Corrosion Fatigue Crack Growth in Clad Low-Alloy Steels—Part I: Medium-Sulfur Forging Steel

Abstract

Corrosion fatigue crack propagation tests were conducted on a medium-sulfur ASTM A508-2 forging steel overlaid with weld-deposited alloy EN82H cladding. The specimens featured semi-elliptical surface cracks penetrating approximately 6.3 mm of cladding into the underlying steel. The initial crack sizes were relatively large with surface lengths of 30.3–38.3 mm, and depths of 13.1–16.8 mm. The experiments were conducted in a quasi-stagnant low-oxygen (O2 < 10ppb) aqueous environment at 243°C, under loading conditions (ΔK, R , and cyclic frequency) conducive to environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) in higher-sulfur steels under quasi-stagnant conditions. Earlier experiments on unclad compact tension specimens of this heat of steel did not exhibit EAC, and the present experiments on semi-elliptical surface cracks penetrating cladding also did not exhibit EAC.