• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.30 no.10 s.253
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• pp.1219-1226
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• 2006

The ASTM test standard recommends the use of the compact tension specimen for creep crack growth rates measurement. In the creep crack growth rate test, the displacement rate due to creep is obtained by subtracting the contribution of elastic and plastic components from the total load line displacement rate based on displacement partitioning method fur determining $C^*-integral$, which involves Ramberg-Osgood (R-O) fitting procedures. This paper investigates the effect of the R-O fitting procedures on plastic displacement rate estimates in creep crack growth testing, via detailed two-dimensional and three-dimensional finite element analyses of the standard compact tension specimen. Four different R-O fitting procedures are considered; (i) fitting the entire true stress-strain data up to the ultimate tensile strength, (ii) fitting the true stress-strain data from 0.1% strain to 0.8 of the true ultimate strain, (iii) fitting the true stress-strain data only up to 5% strain, and (iv) fitting the engineering stress-strain data. It is found that the last two procedures provide reasonably accurate plastic displacement rates and thus should be recommended in creep crack growth testing. Moreover, several advantages of fitting the engineering stress-strain data over fitting the true stress-strain data only up to 5% strain are discussed.