MECHANICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND DEFECT ANALYSIS OF NATURAL GAS PIPELINE STEEL TOWARDS HYDROGEN INJECTION

Repurposing of natural gas infrastructure towards hydrogen injection implies its mechanical viability assurance. This study focuses on the structural integrity assessment of vintage steel API 5L Grade B (used in natural gas infrastructure), especially in what concerns the ductility loss due to hydrogen embrittlement and its effect on common damage occurrence, such as plain denting.
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SUBCRITICAL CRACK GROWTH IN HIGH-PRESSURE HYDROGEN AND HYDROGEN WITH OXYGEN IMPURITY

In this study, the effects of oxygen content on hydrogen environment-assisted cracking are studied for several pipeline and commercial steels. Characterizing the effects of low oxygen impurities in hydrogen gas on subcritical crack growth in high pressure hydrogen environments can help inform fracture mechanics-based design and evaluate if oxygen can be utilized to mitigate hydrogen effects over long timescales.
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EXPLORING THE PHNOMENOLOGY AND GOVERNING MECHANISMS FOR THE LOADING RATE DEPENDENCE OF ENVIRONMENTALLY ASSISTED CRACKING IN STRUCTURAL ALLOYS

While literature indicates that the applied loading rate (dK/dt) can affect environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) behavior, the quantification of dK/dt dependencies and mechanistic understanding of why the applied dK/dt influences EAC remain limited. In this study, a slow-rising stress intensity (K) framework was utilized to measure EAC kinetics over dK/dt ranging from 0.2 to 20 MPa√m/hr in Beta-C Ti, AA7075-T651, AA5456-H116, Monel K-500, 304L SS, Pyrowear 675, and Custom 465-H900 stainless steel immersed in 0.6 M NaCl at applied potentials known to promote modest EAC susceptibility. Results demonstrate that the crack growth rate (da/dt) exhibits two characteristics regimes of behavior with increasing dK/dt across multiple alloys. In particular, a ‘plateau’ regime where da/dt is independent of dK/dt was observed for elevated dK/dt, while a ‘linear’ regime where da/dt linearly scales with dK/dt was noted for slow dK/dt. These findings are analysied in the context of stress- and strain-controlled failure criteria and the environmentally modified Ritchie-Knott-Rice criteria for crack advance. The implications of these findings on recent testing standardization efforts for HEAC are then discussed.
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COMPARISON OF LINEAR-ELASTIC FRACTURE AND ELASTIC-PLASTIC FRACTURE OF FERRITIC STEELS IN GASEOUS HYDROGEN

There is a common misperception that exposure to gaseous hydrogen makes construction steels brittle. Reality, however, is more nuanced. Whereas very high-strength steels can display characteristics of brittle fracture, low- to medium-strength steels remain ductile in gaseous hydrogen. Typical pressure vessel steels (e.g., quench and tempered Cr-Mo and Ni-Cr-Mo steels) and line-pipe steels (e.g., low-carbon steels) remain sufficiently ductile that fracture measurements do not satisfy the requirements of standardized linear elastic fracture mechanics. Generally, for steels with tensile strength 1,000 bar. This presentation reviews the requirements of linear elastic and elastic plastic fracture testing in the context of fracture tests in gaseous hydrogen that have been reported in the literature.
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HYDROGEN EMBRITTLEMENT SUSCEPTIBILITY OF L485MB PIPELINE STEEL AND WELD THROUGH TENSILE TESTING WITH DIFFERENT STRESS TRIAXIALITIES

With the ambition to reuse existing pipelines for hydrogen transport and/or storage, the industry is looking for ways to timely and reliably evaluate pipeline steels and welds for their hydrogen embrittlement sensitivity. A L485MB steel and weld are screened in this work, based on ex-situ tensile testing of hydrogen-charged specimens. Additionally, the effect of notches to generate stress triaxiality in tensile specimens is investigated . The paper reveals differences in the hydrogen embrittlement sensitivity of different materials, at different stress triaxiality levels.
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EFFECTS OF TESTING RATE ON HYDROGEN-ASSISTED FRACTURE OF FERRITIC STEELS

Conventional wisdom suggests hydrogen-assisted fracture occurs principally at slow testing rates as hydrogen requires time to diffuse to the region of elevated stress, such as the crack tip. The effects of testing rate were examined on ferritic-based steels by performing fast rate fracture tests in gaseous hydrogen at testing rates spanning four orders of magnitude.
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MODELING OF STRESS CORROSION CRACK INITIATIONS OF POLYETHYLENE PIPE TRANSPORTING CHLORINATED WATER

Stress corrosion cracking is one of the long-term failure mechanism of thermoplastic pipes when exposed to the oxidative agents, such as the chlorinated water. In this paper, the stress corrosion crack initiation model was suggested based on the diffusion of chlorinated water with oxidation, combining with the energy analysis by cracking. The multiple micro cracking, which is a dominant feature in stress corrosion cracking failure, was successfully simulated by the proposed model.
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MODDELING OF INTERGRANULAR STRESS CORROSION CRACKING MECHANISM THROUGH COUPLING OF SLIP-OXIDATION AND COHESIVE ZONE MODEL

A finite element model was proposed for intergranular stress corrosion cracking modelling (IGSCC). The model is based around a moving integration point formulation which enables the model to track the oxide, dissolution, and crack tip. The formulation is introduced in the cohesive element. The model also relies on an electrochemical model, based on the slip-oxidation model and a diffusion model. The model is dependent on the plastic strain rate and creep strains for oxide rupture to evaluate the effect of creep and plastic strain on crack growth and oxide thickness in IGSCC.
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INTEGRATED MODELING OF STRESS CORROSION CRACKING IN SUPERALLOYS

The reliability of turbine blades is strongly dependent on the humidity, contamination, stress, and temperature to which they are exposed during operation. In many cases, cracks initiate simultaneously at multiple locations, which can result in crack arrest (shielding) or (coalescence). This presentation will explore an integrated computational and experimental approach that evaluates crack interaction in CMSX-4 superalloy using C-Ring tests with a layer of contaminant salt exposed to 550C. A phase-field model calculates the diffusion of species and reduces the material critical energy release rate accordingly. The model, which is parameterised to enable cracking above a threshold stress, predicts the critical crack spacing that results in shielding or coalescence. In addition, the integration of X-Ray microscopy (XRM) characterisation with FEM modelling demonstrates univocally the role of crack interaction in stress corrosion cracking. We conclude discussing the value of integrating models and experiments to understand complex failure mechanisms.
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