Comparative study of fracture appearance in crack tip opening angle testing of gas pipeline steels

The crack tip opening angle (CTOA) experiments were conducted on API X65, X70, X80 and X100 steels using a modified double cantilever beam (MDCB) geometry. The fracture surfaces of the test specimens were examined after fracture tests by optical and scanning electron microscopy. The fracture surfaces of the lower grade X65 and X70 steels had fully ductile features including classic flat and slant fracture characteristics. However, repetitive propagation and arrest of quasi-cleavage in the form of chevron arrow-head fractures was observed on the fracture surfaces of higher grade X80 and X100 steels. Interestingly, the analysis of load-displacement records from the latter steels demonstrated local ragged patterns after the test peak load, associated with the repetitive low energy quasi-cleavage mechanism. Detailed discussion on the micro-fractographs of the tested steels and comparison of the test observations with the only newly published work in this filed conclude the paper.