Fatigue crack growth in heat-affected zone of butt-welded AISI316 steam pipes

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to report the methodology and results of fatigue crack propagation tests at high temperature on an actual TP 316 H stainless steel heat-affected zone. Some metallographical investigations are also reported linking the effect of local microstructures with the variable crack propagation rate.

Finally, the residual life assessment of a cracked steampipe is briefly analysed as a typical application of the Fracture Mechanics approach at high temperature to check the structural stability of power plant components.