Fracture morphology and its evolution A review on crack path stability and brittle fracture along butt-weld

摘要

Considerations are made for the fracture morphology and its evolution in relation to the brittlefracture along butt-weld, where crack path stability may play important roles in various aspects. Analyses of akinked and curved crack are first reviewed in the present paper. Having learned the solutions of a kinked andcurved crack, several crack path criteria are compared for the crack path prediction. Then, some aspects ofstability of a crack path are examined as to whether it may propagate, keeping its original direction or not in ahomogeneous material, and whether crack kinking in a material having inhomogeneous fracture toughness maybe predicted by seeking the state which gives rise to an energetically stable one. Having reviewed themorphology of brittle crack propagation along butt-weld, brittle fracture of extremely thick plates of high tensilesteel is discussed for the fracture control of recently emerging large container ships.