Assessment of damage level in materials by the scatter of elastic characteristics and static strength

The parameters of scatter of elastic characteristics and strength of an aluminum alloy and carbon steel are determined from the results of large-batch tests under identical static deformation conditions. The material degradation is demonstrated to occur in a stagewise manner associated with peculiarities and nature of structural damages accumulated during various deformation stages, which is responsible for nonlinearity of the damage accumulation law. A good correlation has been found between the Weibull homogeneity coefficient and the maximum probability density on lognormal distribution and Weibull distribution curves. Emphasis is put on the advantages of the LM hardness method in terms of information it provides about the integral pattern of material degradation over its lifetime. © Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2006.