Abstract
Understanding short crack behavior is essential for predicting the lifetime of light water reactor components. However, it is said that crack growth rates of short cracks can vary owing to obstacles by microstructures such as grain boundaries. Statistical behaviors of short cracks can be deduced by crack size distributions. This study investigated the influences of grain boundary inclination on the short crack growth behavior of intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC). A crack growth simulation model, which considered the mechanical effects of the crack kink and bifurcation by grain boundaries, was developed. Crack depth distribution obtained by the simulation exhibited a kink in the distribution line as seen in the experimental results. This suggests that the grain boundary inclination plays an important role in the short crack growth behavior.
