Cyclic fatigue and lifetime of a concrete refractory

The mechanical behaviour of a quasi-brittle cement concrete refractory, submitted to tensile cyclic and static loading was studied at room temperature. Delayed rupture was observed in the two configurations, but the analysis of the cycling amplitude and maximum stresses showed that the last is predominant. The material therefore appears as sensitive to what is sometimes called static fatigue. Acoustic emission was measured in situ and was shown to be directly related to non-linear deformation and therefore to damage. The cumulated acoustic emission event number evolution with time during static or cyclic loading shows a sigmoidal behaviour. The first part of the curve, with decreasing slope is associated to diffuse damage in the specimen. Then a concentration of the acoustic emission signals around the fracture plane is observed. This concentration operates at the inflexion point of the graph of the cumulated A.E. signal versus time, and corresponds to a macrocrack that develops to rupture. Acoustic emission could therefore be a mean of predicting the remaining life of the specimen.

[1]  R. Dauskardt,et al.  Fatigue Crack Propagation in Transformation‐Toughened Zirconia Ceramic , 1987 .

[2]  G. Fantozzi,et al.  Room temperature quasi-brittle behaviour of an aluminous refractory concrete after firing , 2002 .

[3]  D. C. Spooner,et al.  A quantitative assessment of damage sustained in concrete during compressive loading , 1975 .

[4]  T. Uomoto.  Application of acoustic emission to the field of concrete engineering , 1987 .

[5]  I. Chen,et al.  Fatigue of Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia: II, Crack Propagation, Fatigue Striations, and Short-Crack Behavior , 1991 .

[6]  Z. Bažant,et al.  Concrete at High Temperatures: Material Properties and Mathematical Models , 1996 .

[7]  Zongjin Li,et al.  ACOUSTIC EMISSION MONITORING OF FRACTURE OF FIBER-REINFORCED CONCRETE IN TENSION , 2000 .

[8]  A. Pollock.  Acoustic emission - 2: Acoustic emission amplitudes , 1973 .

[9]  H. Chandler,et al.  The Non-Linear Mechanical Behaviour of High Performance Refractories , 1997 .

[10]  Fabien Simonin.  Comportement thermomécanique de bétons réfractaires alumineux contenant du spinelle de magnésium , 2000 .

[11]  R. Kikuchi,et al.  Demixing of Oxides under a Temperature Gradient , 1987 .

[12]  Leslie George Tham,et al.  Numerical studies of the influence of microstructure on rock failure in uniaxial compression — Part I: effect of heterogeneity , 2000 .

[13]  J. Sharp,et al.  REFRACTORY CALCIUM ALUMINATE CEMENTS, REVIEW PAPER , 1982 .

[14]  J. Chevalier,et al.  Subcritical Crack Propagation in 3Y‐TZP Ceramics: Static and Cyclic Fatigue , 2004 .

[15]  I-Wei Chen,et al.  Fatigue of Yttria‐Stabilized Zirconia: I, Fatigue Damage, Fracture Origins, and Lifetime Prediction , 1991 .

[16]  E. Tschegg,et al.  Investigation of the nonlinear fracture behaviour of ordinary ceramic refractory materials , 1996 .