Effect of stress ratio on fatigue crack growth

Effect of stress ratio on fatigue crack growth

• Crack growth rates at the same K are generally higher for high positive R
values.
• Increasing R ratio means increase in mean stress and it increases the crack
growth rates in all portions of the sigmoidal curve.
• The increase in crack growth is comparatively small in region II
• In region I and III, there is substantial variation in crack growth rate
• The effect of R ratio on fatigue crack growth behaviour is strongly material
dependent.
• The equations depicting mean stress effects are Forman’s and walker
equations. Forman's eqn. already discussed.
• Walker equation is
C ( K)
= ( ) Where C and m are Paris constants for
( )
R =0 and is a material constant. Its valaue varies from 0.3 to 1.
Effect of stress ratio on fatigue crack growth contd.

• For increasing R values, the Kth decreases by a factor

• The effect of negative stress ratios (partly compression cycles ) is less
understood and under constant amplitude loading the effect is similar to
R=0 case.
• For Region I, near threshold crack growth rates at R = -1 were shown to
be higher than the rates obtained at low values of positive test rates.
Comparison of Cyclic and monotonic plastic
zone size
Comparison of Cyclic and monotonic plastic
zone size contd.
• Sy in the figure shows yield strength and y ,the stress at the crack tip
in the y direction.
• The monotonic plastic zone (size 2 ry ) produced due to the maximum
tensile load at A is shown in figure (b).
• During the descending part of the loading cycle, as it reaches the
point B in the load cycle, the local stress near the crack tip is reduced.
• This unloading causes the development of a cyclic plastic zone size
2 ry’ as shown in figure ( c ).
• The stresses within the cyclic plastic zone are compressive and
outside the plastic zone the compressive stress decreases and
becomes tensile.
• Since the cyclic plastic zone is comparatively less than the monotonic
plastic zone ,LEFM can be applied to fatigue crack growth situations.
Crack closure

• In 1970 Elber discovered the concept of crack closure

• Elber postulated that crack closure decreased the fatigue crack
growth by reducing the effective stress intensity range.
• He found that fatigue cracks are closed for a significant portion of the
load cycle due to residual plastic deformation left in the wake of a
growing crack.
Plastic wake
Crack closure contd.

• When a specimen is loaded at Kmax and Kmin ,the crack faces are in
contact below K op ( Stress intensity factor at which the crack opens).
• Elber postulated that the portion of the cycle below K op does not
contribute to fatigue crack because there is no change in crack tip strain
during cyclic loading of a closed crack.
• He defined Effective stress intensity range, Keffe = Kmax - K op and
modified the Paris –Erdogan equation as follows.
= C ( Keffe)
The effective stress intensity ratio defined by Elber is
K − K op
U = max
Kmax − K min
Mechanisms of fatigue crack closure ( S. Suresh
and Ritchie RO)
Mechanisms of crack closure

1. Plasticity induced crack closure

Due to residual stresses ( compressive) at the plastic wake

2. Roughness induced crack closure

Due to displacement mismatch between the upper and lower crack faces
Course grained material has higher Kth due to higher closure load due to high
roughness.
3. Oxide induced crack closure
Oxide debris or corrosion products when wedged between crack faces
4. Viscous fluid induced crack closure
Fluid act as a wedge between crack faces
5. Stress induced martensitic transformation
Residual stresses in the transformed zone can cause crack closure
The various closure mechanisms depends on microstructure, yield strength and
environment.
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