Role of crack-tip residual stresses in stress corrosion behaviour of prestressing steel

摘要

This paper focuses on the role of crack-tip residual stresses of compressive nature, generated by fatigue loading, in stress corrosion cracking of pre-cracked samples of high strength pearlitic steel subjected to localized anodic dissolution and hydrogen assisted cracking. In both situations, compressive residual stresses improve the stress corrosion behaviour of the steel by delaying either the metal dissolution or the hydrogen entry, thus increasing the fracture load in an aggressive environment. The Rice model of residual stress distribution in the vicinity of a crack tip is used to explain these retardation effects by estimating the stress level and the plastic zone size.