Automatic measurement for monitoring crack growth with electric potential technique

In the study of fracture mechanics, it is one of the most important problems to monitor the crack growth phenomena. Recently, many experimental methods have been developed. In this report, the Direct Current (DC) potential method is employed for measuring the crack growth length in the pressuried high temperature water. The objective of the current investigation is to develop an experimental method to quantify the sensitivity of this method in the air environment using the Compact Tension (CT) specimen. The main results obtained are as follows: 1) It is ignored that the electrical potential changes with plastic deformation at the crack tip of the specimen. 2) Using the Reversible Direct Current (RDC) Method, the measurement system gives no effect on the electrical stability for a long time. 3) For the fatigue and statical crack growth length, good relation is observed between the crack length-to-specimen width ratio (a/W) and potential ratio (Va/Vo). (author)