Stage-I fatigue crack studies in order to validate the dislocation-free zone model of fracture for bulk materials

Stage-I fatigue cracks are commonly described by the model of Bilby, Cottrell and Swinden (BCS model). However, since several experimental investigations have shown a dislocation-free zone (DFZ) in front of crack-tips, it is necessary to validate the new DFZ model and to examine the deviations to the BCS model. Therefore, the dislocation density distribution is derived from height profiles of slip lines in front of stage-I fatigue cracks in CMSX4® single crystals measured by contact-mode atomic force microscopy. This is possible, because the cracks are initiated at notches milled by focused ion beam technique directly on slip planes with a high Schmid factor. Consequently, the directions of the Burgers vectors are well known; it is possible to calculate the dislocation density distributions from the height profiles. The measured distributions are compared to the calculated distribution function of the DFZ model proposed by Chang et al. The additionally measured microscopic friction stress of the dislocations is then used to calculate the influence of grain boundaries on the dislocation density distribution in front of stage-I cracks. The calculation is done by the extended DFZ model of Shiue et al. and compared with the measured distribution function in polycrystalline specimens. Finally, the crack-tip sliding displacement as a measure for the crack propagation rate is compared for the DFZ model and the BCS model with the experimentally revealed values. The important result: the often used BCS model does not reflect the experimental measurements. On the contrary, the DFZ model reflects the measurements at stage-I cracks qualitatively and quantitatively.     

含中心裂纹梯度纳晶金属的数值模拟

梯度纳晶金属由于其微观组织的梯度分布,力学属性也呈现梯度变化,这使得其表现出不同于传统均匀材料的断裂行为．利用材料力学参数的梯度分布来表征梯度纳晶金属中晶粒尺寸的梯度变化,并编写ABAQUS和MATLAB脚本程序建立分层有限元模型．通过数值模拟计算了含有初始中心裂纹的梯度纳晶金属在受远端均匀拉应力作用下的裂尖J积分,分别研究了屈服应力梯度、裂纹角度和裂纹长度对金属材料断裂韧性的影响,并与传统粗晶进行了对比．结果表明梯度纳米结构的存在导致梯度纳晶金属内部的中心裂纹两端表现出不同的断裂韧性,小晶粒一侧裂尖的抗裂韧性优于大晶粒一侧裂尖,且屈服应力梯度绝对值越大,两者差距越大．梯度纳晶金属的断裂韧性受中心裂纹角度和长度变化的影响与传统粗晶金属基本一致,同时在晶粒尺寸梯度的作用下梯度纳晶的裂尖J积分略低于粗晶,即整体上拥有更好的抗裂韧性．     

高韧性合金钢断裂韧性及疲劳裂纹扩展门槛值的联合试验方法

在柴油机曲轴、连杆等关键零部件的可靠性设计和失效评估中,断裂韧性及疲劳裂纹扩展门槛值分别是衡量材料抵抗裂纹失稳扩展和裂纹开始扩展的重要指标．但是,对于高韧性合金材料,难以通过常规试验所推荐的厚度确定平面应变断裂韧性,而门槛值的测定通常不但非常耗时,且难以直接应用于不同循环特性的实际结构．本文针对高韧性合金钢34CrNi3MoA,提出一种将断裂韧性和疲劳裂纹扩展门槛值试验合二为一的试验方法,即用同一个试件可以同时测定门槛值和断裂韧性．利用断裂韧性关于试件厚度的渐近特性,以几种较薄试件的试验,确定平面应变状态下的断裂韧性．试验结果还表明,裂纹扩展门槛值的试件厚度依存性可以忽略,并给出了任意循环特性（应力比）下的门槛值计算公式．     

Use of early acoustic emission to evaluate the structural condition and self-healing performance of textile reinforced cements

Textile reinforce cements (TRC) are innovative materials that are used for repair of existing structures or recently as stand-alone lightweight structural members. Fracture and thermal behavior of these materials are very complicated due to multiple failure modes. The undergoing processes cannot be described by the simple constitutive equation. In this perspective the contribution of monitoring techniques is crucial. Acoustic emission (AE) is used to check the behavior of TRC beams and plates in different states of structural health: intact, thermally pre-cracked and self-healed by polymer powder. This is the first time that the AE behaviors of intact, cracked and self-healed TRC laminates are compared in literature.     

利用高压热处理技术提高Bi-2223/Ag高温超导带材临界电流

提高临界电流密度(Jc)对促进Bi-2223/Ag高温超导带材的应用有着重要意义.在常压热处理条件下所制备的带材中存在大量的裂纹、孔洞和第二相颗粒等,这些因素都会对带材的超导连接性能产生破坏作用.我们成功建立了一套可用氧气氛的热等静压设备,工作气压和温度可同时达到15MPa和850°C.通过引入裂纹愈合热处理过程,我们成功对带材进行了高压热处理,所得样品中第二相颗粒和裂纹数量大幅度降低,77K、自场下的临界电流相比常压热处理样品提高了20%左右.     

An energy-based microstructure model to account for fatigue scatter in polycrystals

Scatter observed in the fatigue response of a nickel-based superalloy, U720, is linked to the variability in the microstructure. Our approach is to model the energy of a persistent slip band (PSB) structure and use its stability with respect to dislocation motion as our failure criterion for fatigue crack initiation. The components that contribute to the energy of the PSB are identified, namely, the stress field resulting from the applied external forces, dislocation pile-ups, and work-hardening of the material is calculated at the continuum scale. Further, energies for dislocations creating slip in the matrix/precipitates, interacting with the GBs, and nucleating/agglomerating within the PSB are computed via molecular dynamics simulations. Through this methodology, fatigue life is predicted based on the energy of the PSB, which inherently accounts for the microstructure of the material. The present approach circumvents the introduction of uncertainty principles in material properties. It builds a framework based on mechanics of microstructure, and from this framework, we construct simulated microstructures based on the measured distributions of grain size, orientation, neighbor information, and grain boundary character, which allows us to calculate fatigue scatter using a deterministic approach. The uniqueness of the approach is that it avoids the large number of parameters prevalent in previous fatigue models. The predicted lives are in excellent agreement with the experimental data validating the model capabilities.     

Boundary integral equation method in micropolar elasticity

This paper presents the integral representations of the displacement and rotation fields of the micropolar continuum, and the regularized integral representations of the traction and couple vector. Thus the boundary integral equations and the boundary integro-differential equations are derived. In addition, the formulation for crack problems is given by both the boundary integral equations and the boundary integro-differential equations.     

On the Path of a Quasi-static Crack in Mode III

A method for finding the path of a quasi-static crack growing in a brittle body is presented. The propagation process is modelled by a sequence of discrete steps optimizing the elastic energy released. An explicit relationship between the optimal growing direction and the parameters defining the local elastic field around the tip is obtained for an anti-plane field. This allows to describe a simple algorithm to compute the crack path. Mathematics Subject Classifications (2000) 74R05, 74B05, 74G70.Gerardo E. Oleaga: Supported by EU-Project Front Singularities University of Leipzig and the Max Planck Institute MIS. Partial support was also provided by the Spanish DGES project BFM2000-0605.     

Heat flow disturbed by periodic array of insulated interface cracks

The thermal effects of an interface crack between two dissimilar half-spaces is considered. The interface cracks are partially or fully insulated, and spaced in a periodic array. Using the complex variable technique, the temperature and fluxes are found in closed form, and the interactions between heat flows due to nearby cracks are determined.     

Shearing effects on the breathing mechanism of a cracked beam section in bi-axial flexure

The main purpose of this paper is to complete the works presented by Andrieux and Varé (2002) and El Arem et al. (2003) by taking into account the effects of shearing in the constitutive equations of a beam cracked section in bi-axial flexure. The paper describes the derivation of a lumped cracked beam model from the three-dimensional formulation of the general problem of elasticity with unilateral contact conditions on the crack lips. Properties of the potential energy and convex analysis are used to reduce the three-dimensional computations needed for the model identification, and to derive the final form of the elastic energy that determines the nonlinear constitutive equations of the cracked transverse section. We aim to establish a relation of behavior between the applied forces and the resulting displacements field vectors, which is compatible with the beams theory in order to allow the model exploitation for shafts dynamics analysis. The approach has been applied to the case of a cracked beam with a single crack covering the half of its circular cross section.