posted on 2012-07-30, 12:58authored byClaire L. Verona
Stress corrosion cracking of a 14 wt% Cr martensitic stainless steel, with commercial
names PH-15Cr5Ni, FV520B or X4CrNiCuMo15-5, used for the manufacture of low
pressure turbine blades, has been studied with the intention of gaining a better
understanding of the processes involved, how they occur and why. Industrially this is
very important as stress corrosion cracking is considered to be a delayed failure
process, whereby microscopic cracks can potentially propagate through a metal
undetected until catastrophic failure occurs. The aim of this work is to establish links
between crack length and external factors, such as exposure time, in order to devise a
method of dating stress corrosion cracks and therefore predicting their possible
occurrence in-service. [Continues.]
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Aeronautical, Automotive, Chemical and Materials Engineering