Stress Analysis of Unnotched C-Rings Used for Stress Cracking Studies

A technique for measuring elastic strains and the location between the plastically and elastically deformed portions of an unnotched C-ring sample is presented. Such C-rings when used to study sulfide stress cracking may incur cracks caused by both hydrogen embrittlement and stress corrosion cracking, whereas the presence of notches in the C-rings conceivably may force failure by only hydrogen embrittlement. Current studies by the authors on sulfide stress cracking include the use of both notched and unnotched C-rings.