Investigation of the Mechanism for Brittle-Striation Formation in Low Carbon Steel Fatigued in Hydrogen Gas

(Fractographic Observation on Fracture Processes Visualized by Controlling Load Sequence and Testing Environment)

Abstract

In order to investigate the brittle-striation formation mechanism of a low carbon steel JIS S10C fatigued in a hydrogen gas environment, fractographic observations of the visualized fracture phenomena during some processes of brittle-striation formation were conducted. The following results were obtained. A striation line is formed during the loading part of the cycle as a trace of blunting by slip. A stable ductile crack then starts growing. These processes are similar to those during the normal ductile fracture from a crack; that is, a ductile tearing process in tension. Based on the experimental results, a brittle-striation formation model, in which hydrogen only enhances the microscopic ductile tearing process just ahead of a crack tip, was proposed. The model rationally explains the peculiar load-frequency effect in the quasi-cleavage range on the fatigue crack growth which reveals a lower growth rate in spite of lowering the load-frequency.