Effect of prestrain on tensile and fracture toughness properties of line pipes

To investigate the mechanical properties of pipeline subjected to plastic deformation, tensile tests and crack-tip-opening displacement (CTOD) tests were conducted on X60, X65, and X80 line pipe steels with uniaxial tensile or compressive prestrain, [[epsilon].sub.pr]. The tensile tests revealed that the Bauschinger effect and work hardening were dependent on the yield-to-tensile ratio (Y/T) of the steels; the change in yield stress due to prestrain linearly depended on the Y/T of the base metal. A critical CTOD for crack initiation decreased with increasing \[[epsilon].sub.pr]\. Compressive prestrain had a larger effect on the reduction of the critical CTOD than tensile prestrain. The test results showed that the reduction in the critical CTOD due to tensile prestrain was predictable with a simplified theoretical model employing a critical fracture strain of the base metal. [DOI: 10.1115/1.1894405]