Abstract
This paper considers the crack growth process for a carbon steel and a sensitized stainless steel in elevated-temperature oxygenated water. The results are interpreted from the viewpoint of a proposed design procedure based on a crack growth criterion. Cyclic growth to a critical size is allowed as determined by the sustained stress on the component and the K ISCC for the material/environment combination. Predictions for the cyclic crack growth margin based on a linear superposition model are compared with experimental results. It is found that environmentally sensitive cyclic growth can be predicted on this basis only when the cyclic period approaches several hours; for shorter periods the predicted crack growth rates are too low and the design lives so derived are considerably lower than those derived from linear superposition assumptions.
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