Fatigue Fract. Engng Mater. Struct. Vol. 15, No. 12, pp. 1223-1236, 1992 8756· 758Xj92 $5.

8756· 758Xj92 $5.00 + 0.00

Printed in Great Britain Fatigue of Engineering Materials Ltd

THE EFFECTS OF MEAN AND ALTERNATING

SHEAR STRESSES ON SHORT FATIGUE
CRACK GROWTH RATES
C. H. WANG and K. J. MILLER
SIRIUS, Faculty of Engineering, University of Sheffield,P.O. Box 600, Mappin Street, Sheffield81 3JD,
England

(Received in final form 14 June 1992)

Abstract-Torsion fatigue tests were conducted at room temperature on plain specimens of a 1.99%
NiCrMo steel subjected to various combinations of mean and alternating shear stress. The growth
behaviour of both microstructurally short cracks (MSC) and physically short cracks (pSC) has been
studied. Mean shear stress was found to playa fundamental role in promoting both MSC and PSC cracks.
The empirical Brown-Hobson model, relating the alternating shear stress (or strain) to the short crack
growth rate, is modified to incorporate the influence of mean shear stress in both the MSC and PSC
growth regimes. The investigtion of the two crack growth equations leads to a satisfactory prediction of
the fatigue endurance curves determined for a variety of mean and alternating shear stress levels.

INTRODUCTION

The effect of mean stress is of great importance to engineers, since the superposition of a high static
mean load and a very low fluctuating load are frequent long-life design requirements. Furthermore,
economic pressures to use materials more efficiently has led to more components working at stress
levels close to the yield stress. Both these conditions frequently occur; for example in high tensile
steel bolt fasteners.
Design calculations for such situations are invariably based on either conventional plain
specimen fatigue endurance curves for different positive but low mean stress levels, or more usually
via empirical relationships expressed in the form of Goodman-, Soderberg- or Gerber-type
diagrams. Both these approaches, however, have serious problems, particularly with regard to
stress concentrating features. One such problem is that the limited amount of data available are
usually generated only from axial tension tests. No data could be found that specially refer to the
effect of high mean stress on the fatigue fracture process itself, e.g. the initiation and growth of
the initial stage I short fatigue cracks which, along with the stage I to stage II transition [I], can
dominate the lifetime of components, particularly those made of high tensile steels.
In order to obtain data that could form the basis for a physical understanding of Goodman-
and Gerber-type diagrams, fatigue tests have been carried out to determine the behaviour of both
short stage I (shear) and stage II (tensile) cracks subjected to a high mean shear stress.

EXPERIMENTS

The material used in the present tests is a 1.99% NiCrMo steel of chemical composition (%wt)
0.29 C, 0.21 Si, 0.55 Mn, om S, 0.005 P, 1.99 Ni, J.3 Cr, 0.57 Mo, 0.09 V, remainder ferrite. The

1223
1224 C. H. WANG and K. J. MILLER

~40-.L40_.I, 45'401_
1--
~: 1201 _
Fig. 1. Specimen geometry (dimensions in mm).

material had been steam quenched from 850cC, then tempered at ?lOcC to give the following
mechanical properties: 0.2% proof stress 710 MPa, tensile strength 840 MPa, hardness 280 HV,
percentage elongation 18.3 and percentage reduction in area 63. The material has a bainitic
microstructure with some sulphide inclusions aligned along the specimen axis [2]. A study of the
cyclic deformation behaviour showed that the material cyclically softens [3]. The torsion specimens,
with a minimum diameter of 8.0 mm, see Fig. I, had a slight hour-glass profile to limit the areas
of fatigue crack initiation in order to facilitate the production and observation of replicas. After
mechanical polishing, involving a final finish with I /lm grit, the specimens were etched in 2% Nital
to assist the observation of short cracks and their relationship with the microstructure.
All torsion tests were conducted in laboratory air at room temperature under shear stress-con-
trolled conditions in which both the mean and alternating shear stresses were maintained constant
after the first few cycles; detailed descriptions of test procedures are presented in Refs [2] and [4].
Eight specimens were subjected to approximately the same alternating shear stress but a different
mean shear stress, and another three tests were conducted under different alternating and mean
shear stress levels; see Table I. A sinusoidal loading waveform with frequencies between 1 and 3 Hz
was used.
Tests were either stopped when surface cracks were 3 mm long (in order to protect the fracture
surfaces), or continued until total fracture. The failure of specimens under stress-controlled
conditions is defined as when the surface cracks were 3 mm long. The fatigue lives ranged from
a few thousand cycles to over a million cycles. A replication technique was used to monitor the
initiation and propagation behaviour of surface cracks. Scanning electron microscope (SEM)
observations were also made of the fracture surface after fatigue tests.

CRACK GROWTH PHASES

Typical crack growth data are presented in Fig. 2 but data from all experiments are provided
in Ref. [2]. Two different crack initiation sites were found, i.e. in base material and at inclusions.
The dominant cracks, however, are invariably those which started from inclusions.
The fatigue process can be divided into three distinct phases for those cracks which were initiated
in base material away from inclusion sites: (I) a period in which no crack shorter than 15 /lm (the
resolution of the replica technique in the present case) can be detected; this is designated as the
plasticity localization phase; see below. (2) Initial growth of a crack at high speed followed by
deceleration; this is designated as the microstructurally short crack (MSC) growth phase. (3) Crack
growth at an increasing speed, this is designated as the physically short crack (PSC) growth phase.
 Effects of shear stresses on short fatigue crack growth rates 1225

Table I. Results of torsional tests

Stress Mean
r 'ro No ex 105 d B X 105
(MPa) (MPa) No. of crack (cycles) (I/cycle) (pm) (I/cyde)
I 146,740 0.474 217 0.512
288 0 2 132,500 1.212 124 0.229
3 0 1.685 164 0.460
4 0 166 0.100

288 0 1 64,571 1.27 120 0.463

2 64,571 0.34 170 0.491

282 20 1 44,311 1.72 110 0.351

2 44,311 2.39 167 0.339

I 60,050 3.50 211 0.293

2 79,008 4.27 105 0.752
280 52 3 0 2.20 217 0.392
4 60,050 1.88 251 0.423

I 0 1.76 207 1.05

2 0 6.01 146 0.550
278 79 3 36,617 2.26 170 0.509
4 26,440 3.06 194 0.548

1 0 5.29 111 1.00

2 36,155 3.61 85 1.473
277 84 3 16,516 5.85 73 1.092
4 0 3.11 223 0.698

1 0 7.17 131 1.676

2 13,504 2.15 290 1.996
280 90 3 28,156 5.22 151 1.314
4 28,156 2.84 346 1.860

I 14,123 7.86 85 2.788

2 21,267 3.93 198 0.740
284 112 3 0 0.9234
6 3980 7.34 154 0.862

1 0 12.85 171 2.254

2 26,492 7.98 88 1.844
280 115 3 30,511 14.82 129 1.588
4 11,627 15.73 48 2.903

I 4043 29.9 335 2.671

2 0 21.8 180 3.350
293 118 3 4634 18.4 160
4 11,566 21.1 139
5 14,230 15.77 222

1 8132 38.66 143 2.641

330 0 2 8132 18.52 158 3.435
3 0 5.28 234 1.762

However, since inclusions were aligned to one maximum shear plane, those cracks which led to
failure were found to initiate immediately from the inclusion sites and, since no plastic localization
period was observed in this instance, the fatigue lifetime was composed of the MSC and PSC phases
only.
1226 C. H. WANG and K. J. MILLER

e
,;;
1000 (b)

:
'"
c 100
~
...
o
...
0

eo •
"
0 10
• •
0
~ •
~
"
en•
"•
en 1
5 x 10.5 10' 0 10' 2]1. 104 3 x 104
Cycles N Cycles N

1000
(c)
e,;;
: 100
'"
c
~
...
v
•0"
10
•0
~ •
"•
en
1
0 2 x 104 4 x 104 6 x 104
Cycles N

Fig. 2. Torsion crack growth data; different symbols are for different cracks. (a) t"m = 0, 'fa = 288 MPa;
(b) 't"m = 118 MPa, 'fa = 293 MPa; and (e) 't"m = 0, 't"a = 330 MPa.

THE PLASTICITY LOCALIZATION PHASE

An examination of those cracks which started from inlcusion-free zones reveals that a
micro-plasticity localization period (denoted by No) is required to induce the creation of a 15 I'm
crack without the presence of a stress concentration. Table I shows some of the results from the
present torsion tests. This phase of fatigue lifetime can be ascribed to two reasons, namely:
(1) The cyclic softening characteristic of the material. Since crack initiation is primarily due to
the yielding of surface grains and the formation of persistent slip bands, cyclic softening is
sometimes required to develop such a process, particularly when the initial bulk state is essentially
elastic. In other words, cyclic softening materials [3], like the present steel, can experience a
transition from a non-critical cyclic stress-strain state, in which fatigue crack initiation and short
crack growth is not possible, to a critical state after a certain extent of cyclic softening that induces
some localized plasticity.
(2) The bainitic microstructure of the material. Prior austenite grains (approx. 50 I'm in
diameter) are divided into bundles (approx. 10I'm in diameter) which are composed of small
packets of about 31'm in diameter. The boundaries between packets and the boundaries between
bundles are of a high angle and pose a strong resistance to the movement of dislocations and
consequently the passage of a crack in the initial phase of the lifetime. Therefore it is possible that
during the period No, a very small crack is growing slowly, but cannot be resolved by the replication
 Effects of shear stresses on short fatigue crack growth rates 1227

5 x 105

Equation 1

. lOS
-/
.s -- ---- --J!..
"0....... ...... ......
o
>.
o
c
---- ---- ---- o
Z
------ ~-

......-
x 1.50

x 0.67

10' LJ.__ ---.J'--__ L-__ --'--

__ ---'-
__
o 30 60 90 120
Mean shear stress (MPa)

Fig. 3. Variation of No with mean shear stress when the alternating shear stress amplitude is approx.
280 MP a.

technique; its growth rate being inhibited by the microstructure although eventually assisted by
cyclic softening.
Mean shear stress is found to significantly reduce the duration of the plasticity localization phase,
as shown in Fig. 3. This is because an increase in mean shear stress, and hence the maximum shear
stress for a given shear stress amplitude causes yielding of more surface grains; alternatively the
alternating stress level required for plasticity localization and crack initiation is reduced.
Since it has been shown that the polarity of the mean shear stress has no effect on crack initiation
and propagation in isotropic material [4], only the magnitude of mean shear stress is used in the
present work. Hence, the best fit regression relationship between the mean shear stress (rm) and
the number of cycles (No) to induce the creation of an observable crack in an inclusion-free zone
is given by
No ~ 98486 x e-I'ml/46.6 (I)

This equation and the experimental results are shown in Fig. 3.

This phase, however, may be neglected for dominant cracks (e.g. failure cracks) for the present
test conditions, since the stress concentration created by the inclusions instantaneously induce
observable cracks. It follows that the MSC and the PSC growth phases are the most important
phases of fatigue lifetime.

THE MSC GROWTH PHASE

In this regime the short fatigue cracks eventually slow down due to the obstructions to growth
provided by the microstructure. Crack growth rates are calculated by the secant method. While
the dominant cracks start promptly from inclusions, others were initiated in inclusion free zones
after a plasticity localization period. The plasticity localization phase (No) is neglected when
deriving the initial crack growth rate. Figure 4 shows the short crack growth rate data under various
mean and alternating shear stress conditions. It can be seen that the majority of the cracks initially
exhibit a slowing down in growth rate with an increase of crack length. The apparent scatter in
crack growth rate exhibited by all cracks for each and every stress state is due to the periodic
 1228 C. H. WANG and K. J. MILLER

~
•
'"ils-,
(a) ~ (b)
E
10-2 10-2

'se"' Eq.6

,e
Eq.6 A 0 0
10-3 A
0
0
'" 10-3 A
., A A
10-4
'"e
0 A
0 0
10-4
lO-s •
0

20 40 100 200 500 1000 •

~
~ 20 50 100 200 600
Surface crack length (~m)
'"" Surface crack length (Jlm)

~ ~
..-
'"il•
0

e
(e)
'"il•
~
e-,
(d)
0 0 E Eq,6 A

'ee"' 10-2 Eq.6 o ~oc

Eq.t5

's•-"' 10-2

,.,
'"
~
0
A
+
0
0
%
°li o~+A;,; C
¢O +
&"0 0
0
T
~
0

,e
'"
0>

10-3
0
go ., 10-3 0

'"e
0 + '"e
0
A
~
0 0 0 0
•
0
10-4 • A
•
't: 20 50 100 200 400 700
0
.;: 10-4
0
20 50 100 200 600

'" Surface crack length (urn)

'"" Surface crack length (um)

~
'"il•

-s-,
0
(e)
0
..
.e
0

0
10-1 (f)
E
Eq.6 0
Ii
'e"'
s 0
'"'
s
Eq.6 0

,
Eq.15 0

...
0
~
10-2

00
a-a
iFA
00
,e
•~
...
.,
10-2
A 0

'"'"•
0 0
0 A
'"•
-
0
+
-
0

0
0
to
•
0
10-3 •
- 10-3
0
.:! 10 50 100 200 600 •
't: 10 50 100 200 700
'"" Surface crack length (um} '"" Surface crack length (gm)

Fig. 4. Surface crack growth rate vs crack length; different symbols are for different cracks. (a) 't
m
= 0,
'. ~ 288 MPa; (b) 'rn ~ 52 MPa, '. ~ 280 MPa; (e) 'rn ~ 79 MPa, '. ~ 280 MPa; (d) 'rn ~ 112 MPa,
<. = 284 MPa; (e) !m = 118 MPa, '. = 293 MPa; and (f) t'm = 0 MPa, 'fa= 330 MPa.
 Effects of shear stresses on short fatigue crack growth rates 1229

deceleration and then acceleration as a crack respectively approaches and passes the snccessive
microstructural barriers in the crack path.
This large amount of scatter in the short crack growth phase makes modelling very difficult for
complex microstructures. Additionally there are only a few cracks that can be analysed per state
of mean stress and alternating stress. Accordingly an empirical model, the Brown-Hobson
model [5,6], is adopted in the present work. The main advantage of this model is its simplicity. Its
empirical formulation is derived directly from experimental results. For the MSC growth phase,
the crack growth rate is expressed as

da,
dN = C(d - a,) ~ Ao<:(d - a,) (2)

where C is dependent on the applied mean and alternating stresses, and Ao is assumed constant
for a specified mean shear stress. The shear stress amplitude r, is used here instead of !iy, or !iy,
(the plastic and total shear strain ranges, respectively), because it is more reliably determined in
experiments. However, the shear stress range, !i< (=2<,) can be related to the cyclic plastic strain
or total strain range by invoking the constitutive relationship derived from the cyclic stress-strain
behaviour of the material.
A "least squares" fit calculation was performed on those experimental points, where da,/dN was
decreasing for increasing crack length, in order to obtain both the values of C and d. Here d was
the value of a, where the extrapolated "least squares" equation intersected with the crack length
axis. The values of C and d from a total of 40 cracks are presented in Table I.
The maximum value of C for each stress state is used to obtain an upper bound solution for
the MSC growth. For the case of fully reversed loading «m = 0), a power law relationship is
assumed between the alternating stress level and the values of C, and so,

C = 3.69 x 10-"<:'07 (l/cycle) «m = 0) (3)

where <, is in MPa, and da,/dN is in I'm/cycle. The experimental data together with the above
equation are shown in Fig. 5(a). Here the value of the exponent of 19.07 on the shear stress
amplitude is equivalent to an exponent of only 1.49 on the plastic strain amplitude [2].

10-3
(a) Zero mean shear stress (b) Constant shear stress range e 560 MPa

~
-
<J

s
•E 10-4
-
<J

~
•E
10-4
EP

-
«
«
Po ...-•
es

D
D
DDD
D
D
a
D
a
D

10-~ C
10-5
260 300 340 380 0 30 60 90 120 ISO
Shear stress amplitude (MPa) Mean shear stress (MPa)

Fig. 5. Parameter C: (a) as a function of shear stress amplitude; 1'm = 0 and (b) as a function of mean
shear stress; e, = 280 MPa.
1230 C. H. WANG and K. J. MILLER

The plot of the C values under a constant alternating shear stress as a function of mean shear
stress level is shown in Fig. 5(b). Once again an upper bound solution is chosen and the best fit
relationship is
C = 1.715 x 10-5 el'ml/62.6 = AD x 28019.07 for" = 280 MPa (4)

and so we have AD = 3.69 x 10-52 el'ml/62.6 and a = 19.07.

Therefore, for an arbitrary combination of mean and alternating stress, the dependence of C on
the mean and alternating shear stresses can be obtained by assuming that the effects of mean and
alternating shear stress can be uncoupled; that is the parameter AD does not vary with alternating
stress level. Then
C = 3.69 x 10-52 el'ml/62.6, :,.07 (I/cyde). (5)

This model is supported by the data of test No.2 ('m ~ 118 MPa and" = 293 MPa). The maximum
value of C is 29.8 x 10-5 and the prediction from equation (5) is 26.8 x 10-5•
The decelerating growth pattern of MSCs is attributable to the effect of microstructure. The term
d is the distance between two predominant microstructural barriers for a specific crack. Due to the
random nature of the grain structure, d values vary from crack to crack. Figure 6 shows some of
the d values against the mean shear stress level. It can be seen from this figure and the data in
Table I that the mean shear stress level does not modify the upper and lower bound of d values,
neither does the alternating shear stress level which confirms that d is a micorstructural measure
for this material. Therefore the average of all d values can provide an average measure of the
resistance of this specific microstructure to the growth of short fatigue cracks. For the present
material, the average value of d equals 167/lm with a standard deviation of 67/lm.
The MSC growth rate under mean shear stress loading is thus given' by

~~ = 3.69 x 10-52 el'ml/62.6,;,.07 (d - a,) (/lm/cycle) (6)

where d = 167 /lm and the shear stresses are measured in MPa. This equation is drawn in Fig. 4
along with the experimental crack growth rate data. Satisfactory correlation can be observed

400

300 c
Ee,
~ c
-e
8 cD a
s" 200
167 11m a 0
•e --~--------~----~
c c c
•" c d'
0- • 100
c o c c c
g CD

0
0 25 50 75
Mean shear stress (MPa)
Fig. 6. Values of d vs mean shear stress.
 Effects of shear stresses on short fatigue crack growth rates 1231

between crack length and the crack growth rate under various mean and alternating shear stress
values.

THE PSC GROWTH PHASE

The secant method is also adopted to calculate the PSC crack growth rate using the crack growth
data obtained from replicas. In this phase the microstructure continues to influence the crack
growth (but with a decreasing role). The oscillation of the growth rates renders the successful
application of the "least squares" fit approach inappropriate. However, Fig. 2 suggests that the
logarithm of the surface crack length (In a,) shows a good linearity with respect to the number of
cycles (N) when cracks are longer than certain lengths. This means that the crack growth rate is
approximately proportional to crack length as indicated by

da, _ d(ln a,) _ B

dN-~ xa,- oa,. (7)

Thus, it is not unreasonable to adopt the fracture mechanics approach to simplify the analysis with
the assumption that crack growth rate increases in proportion to crack length. In order to simulate
the fatigue limit and non-propagating cracks, a threshold crack length is also introduced in the
Brown-Hobson model leading to

da, ( ) (8)
dN=Bas-as,th =Bas-D

where Band as,th are dependent on both r, and Tm,

Difficulties have arisen in obtaining the values of Band a"th directly from the crack growth rate
data, for example by using the "least squares" method. A new approach is therefore required here
which should at least offer a reasonable prediction to the length of cracks. From the previous
analyses, the fatigue process consists of three phases, (i) a plasticity localization period No which
induces, by cyclic softening, the creation of a fatigue crack, and (ii) a crack propagation phase
which is concerned with both the MSC growth phase and the PSC growth phase. The period of
crack propagation will be denoted by Np• In other words, N = No + Np, where Np can be obtained
by integrating the two crack growth equations namely equations (6) and (8),

N p= N -No=
f "',
a"o
da
C(d - a)
+ f"
as,l
da
B(a - as,th)
=-
1 I d - a,.o 1 I _ace'
n---+-
C d - as,1 B
n
_-_a-O,.t=.h
as,l - as.th
(9)

where a,1 is the crack length when the two lines represented by equations (6) and (8) intersect each
other, hence,

a - Cd + Ba"h' (10)
',1- C+B

Inserting the above equation into equation (9), gives

C(d - aUh) B (C + B)(d - a"o)

In(a, - a"th) ~ B(N - No) + In C +B - C In B(d - a"h) . (II)
1232 C. H. WANG and K. J. MILLER

Here the values of C and d have been obtained for each crack as shown in Table I. For cracks
initiated in an inclusion-free zone the value of a,o is taken as 2/lm. For cracks that initiated at
inclusions a,o is taken as 80 /lm. As seen in Table' I the average of d for all cracks is 167 /lm. The
value of No is directly read from the experimental data. Either B or a"lh must be determined first
in order to compute the other, however the large scatter encountered in the short crack growth
regime makes it necessary to simplify the calculation.
An assumption is now made to enable this calculation to be performed. An increase in stress
level will assist in decreasing the microstructural barrier effect and reduce the fatigue endurance,
This means the increase of stress can reduce the threshold crack size, but the value of B increases
with the increase in stress level. Due to the competition between the increase in B and the reduction
in Gs,th, it may be a good approximation to assume that Bas,th or D is constant. It has been reported
in the literature [5] that the threshold value D is independent of the stress range for fully reversed
loading, but LEFM was adopted in [5] for want of a better approach.
In the case of a low stress level and long fatigue life, the value of a,.ch must be very close to the
value of d since the fatigue limit corresponds to the condition when a,ch = d. For simplicity, the
value of a,ch for stress state rm = 0 and r, = 280 MPa (failure occurred at about one million cycles)
was taken to be 152u m. The corresponding B value was calculated by using equation (II) for the
six cracks in two specimens at zero mean stress state. Calculations were carried out only for data
points where crack lengths were longer than 200 /lm. The average of the computed D values, which
equals 5,1 x 1O-4/lm/cycle, is considered to be a characteristic value for the present material for
any shear stress level and stress ratio, A further repeated computation was then carried out for
the other 31 recorded cracks. In these calculations a"h was increased from zero to a value for which
D was equal to 5,I X 1O-4/lm/cycle. The results a~e presented in Table I.
It can be seen from Table 1 that the B values, so determined from D /a", , are dependent on both
the mean and the alternating shear stress levels. In order to obtain an upper bound to the crack
growth rate, the maximum value of B for each stress state is used in the following analyses. Figure 7
shows the plot of the maximum B values against alternating and mean shear stresses. The best fit
relationships are
B = 1.09 x 10-34r~J.712 ;when 'fm = 0 (12)
B = 4.47 X 10-6 el'ml/66.5 ;when r, = 280 MPa. (13)

10--4 10--4
(a) Zero mean shear stress (b) Constant stress range - 560 MPa

..
•c
..
•
B
;;
E
10-5 •
8
10-5
••• ••
e, •
C
'"
10-6 10-6
2S0 300 3S0 0 30 60 90 120 ISO

Shear stress amplitude (MPa) Mean shear stress (MPa)

Fig. 7. Parameter B (a) as a function of shear stress amplitude; tm =0 and (b) as a function of mean shear
stress; La = 280 MPa.
 Effects of shear stresses on short fatigue crack growth rates 12))

0.020

- 0.016
~
u

i
Z
0.012

0.008
~
-e
0.004

o 80 160 240 320 400

Surface crack length (J.1m)

Fig. 8. Calculated short crack growth rates in torsion. Curve A: La = 280 MPa and fm = 100 MPa; Curve
B: r. = 3IOMPa and rm =0 MPa; and Curve C: f. =280MPa and fm =0 MPa.

Following the same approach used in the preceding section the above two equations can be
combined to provide the general equation,

(14)

The PSC growth rate, therefore, is given by

(IS)

where D = 5.1 X 10-4 I'm/cycle and shear stress values are quoted in MPa. Figure 4 shows that
the present model with the above-derived values of Band D provides a satisfactory correlation to
the experimental crack growth rate data.
We now have a complete set of equations [equations (6) and (IS)] from which fatigue lifetime
can be calculated. Figure 8 illustrates the changes in crack growth behaviour with changes in the
mean and alternating shear stresses. From the present test conditions it is clear that both an increase
in the shear stress amplitude while maintaining the mean shear stress constant and an increase in
the mean shear stress while maintaining the shear stress amplitude constant, increases the crack
growth rate in both the MSC and P5C growth phases.
However, the cross-over behaviour of the upper curves of Fig. 8 would appear to suggest, albeit
on limited data and only one material, that the shear stress amplitude is a more important
parameter in the MSC regime while the mean shear stress is more important in the PSC regime.

FATIGUE LIFE PREDICTION

The total fatigue lifetime is the summation of the plasticity localization period (No), the MSC
growth period (Np.MSC)and the PSC propagation period (Np,psc)' The period of plasticity
localization is strongly dependent on the material microstructures. For example, the material used
in the present investigation has a high population of inclusions aligned to one maximum shear
plane. Therefore, since dominant cracks start easily from inclusions, the plasticity localization
1234 C. H. WANG and K. J. MILLER

't
m (MPa)
D 0
I>. 52
D 80
e 115
+ 20
• 90

lQ:5 106

Predicted life cycles

Fig. 9. Comparison between actuallife and calculated life for various values of mean shear stress and
a constant shear stress amplitude of 280 MPa C±4 MPa). Failure crack length = 3 mm.

period can be neglected. Consequently, the total predicted fatigue life can be expressed as the
summation of only the MSC and the PSC propagation periods,

"'·' da f"' da =- 1 Iog---'

d - a,o +-1 Iog ar~ a"h
N r=
f a.,a C(d - a)
+
as,l Ba - D C d - as,l B as,1
'.
- as,th
(16)

here a,.o is taken to be 80 I'm, the size of the largest inclusion. The final failure crack size af is taken
to be 3 mm and barrier size d equals 167I'm. The values of C and B are given by equations (5)
and (14), and a s, J is given by equation (10). The threshold crack size a s,th is given by DIB.
The calculated lifetime of the eleven tests together with the experimental results are shown in
Fig. 9, all predictions are within a ± 50% error band, indicating that satisfactory predictions have
been achieved. Figure 10 presents theoretical S-N curves at four different mean shear stress levels

350
~
~ D

s'" (0)

=
;;• 300 ................................
o ........................
~<.
~
" 0':<f.79),
• (l18) (112J'1.. 1>.(52) DD

'"• (llS) ......

(8~)
<, .
...
...
(0)(0)

"
•
';:l
'tm (MPa) .......

••
"•
-----
_._.-
sg80 ................
~ ---11S
230 l..- ...L. .L__

2 x 104 lOS 106

Cycles to failure

Fig. 10. Comparison of experimental data with calculated fatigue endurance curves. Numbers in
parentheses are experimental mean shear stress values in MPa.
 Effects of shear stresses on short fatigue crack growth rates 1235

together with the experimental data, Consequently constant lifetime curves (e.g. Goodman-type
diagrams) could also be predicted in a similar manner simply by integrating the present two phases
of short crack growth, e.g. equations (6) and (15).

DISCUSSION

The experimental results reveal that Ihe mean shear stress enhances the crack growth rate. Since
little or no friction occurs between crack faces as witnessed from fracto graphs, and no crack closure
is involved for short shear cracks in torsion [2,4], the effect of mean shear stress cannot be correlated
on the basis of an "effective stress" as in push-pull or axial loading tests. It can be concluded that
mean shear stress plays a fundamental role in promoting shear crack growth.
Two kinds of crack path were found in the torsion tests. Some cracks (mainly dominant cracks)
bifurcated at the tips of stage I cracks and then propagated in the tensile mode. Others followed
a zig-zag path propagating in mixed mode (see Refs [2]and [4]). For those cracks which bifurcated
and propagated in mode I, the applied mean shear stress can induce a tensile mean stress, or a
compressive mean stress, on one of the two 45 planes inclined to the maximum shear plane. Thus,
0

only the growth of the one branch crack subjected to the tensile mean stress is favoured whereas
the other branch is hindered or arrested in its growth by the action of the mean compressive stress.
For those cracks which propagated by a transient mixed mode I + II along a zig-zag path, the
mean shear stress could also intensify the plastic deformation at the crack tip. Additionally, the
mean shear stress could speed up the transition from stage I (mode II) to stage II (mode I) growth
or even eliminate the transient phase if a high mean shear stress is operative.

CONCLUSIONS

The following conclusions may be drawn from the present investigation:

(1) In the present material short cracks were found to initiate and grow from two sources
(a) from inclusion-matrix interfaces, or (b) from matrix-inclusion free zones. The former
cracks initiated immediately and were the dominant cracks which led to failure.
(2) Short cracks which grew from inclusion free zones required a plasticity localization period
No during which cyclic softening occurred thereby eventually providing the required
plasticity to propagate the short cracks.
(3) During the plasticity localization period no crack growth could be detected. Both the mean
and alternating shear stress playa significant role in this phase. For a constant alternating
shear stress r, = 280 MPa, the number of cycles spent in this phase is given by

(4) Both mean and alternating shear stresses are found to increase the microstructurally short
crack (MSC) growth rate under torsional loading (stage I, mode II cracks). The MSC
growth rate can be expressed as,

~~ ~ 3.69 X 10-52 el'ml/62.6r:907(d

- G,) (I'm/cycle)

where d = 167 I'm and is independent of the mean (tm) and alternating (t,) shear stress
levels expressed in MPa.
1236 C. H. WANG and K. J. MILLER

(5) The physically short crack (PSC) growth phase is also strongly influenced by the mean and
alternating shear stresses, i.e,
da
_5 = 1.09 x IO-34e!fml/66.5t~1.7l2as_D (.urn/cycle)
dN
where D = 5.1 X 10-4 I'm/cycle and stresses are in MPa.
(6) Satisfactory predictions of the fatigue lifetime under various mean and alternating shear
stress levels have been achieved by integrating and summing the above short crack growth
equations.
Ack nowledgements-e-- The authors acknowledge the assistance of GEC-Alsthom who supplied the material for experiments
and the British Council and Chinese government who provided the funds for one of the authors (c. H. W.).

REFERENCES

l. P. J. E. Forsyth (1961) A two stage process of fatigue crack growth. In Proceedings of Crack: Propagation
Symposium, Cranfield, pp. 76-94.
2. C. H. Wang (1990) The effects of mean stresses on short fatigue crack growth behaviour. Ph.D thesis,
University of Sheffield.
3. K. J. Miller (1970) Cyclic behaviour of materials. J. Strain Analysis 5, 185-192.
4. C. H. Wang and K. J. Miller (1991) The effect of mean shear stress on torsional fatigue behaviour. Fatigue
Fract. Engng Mater. Struct. 14, 293-307.
5. M. W. Brown (1986) Interfaces between short, long and non-propagating cracks. In The Behaviour of
Short Fatigue Cracks (Edited by K. J. Miller and E. R. de los Rios), EGF Publication 1, pp. 423-439.
MEP, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London.
6. P. D. Hobson, M. W. Brown and E. R. de los Rios (1986) Two phases of short crack growth in a medium
carbon steel. In The Behaviour of Short Fatigue Cracks (Edited by K. J. Miller and E. R. de los RiDS),
EGF Publication 1, pp. 441-459. Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London.