Modelling intergranular stress corrosion cracking in simulated three-dimensional microstructures

Conference item

Microstructure can have a significant effect on the resistance to intergranular stress corrosion cracking. Certain grain boundaries are susceptible to corrosion while others have high resistance and may form crack bridging ligaments as the crack deviates around them. To investigate the mechanics of crack bridging, 3D computational model has been previously developed. An extension to the model, to include stress corrosion crack growth kinetics is presented in this paper. An analysis of the effects of resistant grain boundary fraction demonstrates that the bridging ligaments can significantly retard short crack propagation rates. Increasing the fraction of resistant boundaries is shown to improve microstructure resistance by reducing the crack propagation rate.

Authors: Jivkov, A; Stevens, N; Marrow, T

• Publication status: Published
• Host title: Mechanical Behavior of Materials X, Pts 1and 2
• Volume: 345-346
• Pages: 1019-1022
• Publication date: 2007-01-01
• ISSN: 1013-9826
• Keywords: grain boundaries; finite element analysis; crack bridging; stress corrosion cracking; microstructure