Application of the T-Scaling Method to Predict Fracture Toughness Under Compressive Residual Stress in the Transition Temperature Region

Abstract

The fracture toughness Jc of a material in the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature region shows a test specimen thickness (TST) effect and temperature dependence, and apparently increases when a compressive residual stress is applied. Many models to explain these phenomena have been proposed that can also consider the large scatter of Jc. On the contrary, the authors have focused on the mean Jc and have demonstrated that the TST effect on Jc and temperature dependence of Jc are due to “the loss of the one-to-one correspondence between J and the crack-tip stress distribution” and that the “scaled” crack-tip stress distribution at fracture is independent of the TST effect on Jc or temperature. The T-scaling method was proposed and validated for this purpose. In this study, the fracture prediction of a specimen with compressive residual stress was performed using the T-scaling method, and its validity was confirmed for high-strength steel of 780-MPa class and 0.45 % carbon steel JIS S45C.