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F. Rauscher:
"The effect of pressure tests on cyclic life";
Talk: 10th International Conference on Pressure Vessel Technology, Vienna University of Technology; 2003-07-07 - 2003-07-10; in: "Pressure Vessel Technology 2003", Österreichische Gesellschaft für Schweißtechnik, Wien (2003), ISBN: 3-9501528-1-4; 459 - 464.

The question whether a certain fatigue life (500 full pressure cycles) can be assured by a pressure test, was extensively investigated at the authors institute. Series of vessels, having lack of penetration in the longitudinal weld, were tested.
Within a recent investigation, metallographic and fractographic investigations were performed on samples from the old vessels. Due to the pressure test near to the burst pressure, the initially closed defects were opened resulting in gaps of 0.04 up to 0.16 mm. Necking and crack initiation were found in vessels, which just did not survive the pressure test (leak at the second pressurisation). No indication of a significant negative influence of the close-to-burst pressure tests on the fatigue life was found.

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