number of fatigue cycles has an effect on the final
crack length. To evaluate this influence, three specimens were
cycled in the same conditions (10Hz, R=0.1), during three
different periods (5000, 7000 and 8000 cycles). The results are
showed in Figure 7, where it can be observed that higher
number of cycles gives longer cracks length, but crack tunneling
increased when the number of cycles was above 7000 cycles.



Figure 7. Crack growth as a function of time.
The parameter R is quite important and its effect on the
pre-cracking was evaluated as below and, also, represented in
Figure 8.

1) The CT sample was displaced up to 0.75 mm (see Figure 5)
and then cycled with an amplitude of 0.25mm, which
represented a maximum and minimum load of 1175 and 327 N,
respectively. The sample was then allowed to relax for 1000
cycles, reducing the load at notch/crack tip. As R increased, the
CT sample was reload every 500 cycles through a 0.02 mm
displacement, which kept R fixed at 0.1 until 7000 cycles, as
shown in Figure 9. This data is represented in Figure 8 by
triangle marks. This is stepwise fatigue.
2) No reload during the test and the material was allowed to
relax all the way. Here, the CT sample was loaded up to 0.4 mm
displacement, cycled with 0.095 mm until 20000 cycles. The R
value was not constant throughout the test. This data is
represented in Figure 8 by ball marks.
3) The condition similar to N. 1, but allowing the CT sample to
relax during the whole test (7000 cycles). This data is
represented in Figure 8 by square marks.

0 2000 4000 6000 20000
-100
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
F
o
r
c
e

[
N
]
Number of Cycles
Fmax- Reload & constant R
Fmin
Fmax- No Reload & varying R
Fmin
Fmax- No Reloda & varying R
Fmin

Figure 8. Maximum and minimum force measured during
fatigue pre-cracking tests.

The condition 1 showed the best final crack growth,
where a higher initial force was applied and then let to relax,
but the R was then kept constant to 0.1 with increasing the
maximum force applied, called stepwise fatigue conditions. It
was concluded that the reload during cycling (stepwise fatigue)
provides a faster and more controllable crack growth front.
Figure 9 shows the R behavior during the fatigue pre-
cracking of the HDPE CT samples. The round symbol shows a
stepwise fatigue keeping R constant to 0.1 after 1000 cycles,
while the square one is a typical relaxation behavior of the
sample with the same starting conditions. The stepwise fatigue
in the present work was the best test condition to controlling
open the crack.


5000 cycles 7000 cycles 8000 cycles
5 Copyright 2014 by ASME

0 2000 4000 6000
-0.1
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
R
Number of cycles
R = 0.1
R - Relaxation condition

Figure 9. R as a function of the number of cycles for
stepwise fatigue (R=0.1) and relaxation condition.

After several tests at various conditions, a proper crack
growth methodology was established where cracks have grown
until 6 mm, a proper value according to specimen geometry
required for CT sample used (0.45 a/W 0.55). The crack
front also matched the requirements of the specific ASTM
standards, as shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10. Specimen with a crack front as required by the
ASTM Standards.

3.2 KIC Evaluation (LEFM)
After opening the pre-crack by fatigue, as reported
above, the CT samples were tested per ASTM D5045 to verify
if they match the plain strain fracture toughness state. The tests
were conducted in a MTS Landmark machine. The result is
shown in Figure 11.

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
A
x
i
a
l

F
o
r
c
e

(
N
)
Axial Displacement (mm)
Figure 11. Fracture toughness test record.

A valid KIC is accepted if the following condition is
met, and it involves the determination KQ.



Where:
Y = yield strength;
B = specimen thickness in cm;
W = specimen width in cm;
a = crack length in cm.

If this condition is true then KQ = KIC and the test is
valid. But, KQ is calculated from Pq, which is obtained from
fracture test record with 5% compliance correction (secant line)
as show in Figure 11:

KQ is calculated by the following equation:


Where:

PQ is the intercept of secant line (5% compliance) with
Force x Displacement curve;

f(x) is a function which the value is given by equation:



With x = a/W.

Geometric information about the specimens is given
below.
6 Copyright 2014 by ASME

B is specimen thickness = 25.5 mm;
W is specimen width = 51 mm;
a is the crack length = 5 mm.

The fatigue cracks obtained by the three specimens
have a length around 5 mm (mean) and yield strength is
obtained by the average of values in table 1. With the data
plotted in Figure 11, its possible to find that PQ = 1.2 kN.
Then, KQ =0.569 MPa.m
0.5
and finally:



KQ = KIC = 0.569 MPa.m
0.5
and the value obtained is
valid with the adopted methodology.
Some authors have measured KIC for HDPE. For
instance, Vlad et al. [4] obtained a value of 0.743 MPa.m
0.5

using stepwise fatigue crack opening, chevron notch CT,
frequency of 5 Hz and R = 0.1. From the practical standpoint,
there is no difference between the values measured here and by
Vlad et al.; however, a 25% difference is high enough and
further attention must be given to the methodology because it
may respond for it. Bartezak et al. [8] obtained a value of 2.05
MPa.m
0.5
for HDPE, but they did not state how the pre-crack
was opened.
So, KIC parameter depends of flat crack plane with a
sharp radius of curvature and, also, the testing conditions. It is
evident that methodology used to open the pre-crack becomes
very important. At the time being, the pre-crack may be opened
either by a razor blade, leading to higher KIC values, or a fatigue
methodology proposed here, which still needs further
investigation.

4 CONCLUDING REMARKS
From the determination of the Tg, it was possible to
open the pre-fatigue crack and viscoelasticity effects were
almost eliminated.
The nucleation and growth of pre-cracks is related to R
ratio around 0.1 for the present material. Stepwise fatigue
during the test showed the best results.
Crack tunneling was still present during the fatigue
tests. Improvement in the methodology is required to
diminish/eliminate this undesirable effect.
It was elaborated a pre-crack opening methodology for
HDPE with crack geometry valid through current standards.
KIC value was calculated for HDPE according ASTM
D5045. The value obtained is KIC = 0.57 MPa.m
0.5
.
5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial
support of the Human Resources Program of ANP for the Oil
and Gas Sector - PRH 35-ANP/MCT.
6 REFERENCES
[1] The Struggle for Recognition of Engineering Fracture
Mechanics by H.P. Rossmanith, Institute of Mechanics,
Vienna University of Technology;
[2] T. Casiraghi, G. Castiglioni, T. Ronchetti, Fracture
mechanics of polymers. Critical evaluation for linear
elastic behaviour at high speed testing, Journal of
Materials Science, February 1988, Volume 23, Issue 2, pp
459-466;
[3] Correlation of stepwise fatigue and creep slow crack growth
in high density polyethylene, M. Parsons, E. V. Stepanov,
A. Hiltner, E. Baer; Department of Macromolecular
Science and the Center for Applied Polymer Research,
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106-
7202, USA;
[4] Mechanics testing High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) Pipe
Material with Compact Tension (CT) Specimens; Ulmanu
Vlad; Draghici Gheorghe, Aluchi Virgi, Journal of
Engineering Studies and Research Volume 17 (2011)
No. 3;
[5] Plane Strain Fracture Toughness Testing of High Density
Polyethylene; M.K.V. Chan and J.G. Williams; Polymers
Engineering & Science; pages 1019 -1026, October 1981;
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Compressive Loading. R. Elleuch and W. Taktak (July 8,
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density polyethylene PE100 using cracked round bar
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