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International Journal of Fatigue xx (2005) 1–5

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfatigue

The effect of environmental medium on fatigue life

for u-shaped bellows expansion joints
Y.Z. Zhu, H.F. Wang*, Z.F. Sang
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, Nanjing 210009, China

Received 12 August 2004; received in revised form 5 February 2005; accepted 2 April 2005

Abstract
As experimental research, the effect of environmental medium on corrosion fatigue life has been proposed in this paper. The research
proves the fact that the presence of corrosive medium will accelerate both crack initiation and propagation rates and reduce the failure life for
the expansion joints. Furthermore, an important suggestion should be made that the effect of environmental medium on fatigue life must be
paid more attention to when dealing with fatigue analysis for bellows expansion joints.
q 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords: Corrosion fatigue; Bellows expansion joint; Environmental medium

1. Introduction
Bellows expansion joints as an element for compensating
deformation are subjected to axial load from thermal
deformation and often work under corrosive media. Because
some local regions of bellows with high elastoplastic strain
undergo cyclic loadings caused by start-up and shut-down
and changeable operating conditions, they will be ruptured
by corrosion fatigue. For years researches have been
conducted on low cycle fatigue life for bellows expansion
joints, of which the most authoritarian is EJMA [1]. It shows
not only the counting formula but also the fatigue curve of
bellows expansion joints made of austenitic steel. In recent
years, some developments have been achieved in the failure
analysis and prevention of corrosion fatigue cases, con-
sidering the effect of environment media on the fatigue life
of austenitic components [2–7]. Linder and Melander [8]
pointed out that corrosion fatigue strength in 3% NaCl for
the stainless steels investigated was found to be reduced by
approximately 30–40% compared to fatigue strength in air.
This paper aims to analyze the effect of environmental
medium on fatigue life for bellows expansion joints.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: C86 25 83587309; fax: C86 25 83379759.
E-mail address: hfwangnjut@sina.com (H.F. Wang).
0142-1123/$ - see front matter q 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
doi:10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2005.04.004
The result of the experiment research shows that the rates
of crack initiation and propagation will be stepped up and
fatigue life for expansion joints reduced due to the existence
of corrosive media. When dealing with the material, fatigue
life is not the only judging standard, and anti-corrosion
ability should be taken into account.
2. Test
At present, austenitic stainless steel is widely used in
making bellows expansion joints in the world, because this
kind of material has the superior synthetic characteristics of
high strength, weld, cold deformation and oxidizing ability
of heat resisting. Bellows expansion joints are usually
installed in the heating system of steam and water with high
temperature; because dead area, condensation and deposit
provide for ion Cl- an opportunity to become potential
harmful concentrates, there is every chance that corrosion
fatigue failure will occur to austenitic stainless steel.
The following test methods are chose according to what
mentioned above.
The apparatus designed for tests Fig. 1 consists of fatigue
machine used chiefly to determine fatigue life for bellows
expansion joints, measuring instrument for strain and
electrochemical system.
The specimens as shown in Fig. 2 are offered
by manufacturer and hydroformed out of 1Cr18Ni9Ti.
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Table 1
Chemical compositions of the material (%)

C Mn Si P S Cr Ni Ti

1 0.09 1.26 0.80 0.025 0.07 17.66 8.98 0.54

5 6

strain gages of 1!1 are pasted on the central surface outside

bellows, whose distribution is shown in Fig. 3.
3

4
2 7
3. Results of test and discussion

3.1. Test results

2-D axisymmetric finite element analysis was performed

Fig. 1. Simplified chart of apparatus. (1) Fatigue machine. (2) Expansion
joints. (3) Saturated calomel electrodes. (4) 3.5% NaCl solution. (5 and 6)
XKY function recorder, (7) Resistance strain instrument.
The chemical compositions of the material are charted in
Table 1. Saturated calomel electrodes are put in the center of
corrugations inside bellows expansion joints filled with
3.5% NaCl solution, and the non-corrugated parts are
painted with epoxy resin to protect from corrosion. By using
electrochemistry test method, the relation curve of electric
potential versus the number of cycles is recorded by XKY
function recorder; initiation and propagation of fatigue
crack are monitored. Applying frequency of strain cycling
fZ5 cycle/min, displacement range dZG4.15 mm, and
to investigate the detail stress distribution of bellows
expansion joint. The finite element mesh of analysis
model was shown in Fig. 4.
In order to correlate the result of finite element analysis
with that of experiment, elastic rule of material were used.
The displacement boundary conditions used in the analysis
were that the nodes attached to one end of joint were fixed
and the nodes attached to the other end was specified
dZ4.15 mm in the direction of the joint axis. What is shown
in Fig. 5, is the stress distribution of the middle corrugation
1
2 45°
3 4 5

45° 6

φ 88 7
45

Fig. 3. Distribution chart of strain gages.

15

r 3.3

12

0.5

Fig. 2. One layer bellow Fig. 4. Finite element mesh of analysis model.
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tension (FEA) 3.2. Mechanisms of corrosion fatigue failure for expansion

1200 compression (FEA) joint under environmental medium
1000 tension (test)
cpmpression (test)
800 The relation curve of the number of cycle versus electric
600 potential recorded by electrochemical method is charted in
Meridian stress(MPa)

400 Fig. 6. From the curve, it is concluded that there are

200
0 changes according to the number of cycles.
1 2 3 4
–200
–400
–600
–800
–1000
–1200
Fig. 5. stress distribution of No. 1 expansion joint at outside walls (test and
finite element analysis).
with displacement range from dZ4.15 mm (axial tension)
to dZK4.15 mm (axial compression). It can be observed
that expansion joints stress distribution at outside walls
coincides with the experimental result.
It is clear that the stress distributions under tension and
under compression are almost the same, represented by ‘s’,
and only the symbols are opposite. Under the presence of
tension, the meridian stress at the inside walls of corrugation
peak and at the outside walls of corrugation valley is tensile
stress, and the meridian stress at the outside walls of
corrugation peak and at the inside walls of corrugation
valley is compressive stress; the situation is opposite when
under the presence of compression. When the tensile
displacement is dZ4.15 mm, the experiment results show
that the maximum tensile stress (nominal stress computed
according to elastic rule of material) equals to 765 MPa
and dZK4.15 mm refers to 720 MPa of the maximum
compressive stress. The maximum strain appears at
corrugation peak 458, and the maximum meridian strain
range is 0.9663%.
Listed in Table 2 is the comparison between fatigue life
for bellows expansion joints under atmosphere counted with
both EJMA standard and measured stress and measured
value of fatigue life for bellows expansion joints filled with
3.5% NaCl.
From Table 2, it is obvious that fatigue life for expansion
joints is reduced considerably when there exists corrosive
media.
Strain gages location following steps, in which corrosion electric potential
5 6 7 8
(1) When the medium is poured in and cyclic load is
applied to specimen, corrosive and electric potential
value quickly shifts towards negative pole, and the
change of which reaches as high as above 30 mV.
It tends to be stable after some 100 cycles.
(2) The curve fluctuates a little, but finally becomes stable
at a certain value.
(3) When cycles have reached NZ2142, electric potential
value shifts 20 mV towards negative pole evenly and
continuously. When it has got to NZ2987, in a very
short interval appear ten times of changes of electric
potential value, among which the largest fluctuant value
is 88 mV, and it remains on a relatively high negative
electric potential value.
(4) After cycles have reached NZ3058, electric potential
value fluctuate constantly. When NZ3087, two large
fluctuations appear one after another, whose fluctuant
values are 150 mV. No crack is found in the outside
walls of bellows expansion joints when the machine is
shut down. There come constant changes of little
electric potential value after load is given. When the
cycles have got to NZ3140, a penetrated crack appears,
about 18 mm in length at the corrugation valley 408 in
the middle of the outside walls of bellows expansion
joints, and little drops of solution leaking from it.
Having done with the test, in the area involved, 5 minor
cracks near the first one are found, two non-penetrating
cracks next to the first one in the inside walls. The first
penetration crack is shown in Fig. 7.
The curve characteristics in the above chart are closely
related to the every step of corrosion fatigue damage.
At the beginning of strain cycling, because of the self-
blunting of austenitic steel, there forms on the surface of
bellows expansion joints a thin and dense coating, which
serves as a good protection film, and corrosive electric
potential values revealed by bellows expansion joints tend
to be in a steady state. With the increase of the number of

Table 2
Statistic value of fatigue life for bellows expansion joints versus test value

Specimens Displacement Applied Stress got Life counted Life counted Fatigue life ðNE K NT Þ=NE ðNC K NT Þ=NC
range mm frequency from test by EJMA NE from test from test NT
cycle/min. smax MPa stress NC
No. 1 K4.15wC4.15 5 1485 4047 4456 3140 22.4% 29.5%
No. 2 K4.15wC4.15 5 / 4047 / 3440 15% /
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–380
–300
Potential mv
–250
–200
–150
0 1000 2000 3000
Cycles
Fig. 6. Relation curve of corrosive electric potential versus cycling number
30 8C 3.5% NaCl.
the cycling strain, ion Cl- in the medium contacting with the
inside walls of bellows expansion joints can penetrate the
self-blunting film; and high strain load under extension will
make the film easy to tear; and under strain cycling there
occurs among the grains in metal a relative slide which has
accumulating function and will make the film more likely to
be ruptured. The above three factors help bring about the
corrosion in the local regions and furthermore the formation
of the minor cracks. However, owing to the fact that self-
blunting of the materials can bring into being a blunting
film, it is shown by the curve of numbers of cycles versus
electric potential that there comes suddenly a comparatively
large fluctuation which reveals that after the blunting film is
ruptured, the contact between medium and newly-formed
film causes the increase of the metal ion on the surface and
the change of the charge distribution, so that the original
balanced state of potentials is broken. When the blunting
film is restored, electric potential is brought back to its
normal state. Under the effect of three factors such as strain
cycling, etc, there appears at microcrack a sharp one
which becomes worse when acted on by joint effect of
strain and solution of positive pole at the tip of the crack.
There is a reason to believe that when electric potential
value changes, new cracks appear in the inside walls of
bellows expansion joints or at least the crack propagation
Fig. 7. Penetration crack in the outside surface of corrugation peak.
exists. When the number of cycles reaches 3087, there is a
sudden change of electric potential value, the result of
which is 150 mV, which shows that the major crack has got
its development towards circumference and the thickness of
walls. Finally when it reaches 3140, the major crack
penetrates first. From Fig. 6, a conclusion is reached that
crack initiation will take a long period of time, but crack
propagation develops quickly once crack comes into
existence. Because the walls of bellows expansion joints
N
are thin, the failure of corrosion fatigue will come
unexpectedly, and this should be paid enough attention to.
When corrosive media exists, it is most likely that crack
initiation occurs inside bellows and propagates from inside
to the outside due to the joint effect of the three factors
mentioned above. The effect of hydrogen embrittlement is
negligible because the diffusivity factor of hydrogen in
austenite is small and in addition, the blunting film can help
prevent hydrogen from diffusing [9].
For austenitic stainless steel working in a solution
containing ion Cl-, the fatigue life also depends on cycling
rate besides the factors mentioned above. The lower strain
rate can improve the crack growth due to the prolongation of
time that the corrosion media spends on the crack within a
strain cycling. However, at a too high crack propagation
speed, the effect of the environment is weakened because of
the corrosion rate [10]. The main intent of this paper is to
provide a method to lead to a better understanding of the
effect of environmental medium on corrosion fatigue life of
bellows expansion joints, and the influence of cycling rate
on fatigue life is not included in this research work.
4. Conclusion
(1) Existence of corrosive media will reduce fatigue life for
metal bellows expansion joints. The effect environmental
medium should be paid more attention to when dealing
with fatigue life for bellows expansion joints. Attention
to mechanical loading only would be dangerous, and
measures should be taken in material choosing, medium
treatment and different types of expansion joints.
It is suggested that proper material be selected
according to operating medium. Experimental research
is expected to be carried out to determine the corrosion
fatigue for expansion joints, which are placed in
important locations. When designing multi-layer expan-
sion joints, the material with superior characteristics of
anti-corrosion is of first choice for inside layer. Given
that the operating temperature is not very high,
engineering plastics can serve as inside layer.
As to medium treatment, it is important to lower the
concentration of ion Cl- and to make the medium
deoxidized.
There are various kinds of expansion joints, among
which those with outer-pressured type may be more
suitable on some occasions, which will make the
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remaining solution flow through the discharge valve at
the lower end, so that it can no longer deposit or
concentrate on the surface of expansion joints. Multi-
layer expansion joints are recommended for the fact that
only the inside layer is exposed to medium, and by
doing so, sudden failure which often occurs to the
bellows expansion joints will be avoided.
(2) As some local regions of the dangerous section of
expansion joints undergo high strain cycling operating
conditions, it will not do either to reduce formation
strain by means of heat treatment or to eliminate
corrosion fatigue crack with the method of increasing
the thickness of walls.
(3) The location of corrosion fatigue crack is the same as
that of fatigue crack under atmosphere, both of which
are at the point of maximum stress. Fatigue crack of
one-layer expansion joints emerges near the middle
corrugation valley 408, and corrosion fatigue crack
takes place at the side which is exposed to the medium.
(4) The test method used to determine fatigue life for
bellows is on the whole feasible. Bellows expansion
joints serve not only as components with full size, but as
environment box. By means of electrochemistry test
method, a typical relation curve of electric potential
versus number of cycles is recorded, which can help the
testers to know exactly all the steps of fatigue crack
initiation, propagation, and penetration, and provide a
practical method for a widespread test research on
corrosion fatigue for bellows expansion joints in the
future. Most important of all, it will contribute greatly to
the determination of initial location of fatigue crack,
crack initiation and penetration of multi-layer
5
expansion joints under atmosphere, so as to reduce the
errors now still exiting in the test value for fatigue life
for bellows expansion joints.
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