A COMPARISON OF FRACTURE TOUGHNESS AND FATIGUE CRACK PROPAGATION CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH MANGANESE AND NICKEL STEELS

Recently, demands for liquefied natural gas (LNG) are increased by developing countries such as China, India and Middle East area. In addition, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) reinforced regulations to avoid the serious environmental pollution. This trend has led to manufacturing and operating various LNG vessels such as liquefied natural gas carrier (LNGC), floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) and very large gas carrier (VLGC). In the design of LNG vessels, the structural integrity of LNG storage tank is of significant importance to satisfy the service conditions. In order to secure structural integrity, LNG storage tank is fabricated with low temperature materials. In general, low temperature materials such as SUS304L, Invar alloy, Al 5083-O, nickel alloy steel and high manganese steel exhibit excellent fatigue and fracture performances at cryogenic temperature. In particular, high manganese steel has attracted interest because they are potentially less expensive than the competing other low temperature materials. This study compares the fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth characteristics of high manganese steel with those of nickel steels. In addition, fracture toughness and fatigue crack growth rate tests for various nickel steels are conducted according to BS 7448 and ASTM E647, respectively. In order to obtain less conservative design values, the results of high manganese steel and various nickel steels were compared to those of BS7910. As a result, the CTOD value of high manganese steel is higher than that of 9% nickel steel at cryogenic temperature. In case of FCGR, the high manganese steel and 9% nickel steel are found to be similar to each other.