PITTING CORROSION SOURCE OF INITIAL FATIGUE CRACK

Liviu Palaghian, Mioara Bucşă, Sorin Ciortan

University "Dunărea de Jos" of Galaţi
liviu.palaghian@ugal.ro

ABSTRACT
The paper presents some aspects about fatigue cracks initiation, based on pitting
corrosion. The experimental researches praises that the corrosion wearing is one of
the sources of fatigue damage.

Keywords: fatigue, crack, corrosion, damage.

1. INTRODUCTION
Table 1 Chemical composition of OL524Ak steel
The cracks that appear on the shafts surface
proved to be dominant damage forms shortening C Mn Si S P Al Ti V
reliability and security in functioning both for shafts [%] [%] [%] [%] [%] [%] [%] [%]
and the equipment they are part of. Working in 0,21 1,30 0,46 0,10 0,016 0,01 - -
chemical aggressive environment even in the case of
stainless steel catastrophic damage may appear that The specimens were subjected to bend testing
leads to reconditioning or premature replacement [1]. both in laboratory environment and 3% NaCl salty
It is well-known that the main way of failure for solution.
machine parts like shafts is fatigue breaking. This
damage process may be considered as a progressive
accumulation process of structural modifications
within a material subjected to stresses and variable
deformations.
Analyzing the damage process, this can be
divided into three conventionally stages: 1- damage
initiation by inter-structural changing and appearance
of some discontinuities at nanometer level on the
material surface followed by an evolution of micro-
cracks; 2- progressive growth of the crack; 3- final
failure [2].
The initiation of the fatigue process is at the Fig.1 Testing rig for fatigue in corrosive environment
location of geometrical or structural discontinuities,
secondary phases, voids, making flaws, dimension
variation of the machine part. These areas may act
like stress concentrators that leads to local plastic
deformation.
Under aggressive environment conditions, this
kind of no-homogeneities and discontinuities may
appear on the material surface as a result of corrosion
processes amplified by static or variable mechanical
loads. This leads to so called damage by corrosion
under stress and, respectively, corrosion fatigue.
This paper presents experimental results and
theoretical considerations based on tests performed
on specimens made of low alloyed steel, OL524Ak,
Fig.2 Fatigue curves in surrounding and corrosive
STAS 500/2-80, having the following chemical
environment
composition:
 It can be noticed that in corrosive environment,
having an endurance limit of 2 ×107 loading cycles,
the Wöhler curve has no asymptotic zone as in the
case of laboratory environment.
2. EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
Visual and microscopically observation after the
tests show that, in corrosive environment, on the
specimen surface micro voids and pitting corrosion
appear (fig. 3, fig. 4, fig 5).
Fig.3 Corrosion voids and starting cracks in the
specimens section
Fig.4 Corrosion voids and multiple rupture
cracking? areas
Fig.5 Fatigue crack in corrosive environment
These micro voids grow in time and they
become corrosion fatigue cracks that lead in the end
to multiple, principal cracks. Characteristic to this
type of damage is the appearance of several cracks
initiation zones that lead to rupture, aspect which
differs from the ruptures in the laboratory
environment that appear in only one zone.
This paper demonstrates that the corrosion
fatigue failure is initiated by the areas with localized
corrosion in the form of pitting. In these areas there
are physic-chemical processes amplified by
mechanical loading that leads to faster rupture
comparing to the one in normal atmosphere and
without a fatigue limit.
3. DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS
3.1 Corrosion influence on corrosion
fatigue damage
The environment influence is usually modeled
based on two mechanisms that may act during the
corrosion fatigue. These mechanisms are anodic
dissolution and hydrogen embrittlement.
Anodic dissolution is stopping the crack growth
due to rounding of the crack tip. Local embrittlement
by hydrogen increases the crack growth speed by
hydrogen atoms diffusion at the crack tip.
Researches show that corrosive environment is
an accelerator factor for crack evolution. In the first
place, by rounding the tip of the crack, the
environment influence slows down the crack growth,
but than, the growing rate of the crack dimensions is
much bigger than the one in ordinary atmosphere.
3.2 Principles of fracture mechanics
applied to changing loads
Progresses in the study of material fracture
phenomenon by the means of continuous distortion
environment mechanics, made possible quantitive
microscopic interpretation that relates crack
propagation speed da / dN (where a is the crack
length and N number of loading cycles) with the
stress intensity factor K , which considers both
intensity as well as crack display geometry [6]. In the
case of rupture in mode I (traction), figure 6, stress
intensity factor K I can be written as:
K I = s pa (a, L )a (1)
where 2a - crack length; s - homogenous stress on a
border far enough from the crack; a (a, L ) - correction
depending of finite dimensions of the body with
cracks.
Fig.6 Mode I of rupture
If dimensions 2a are much smaller than the
body extension then the correction is ?? a @1 .
Griffith criteria [4] say that the instable propagation
of crack under static loading occurs when the stress
intensity factor reaches a critical value, which for the
mode I of cracking is K I C or K I C . The K C
characteristic is also called plane stress fracture
toughness, depends of material nature and it is
influenced by working environment.
In the case of changing loading when stress s
takes values between smax and smin the range of the
stress intensity factor is: DK???
D K = K max - K min = (s max - s min ) p ×s ×a (2)
Materials fatigue strength can be described from
fracture mechanics point of view by the kinetic
diagram of fatigue rupture that gives the dependence
of fatigue crack evolution with D K values. In the
diagram three separate areas for crack growth speed
can be noticed: I- low speed; II- medium speed; III-
high speed (fig. 7, a).
Besides the value KIC it can be noticed the
existence of a threshold value for stress intensity
factor, namely Kth called threshold stress intensity
factor. This represents the maximum stress value smax
at which the crack does not grow for 106 loading
cycles and its growth with 3% leads to a crack
evolution speed that’s not higher than
- 10
3 ×10 m/cycles. At cyclic loading it may be set out
a critical value for stress intensity factor KIfc that can
be completely different from Kfc determined under
static conditions. Usually area number II may be
correctly mathematically described by Paris type
relationships [5]:
n
da / dN = C (D K ) (3)
where C and n are material parameters.
In the case of chemical active environment
under static loading (fig. 7, b) the limit value for K,
when da / dN ® 0 ???, sets out K ISCC or KISCC
parameter named threshold stress intensity factor for
stress-corrosion cracking. The KISCC parameter is not
Fig.7 a- Kinetically diagram of fatigue damage; b- Kinetically diagram of crack evolution under static loading
in corrosive environment (stress cracking corrosion); c- Kinetically diagram for fatigue in corrosive
environment (1- corrosive environment; 2- air)
a material characteristic in the way K I C is, but
depends on the material-environment couple.
It can be noticed that in corrosive environment
under the cyclic loading conditions area number II is
practically expending on the whole possible variation
field of crack propagation speed.
3.3 Pitting corrosion and fatigue damage
The experimental researches show that the
failure by corrosion fatigue has mainly three stages:
1- pitting corrosion, 2- pitting corrosion- fatigue
crack transition, 3- fatigue crack evolution with final
rupture.
The most recent theory (Kondo, 1989 [6])
considers a semi-spherical shape of the initial void
and its diameter before the transition stage is given by
the relationship:
a(t ) = C pt 1/ 3 (4)
where: t- time, C p - growing parameter of the void
depending of material and the corrosive environment,
a- void radius.
The conditions of a crack development from a
void (transition stage) written based on rupture
mechanics principles are:
D K > D K th (5)
and:
æda ÷ö æda ö
ç
ç ÷ ³ ç ÷ ÷ ?? (6)
èdt ÷øfatigue çèdt ÷
øpitting
Based on these conditions Kondo suggested a
relationship that gives the threshold value as starting
from a fatigue crack may develop, assuming that a
void can be a starting point for a crack, as follows:
D K th = 2, 24s a p ×a / Q (7)
where s a - applied stress amplitude, Q - shape factor
.
 If the number of loading cycles, N , and the have as principal cause localized pitting corrosion.
frequency, f , are considered, condition number (6) Pitting corrosion determines, depending on its
can be written: dimension, a threshold value of stress intensity factor,
1/ 3 as from which the void changes into an incipient
a = C p (N / f ) (8)
fatigue crack.
In consequence the crack growing speed can be Unlike the ruptures in surrounding atmosphere,
determined with the relationship: this kind of failure has on the working surface several
da / dN = 82, 74 ×C p3 f - 1Q - 2s a4D K - 4 (9) starting points, from which multiple main cracks may
Lindley (1982) [7] gives another relationship for develop.
the threshold value of the stress intensity factor as
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é a 1/ 2 ù
D s pa ê1,13 - 0, 07
ê
ë c() ú
ú
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