The Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) test method standardized in the NACE TM0177 is increasingly applied as a quality assurance test to specify the performance of carbon and low alloy steels for sour service. The DCB test can contribute to the quantitative evaluation of fracture toughness in a specific environment via assessment of the crack arrest of a pre-cracked specimen.

The test method has been modified and regulated tightly from the view point of specimen geometry, test environment, and initial stress intensity factor controlled by arm displacement to obtain highly reliable test results. In this paper, the influence of various crack starter configurations allowed in the NACE TM0177 Method D protocols on mechanical aspect of DCB specimen and test results was focused upon, because different types of crack starters are considered to change specimen compliance and therefore affect the initial stress intensity field around the crack starter tip before exposure and/or SSC initiation. Modification from NACE TM0177 Method D protocols on crack starter configurations of DCB specimens is discussed

Subject
Test methods, Materials, Stress intensity, Compliance, Notches, Crack initiation, Crack propagation, Stress cracking, Crack length, Fatigue, Sulfide stress cracking, Cracks, Stress corrosion cracking
Keywords:
TM0177, Double Cantilever Beam, Sulfide stress cracking, Crack starter, Compliance, FEM
© 2014 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
2014
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
You do not currently have access to this content.