• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.701-713
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• 2012

Results pertaining to 3D investigations on the effect of the thickness on the stress fields at the crack front are presented. A 3D finite element analysis is performed using a modified single edge-notched tension specimen configuration, with an inclined crack to include mixed mode I-II. A technique to mesh the crack front (3D) with singular finite elements in ANSYS without using third party software is introduced and used in this study. The effect of the specimen thickness is explicitly investigated for six thicknesses ranging from 1 to 32 mm. In addition, three crack inclination angles, including pure Mode-I, are used to study the effect of mixed-mode I-II fracture. An attempt is made to correlate the extent of a particular stress state along the crack front to thickness. In addition, ${\sigma}_{zz}/{\nu}({\sigma}_{xx}+{\sigma}_{yy})$ contours at the crack front are presented as a useful means to analyze the stress state.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.601-609
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• 2012

Effect of different crack sizes on fracture criterion of some engineering materials was investigated in this work. Using finite element (FE) method coupled with a newly developed algorithm, J-integral values for different crack sizes were obtained for single-edge notched bend (SENB) and compact type (CT) specimen. Specimens with initial a/W ratio from 0.25 to 0.75 varying in crack size in steps of 0.125 were investigated. Several different materials, like 20MnMoNi55, 42CrMo4 and 50CrMo4, usually used in engineering structure, were investigated. For one of mentioned materials, numerical results were compared with experimental and their compatibility is visible.

• Journal of Welding and Joining
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.36-43
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• 1999

The effect of microstructure on the fracture toughness of multi pass weld metal has been investigated. The micromechanisms of fracture process are identified by in-situ scanning electron microscopy(SEM) fracture observation using single edge notched specimen. The notches of the in-situ fracture specimens were carefully located such that the ends of the notches were in the as-deposited top bead and the reheated weld metal respectively. The observation of in-situ fracture process for as-deposited top bead indicated that as strains are applied, microcracks are formed at the interfaces between soft proeutectoid ferrite and acicular ferrite under relatively low stress intensity factor. Then, the microcracks propagate easily along the proeutectoid ferrite phase, leading to final fracture. These findings suggest that proeutectoid ferrite plays an important role in reducing the toughness of the weld metal. On the other hand, reheated regions showed that the microcrack initiated at the notch tip grows along the localized shear bands under relatively high stress intensity factor, confirming that reheated area showing momogeneous and fine microstructure would be beneficial to the fracture resistance of weld metal.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.47-57
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• 1994

This study investigates the crack propagation behavior to examine the effect of welding residual stress by the superposition method. Especially, as the crack propagation behavior is affected by the applied stress and the stress ratio in compressive residual stress filed, it is studied for three cases as follows; (1) $K_{min}$is smaller than l $K_{r}$l, (2) $K_{min}$ is smaller than l $K_{r}$l in the later stage, (3) $K_{min}$is lager than l $K_{r}$l. The resuslts show that the superposition method is very useful in all the three cases of compressive residual stress field, but is inappropriate in predicting the crack propagation behavior in tensile residual stress field.field.field.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.494-504
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• 2006

It is well known that the two-parameter $J-A_2$ solution can well characterize the crack-tip fields and quantify the crack-tip constraint for different flawed geometries in variety of loading conditions. However, this solution fails to do so for bending dominated specimens or geometries at large deformation because of the influence of significant global bending stress on the crack-tip field. To solve this issue, a modified $J-A_2$ solution is developed in this paper by introducing an additional term to address the global bending influence. Using the $J_2$ flow theory of plasticity and within the small-strain framework detailed finite element analyses are carried out for the single edge notched bend (SENB) specimen with a deep crack in A533B steel at different deformation levels ranging from small-scale Yielding to large-scale Yielding conditions. The numerical results of the crack-tip stress field are then compared with those determined from the $J-A_2$ solution and from the modified $J-A_2$ solution at the same level of applied loading Results indicate that the modified $J-A_2$ solution largely improves the $J-A_2$ solution, and match very well with the numerical results in the region of interest at all deformation levels. Therefore, the proposed solution can effectively describe the crack-tip field and the constraint for bending dominated specimens or geometries.

• Carbon letters
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2006

Three point bending tests of single edge notched beam (SENB) specimens were carried out to evaluate the fracture behavior of the fine-grain isotropic nuclear grade graphite, IG-11. To measure the crack initiation point and the subsequent crack growth, the direct current potential drop (DCPD) method and a traveling microscope were used. The effects of test variables like initial crack length, specimen thickness, notch type and loading rate on the measured fracture toughness, $K_Q$, were investigated. Based on the test results, the ranges of the test variables to measure the reliable fracture toughness value were proposed. During the crack growth, the rising R-curve behavior was observed in IG-11 graphite when the superficial crack length measured on the specimen surface was used. The increase of crack growth resistance was discussed in terms of crack bridging, crack meandering, crack branching, microcracking and crack deflection, which increase the surface energy and friction force.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.44 no.7
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• pp.343-348
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• 2007

Alumina/silver nanocomposites were fabricated using a soaking method through a sol-gel route to construct an intra-type nanostructure. The pulse electric-current sintering (PECS) technique was used to sinter the nanocomposites. Several specimens were annealed after sintering. The microstructure, mechanical properties, critical frontal process zone (FPZ) size, and thermo-mechanical properties of the nanocomposites were estimated. The relative densities of the specimens sintered at 1350 and $1450^{\circ}C$ were 95% and 99%, respectively. The maximum value of the three-point bending strength was found to be 780 MPa for the $2{\times}2{\times}10 mm$ specimen sintered at $1350^{\circ}C$. The fracture toughness of the specimen sintered at $1350^{\circ}C$ was measured to be $3.60 MPa{\cdot}m^{1/2}$ using the single-edge V-notched beam (SEVNB) technique. The fracture mode of the nanocomposites was transgranular, in contrast to the intergranular mode of monolithic alumina. The fracture morphology suggested that dislocations were generated around the silver nanoparticles dispersed within the alumina matrix. The specimens sintered at $1350^{\circ}C$ were annealed at $800^{\circ}C$ for 5 min, following which the maximum fracture strength became 810 MPa and the fracture toughness improved to $4.21 MPam^{1/2}$. The critical FPZ size was the largest for the specimen annealed at $800^{\circ}C$ for 5 min. Thermal conductivity of the alumina/silver nanocomposites sintered at $1350^{\circ}C$ was 38 W/mK at room temperature, which was higher than the value obtained with the law of mixture.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.823-832
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• 2003

To define the causes of cladding degradation which can take place during the operation of nuclear power plants, it is required to develop the new fracture toughness test of spent fuel cladding. The fracture toughness of Zircaloy-4 cladding was estimated using the recently developed KAERI embedded Charpy (KEC) specimen. Axially notched KEC specimens cut directly from unirradiated fuel claddings, were tested in a way similar to the standard toughness test method of a Single Edge Bending (SEB) specimen. The results of KEC fracture toughness test at room temperatures were discussed and compared with those of the previous other studies. In conclusions, even though the KEC fracture toughness test of nuclear fuel claddings was easier and more reliable than those developed earlier, the results from the cladding fracture tests were not the material characteristics but the specific fracture parameters which were deeply related to the specification of claddings. In addition, the phenomenon of a thickness yielding was not observed from the fracture surface. It was closely related to the fact that the plane strain condition of the KEC specimen was changed to the plane stress condition during crack advancing. It was also supported by the fractographic evidence that the formation of ductile dimples at the crack initiation became the similar appearance such as a quasi-cleavage after the sufficient crack advancing.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.488-503
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• 1999

The present paper considers the constraint effect on J-R curves under the two-parameter $J-A_2$ controlled crack growth within a certain amount of crack extension. Since the parameter $A_2$ in $J-A_2$ three-term solution is independent of applied loading under fully plasticity or large-scale defor-mation $A_2$ is a proper constraint parameter uring crack extension. Both J and $A_2$ are used to char-acterize the resistance curves of ductile crack growth using J as the loading level and $A_2$ are used to char-acterize the resistance curves of ductile crack growth using J as the loading level and A2 as a con-straint parameter. Approach of the constraint-corrected J-R curve is proposed and a procedure of transferring the J-R curves determined from standard ASTM procedure to non-standard speci-mens or real cracked structures is outlined. The test data(e.g. initiation toughness JIC and tearing modulus $T_R$) of Joyce and Link(Engineer-ing Fracture Mechanics 1997, 57(4) : 431-446) for single-edge notched bend[SENB] specimen with from shallow to deep cracks is employed to demonstrate the efficiency of the present approach. The variation of $J_{IC}$ and $T_R$ with the constraint parameter $A_2$ is obtained and a con-straint-corrected J-R curves is constructed for the test material of HY80 steel. Comparisons show that the predicted J-R curves can very well match with the experimental data for both deep and shallow cracked specimens over a reasonably large amount of crack extension. Finally the present constraint-corrected J-R curve is used to predict the crack growth resistance curves for different fracture specimens. over a reasonably large amount of crack extension. Finally the present constraint-corrected J-R curve is used to predict the crack growth resistance curves for different fracture specimens. The constraint effects of specimen types and specimen sizes on the J-R curves can be easily obtained from the constrain-corrected J-R curves.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.208-213
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• 2019

In this study, lanthanum oxide ($La_2O_3$) dispersed molybdenum ($Mo-La_2O_3$) alloys are fabricated using lanthanum nitrate solution and nanosized Mo particles produced by hydrogen reduction of molybdenum oxide. The effect of $La_2O_3$ dispersion in a Mo matrix on the fracture toughness at room temperature is demonstrated through the formation behavior of $La_2O_3$ from the precursor and three-point bending test using a single-edge notched bend specimen. The relative density of the $Mo-0.3La_2O_3$ specimen sintered by pressureless sintering is approximately 99%, and $La_2O_3$ with a size of hundreds of nanometers is uniformly distributed in the Mo matrix. It is also confirmed that the fracture toughness is $19.46MPa{\cdot}m^{1/2}$, an improvement of approximately 40% over the fracture toughness of $13.50MPa{\cdot}m^{1/2}$ on a pure-Mo specimen without $La_2O_3$, and this difference in the fracture toughness occurs because of the changes in fracture mode of the Mo matrix caused by the dispersion of $La_2O_3$.