Mechanisms of Fatigue Crack

Initiation and Growth

Single primary slip system

F. V. Lawrence

S
FCP 1
Fatigue Mechanisms

! Fatigue Crack Initiation Mechanisms

! Fatigue Crack Growth Mechanisms

FCP 2
Process of fatigue

Stage II fatigue crack Cyclic slip

Crack initiation
Stage I crack growth
Intrusions and Stage I fatigue crack Stage II crack growth
extrusions
(Surface
Persistent Slip Band
Failure
Roughening)
(Embryonic Stage I Fatigue Cracks)

FCP 3
Planar or wavy slip?

Material Stacking Fault Energy ergs cm- 2

Aluminum 250
Iron 200
Nickel 200
Copper 90
Gold 75
Silver 25
Stainless Steel <10
Brass <10
G (b 2 b3 )
d=
2

FCP 4
Stacking-fault energy effects
Cu-Al alloys, Cu-Zn, Aust. SS

Planar
slip in
Cu-Al

Ni, Cu, Al Fe
Wavy
slip in
steel

FCP 5
Development of cell structures

= 10-3

Dislocation cell structures

=10-5
in copper

FCP 6
Planar and wavy slip materials

Wavy slip materials Planar slip materials

FCP 7
Cyclic Slip - initial arrangements

FCP 8
Cyclic Hardening

FCP 9
 Events leading to crack initiation
Development of cell structures (hardening)
Increase in stress amplitude (under strain control)
Break down of cell structure to form PSBs
Localization of slip in PSBs

cyclic hardening cyclic softening

PSB

FCP 10
Crack initiation

Fatigue crack initiation at an inclusion

Cyclic slip steps (PSB)
Fatigue crack initiation at a PSB

FCP 11
Effects of strength and ductility
Strain
1.00E-01
controlled
test on
Strain Ampltude, et/2

1.00E-02

1100
2014
smooth
2024
1.00E-03
5456
7075
specimen
1015
4340
1.00E-04
1.00E+00 1.00E+01 1.00E+02 1.00E+03 1.00E+04 1.00E+05 1.00E+06 1.00E+07

Reversals, 2Nf
Strong materials
1
give the best fatigue
resistance at long
0.1

lives; whereas, ductile

Strain Ampitude, e/2

0.01 materials give the

A36
5456-H311
best fatigue resistance
0.001 Ti-6AL-4V
HY-80 at short lives
1.00E+00 1.00E+01 1.00E+02 1.00E+03 1.00E+04 1.00E+05 1.00E+06 1.00E+07

Reversals, 2Nf

FCP 12
High-cycle fatigue Strength

Stronger
materials resist
crack initiation
better.

FCP 13
Fatigue Mechanisms

! Fatigue Crack Initiation Mechanisms

! Fatigue Crack Growth Mechanisms

FCP 14
Process of fatigue

Stage II fatigue crack

Cyclic slip
Crack initiation
Stage I crack growth
Intrusions and Stage I fatigue crack
extrusions Stage II crack growth
(Surface
Roughening) Persistent Slip Band
(Embryonic Stage I Fatigue Cracks)
Failure

FCP 15
Cyclic plastic zone size

2
1 K I
rc = '
2 y

Cyclic plastic zone is the region ahead of a growing fatigue crack

in which slip takes place. Its size relative to the microstructure
determines the behavior of the fatigue crack, i.e.. Stage I and
Stage II behavior.

FCP 16
Stage I crack growth
S

Single primary slip system

S
Stage I crack growth (rc d) is strongly
individual grain
affected by slip characteristics,
near - tip plastic zone
microstructure dimensions, stress level,
extent of near tip plasticity

FCP 17
Stage II crack growth

Stage II crack growth (rc >> d)

Fatigue crack
growing in
Plexiglas
FCP 18
Behavior of Structural Materials

Ferritic-
Pearlitic
steels all
have about
the same
crack growth
rates

FCP 19
Crack Growth Rates of Metals

The fatigue crack growth rates for Al and Ti are much more rapid than
steel for a given K. However, when normalized by Youngs Modulus all
metals exhibit about the same behavior.

FCP 20
Crack closure
S

Remote Stress, S
Smax
c.
S op , Scl
S = Smax

Time, t
S

Remote Stress, S
Smax
d. S=0
Sop , Scl

Time, t
S

Plastic wake New plastic deformation

FCP 21
Crack closure
Keff = U K

K eff S max Sopen 1 Sopen

U = = = 1
K S max S min 1 R S max

Plasticity induced crack closure (PICC)

A, A', A'' Crack tip positions

Plastic zones for crack

A A' A''
positions A...A

Initial crack length

Plastic wake
FCP 22
Crack Closure Mechanisms

FCP 23
Intrinsic, extrinsic crack closure

da
= C (K )m (K max ) Extrinsic
p
dn Intrinsic

FCP 24
Aluminum - crack growth

Orientation of microstructural texture

Grain size
Strength
Environment
FCP 25
Subcritical Crack Growth

! Subcritical Crack Growth

! Measuring Crack Growth
! Use of Paris Power Law
! Variable Amplitude Loads
! Crack Closure
! Small Cracks
! Environmental Effects
FCP 26
Long cracks, short cracks
mechanically short crack - no closure
How fatigue cracks
grow and
particularly the 3-D
aspects of fatigue
long crack crack growth is not
fully understood.

nucleation - coalescence

roughness induced crack closure

FCP 27
Short Cracks, Long Cracks

FCP 28
Crack Growth at a Notch

Cracks growing from notches

dont know that that stress
field they are experiencing is
confined to the notch root.

FCP 29
Growth of Small Cracks

Here the K is the remote stress intensity factor based

on remote stresses.
FCP 30
Effects of Environment
A. Dissolution of crack tip.
B. Dissolution plus H+
acceleration.

A B C. H+ acceleration
D. Corrosion products may
retard crack growth at low
K.

C D

FCP 31
Optimum microstructure?
Smooth specimen (Kt 1) - at long lives life
dominated by initiation so pick small, high-
strength microstructures

Notched Specimen (Kt 2) - at long lives

initiation and crack growth equally important.
Avoid high tensile residuals therefore use lower
strength materials

Cracked specimen (Kt > 5) - in the absence

of tensile residuals and for near conditions,
large grain size preferred

FCP 32
Summary
! Fatigue may be thought of as a failure of the average
stress concept; consequently, fatigue usually begins at
stress concentrators which are most frequently at the
surface of a component.

! Fatigue is a localized process involving the nucleation and

growth of cracks to failure.

! Fatigue is caused by plastic deformation.

! The cyclic deformation of metals is fundamentally different

from the monotonic deformation.

FCP 33
Summary
! The greatest portion of the fatigue life is spent
nucleating and growing a fatigue crack to a length at
which it can be detected.

! The range of effective stress intensity factor, that is, the

idea of crack closure allows the growth of fatigue cracks
to be rationalized.

! The behavior of small cracks is in many respects quite

different from long cracks.

FCP 34