Internal Stress Analysis for the Damage Study of a 16MND5 Bainitic Steel

Abstract

The behavior and the fracture mechanisms of the 16MND5 bainitic pressure vessel steel are studied using a local approach of fracture on a crystallographic scale. A series of tensile tests are performed on the material at various temperatures ranging from - 96°C to -60°C: the damage is observed with a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) while the residual stresses in the ferritic phase are determined by using the X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), never exceeding -150 MPa in compression. Thanks to these measurements, each stress value can be associated with a microscopie observation in order to couple the behavior of the material with the damage at various temperatures.