Papers by Author: Alan Plumtree

Abstract: The fully reversed long life fatigue cycle behaviour of shot peened steels has been investigated. In the case of air cooled forged 0.4%C and 0.7%C steels, shot peening resulted in a relatively small effect on fatigue life (+2.2% and-2.0% respectively) owing to cyclic softening. Fatigue cracks in the shot peened specimens have been observed to initiate in sub-surface layers, reducing the detrimental effect of surface roughness. Neither cyclic softening nor hardening occurred in the smooth non shot peened samples cycled under the same conditions. Shot peening quench and tempered 0.5%C steel samples resulted in a reduced fatigue limit of 12.0% due to cyclic softening. Relaxation of the residual stresses occurred quickly in these steels due to adjustment and rebalancing of the residual stresses caused by the plastic strain. The effect of cyclic softening and shift in crack initiation site rather than the residual peening stresses was significant in determining the fatigue life of these shot peened steels.

Abstract: Clusters of fine stress corrosion cracks on the external surface of buried steel natural gas pipelines in contact with groundwater have been examined and studied. The growth rates of transgranular stress corrosion cracks have been modeled and determined by conducting laboratory tests under similar conditions to those recorded in practice. The steel samples were immersed in an anaerobic dilute, near neutral solution with an open circuit potential for various times under stress. Metallographic examination of the resulting stress corrosion cracks was then conducted. Transgranular fracture, similar to that observed in the field, was observed following tests carried out under low frequency cycling in combination with a high stress ratio (R= minimum load/maximum load). A quantitative relationship between the frequency and stress ratio was developed giving crack growth rates similar to those observed in practice. Also, a superposition model was developed and applied to the experimental data which gave very good agreement between the actual and predicted crack growth rates. Applying the superposition model to the operating natural gas pipeline data showed that realistic predictions of crack growth result when taking interaction of the cracks into account.

Abstract: The effect of shot-peening on the uniaxial fatigue behaviour of four engineering steels, heat treated to a similar final hardness was investigated. Forged 0.39%C and 0.72%C steels, a quenched and tempered 0.51%C steel and a 0.50%C powder forged (PF) steel were fatigue tested under fully reversed (R=-1) push-pull loading conditions. Following long life (10⁷) cycling, shot-peening had little effect on the fatigue limit of the 0.39%C and 0.72%C steels whereas the fatigue limit of the PF steel increased 10.4%. Conversely, the fatigue limit of the quenched and tempered steel decreased 12.0% after shot-peening. The results showed that the beneficial effects of shot-peening, such as compressive residual stresses and work hardening, balanced the effects of surface roughness since crack initiation tended to occur below the surface. Microhardness profiles showed that the greatest amount of cyclic softening in the shot-peened regions occurred in the hot rolled steels. Softening was accompanied by a decrease in the depth of surface hardness.

Abstract: Damage mechanics has been applied to describe the cyclic behaviour of glass fibre-polyester and carbon fibre-epoxy composites with different lay-ups under various loading conditions. Damage evolution was determined by continually monitoring fatigue modulus degradation and measuring the crack density. These methods complemented each other. They showed that the damage could be separated into two stages. Damage evolved rapidly for the first 10% of life, followed by a more gradual and linear accumulation for the remainder of life. In general, the transition from the first to the second stage indicated a change from transverse matrix cracking to fibre-matrix debonding and coalescence. Damage mechanics was applied to the fatigue modulus changes that occurred in the stress-strain hysteresis loops, monitored throughout life. A two-stage model was applied to express damage evolution using the modulus- and crack-based damage parameters. This model successfully described cyclic damage evolution for different lay ups of the PMCs. The significance of which was that the amount of fatigue damage for any stress level at the end of the initial stage could be used to accurately predict fatigue life and construct a stress-life diagram for the given composite

Abstract: Using damage mechanics, cyclic damage evolution has been described and evaluated in a non-crimped glass epoxy fabric composite. A fundamental fatigue study has been carried out by progressively monitoring the fatigue damage modulus and crack density throughout the life of an [0,+45,90,-45]2 (antisymmetric) laminate cycled at a stress ratio R (minimum stress/maximum stress) of 0.1. Development of damage can be separated into two main stages. Initially, damage increases very quickly during the first 10% of life (Stage I). Afterwhich, it increases more slowly at a relatively constant rate to failure (Stage II). The changes in the fatigue modulus and crack density both show the same behaviour. A large amount of damage in the form of transverse matrix cracks develops during the first cycle. These then remain constant throughout life. By contrast, the number of shear matrix cracks increase continually. The crack density is cycle, not stress dependent. This behaviour is reflected by changes in the fatigue modulus. Using damage mechanics, a representative equation has been applied to express the progressive evolution of damage. The significance of which is that the amount of fatigue damage at the end of Stage I for any stress level can be used to predict fatigue life and the stress-life diagram for the laminate.