Proceedings of the ASME 2011 Pressure Vessels & Piping Division Conference

PVP2011
July 17-21, 2011, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

PVP2011-57473

VERY HIGH CYCLE FATIGUE BEHAVIOR AND LIFE PREDICTION OF A LOW

STRENGTH WELD METAL AT MODERATE TEMPERATURE
 
 

Ming-Liang Zhu Fu-Zhen Xuan Zhengdong Wang

Key Laboratory of Safety Key Laboratory of Safety Key Laboratory of Safety
Science of Pressurized System, Science of Pressurized System, Science of Pressurized System,
MOE, School of Mechanical MOE, School of Mechanical MOE, School of Mechanical
Engineering, East China Engineering, East China Engineering, East China
University of Science and University of Science and University of Science and
Technology Technology Technology
Shanghai, PR China Shanghai, PR China Shanghai, PR China
 
 
ABSTRACT Recently, competing modes of fatigue failure [1, 2] has been
The fatigue properties of a low strength weld metal in a introduced to emphasize the importance of improving fatigue
dissimilar welding joint in high cycle and very high cycle design in components. Nevertheless, the design method
regimes were investigated by fully reversed axial tests in air at optimization would not be realized without the elucidation of
room temperature and 370°C. A clear duplex S-N curve fatigue mechanisms in the very high cycle regime.
existed as a result of the transition of fatigue failure mode During the past few years, very high cycle fatigue (VHCF)
from surface-induced failure to internal-induced failure at has been widely investigated [3, 4, 5], and it was found that
370°C, while the S-N curve was continuously decreased at the traditional fatigue limit did not exist around 107 cycles
room temperature. A new model was successfully proposed to [6, 7, 8]. In addition, duplex or stepwise S-N curve has been
predict fatigue life, and interpret the crack initiation modes obtained together with the transition of crack initiation modes
transition from surface inclusion to interior inclusion. It was from surface to interior. In the very high cycle regime, the
concluded that cracks were initiated by competition among most common interior crack initiation sites always locate at
non-metallic inclusions, welding pores and discontinuous non-metallic inclusions [9, 10], porosities [3, 11, 12] and
microstructures in high cycle regime. While in the very high subsurface non-defects [13, 14]. It has been recognized that
cycle regime, non-metallic inclusions were the dominant many factors such as environment [14, 15], residual stress [16]
crack initiation mechanism which depended on stress level, and loading type [17, 18] can influence VHCF behavior.
inclusion size as well as inclusion depth. These fruitful findings provide prerequisites to understand
INTRODUCTION very high cycle fatigue fracture mechanisms in high strength
In many industries, the structures and materials are materials, but at the same time leaving the VHCF behavior of
7
undergoing fatigue loading exceeding 10 cycles. The low strength materials under-investigated, especially at higher
traditional safe-life or damage tolerant concepts are temperatures. In addition, up to now, there are still few models
challenged due to the super long life design requirement. proposed to predict fatigue life in the very high cycle regime.

1 Copyright © 2011 by ASME

 In evaluating the effect of inclusion on VHCF behavior of
high strength materials, Murakami et al [19] proposed the Table. 1. Chemical composition of the low strength weld
√area parameter model by assuming a non-metallic inclusion metal (wt.%).
being equivalent to a small crack. Although this model was C Si Mn Cr V Mo N Fe
always used to estimate fatigue limit in many circumstances 0.40 0.48 1.29 0.60 0.18 1.34 2.60 Balance
by incorporating micro-hardness values, data scattering was
observed in correlating with fatigue lifetime directly Table. 2. Tensile properties of the low strength weld metal.
[20, 21, 22]. Furthermore, when the √area parameter model Temperature σs (MPa) σb (MPa) δ (%) ψ (%)
was applied to calculate fatigue life by assuming the RT 715.28 782.97 25 68.36
propagation of interior cracks adhered to the Paris law 350°C 620.82 688.16 17.6 63.09
[23, 24], limitations often occurred because it was depended
RESULTS
on the choosing of inclusion size to a large extent.
Fig. 3 shows the stress amplitude versus fatigue life in the
Therefore, in the present work, VHCF tests were
very high cycle regime. Run out data are represented by
conducted in a low strength weld metal under axial loading at
arrows. It can be observed that the shape of S-N curves at
moderate temperature. The influence of welding defects such
as slag inclusions, pores on VHCF behavior was discussed room temperature and 370°C are different. A duplex shape of

and a new model was proposed to predict fatigue life.
MATERIALS AND EXPERIMENTS
Two kinds of Cr-Mo-V steels were dissimilarly welded
by submerged arc welding (SAW) technique, and subjected to
post weld tempering process. As shown in Fig. 1, fatigue
specimens were prepared from the upper side of the deep weld
metal which had a width of about 20 mm. The chemical
composition of the low alloy weld metal is shown in Table 1.
Fig. 1 shows the shape and dimensions of the specimens
cutting from weld metal. Fig. 2 presents its microstructure,
which mainly consists of the strip-like tempered bainites and
tempered martensites. The tensile properties at 25 °C and
350 °C are listed in Table 2.
Prior to testing the specimens were mechanically ground
and polished. Fatigue tests were conducted at 25 °C and
370 °C in air under axial-load control with a load ratio of -1.
The wave shape was a sine curve with the frequency being in
the range of 100 to 110 Hz. The testing temperature in furnace
was monitored by three thermocouples fixed on the specimen
surface and controlled by a resistance heating system. The
temperature fluctuation in the three positions was ensured to
be less than 1°C. A sample was denominated run out when it
8 samples are failed due to the interior non-metallic inclusions
did not fail at 1 × 10 cycles. After testing, fracture surfaces of
failed specimens were characterized by SEM.
S-N curve is observed at 370°C while the stress amplitude is
continuously decreased at room temperature. Comparing the
fatigue behavior at room temperature and 370 °C, a decreased
fatigue strength corresponding to higher temperature is easily
found.
At 370°C, the transition of failure modes from specimen
surface initiation to subsurface initiation is observed with the
decrease of stress levels. Surface initiated fracture of
specimen always occurs below 105 cycles, after which interior
crack initiations dominate the failure mode. The left solid line
indicates the transition of fracture mode from specimen
surface initiation to subsurface initiation in high cycle regime,
while the right solid line represents all the fatigue data which
are initiated from inclusions in the very high cycle regime.
Four kinds of crack initiation sites are observed, i.e., surface,
non-metallic inclusions, discontinunous microstructures and
interior pores. It is worth noting that a star mark * around the
fatigue data indicates the surface inclusion initiation. The rest
of the non-metallic inclusion initiations denote the specimens
corresponding to interior inclusion. In addition, a platform is
observed at a stress amplitude of about 300 MPa, which is
identical to the traditional fatigue limit. At room temperature,
most fatigue failures are related to surface initiation, only two
(as indicated by the mark #).

2 Copyright © 2011 by ASME

DISCUSSION
Fatigue crack initiation modes
Fig. 4 illustrates the crack initiation modes at moderate
temperature based on SEM characterization. It can be seen
that surface initiation is always related to higher stress levels
with shorter fatigue lives (Fig. 4a). With the stress amplitude
decreasing, interior defects dominated crack initiation occur.
Figs. 4b and 4c show the fracture surface with a surface
inclusion and interior inclusion, respectively. And Fig. 4d
further indicates the interior fatigue crack is initiated in an
internal pore. Unlike the fish-eye pattern shown in Figs. 4c
and 4d, a leaf-like elliptical area is observed in Fig. 4e where
fatigue crack is emanated from discontinuous microstructure.
This is in consistant with the subsurface non-defect fatigue
crack origins (SNDFCO) named by Chai [13]. For the
non-defect crack initiation, it is known that the subsurface
cracks tend to initiate from the weaker microstructures, such
as bainites in a martenites-bainites dual phase steel [25].
Nevertheless, all of these are ascribed to the mismatching
deformation behavior in the process of fatigue loading [11]. In
this work, the softer martensites-bainites interface can be
regarded as the location for formation of internal cracks and
the leaf-like elliptical area.  matrix-inclusion separation process according to the whole
Temperature dependence of high cycle and VHCF
behaviors
As for the influence of higher temperature on high cycle
and VHCF behaviors, two points should be mentioned. One is
the fatigue strength decreasing at 370°C, which is largely due
to the softening of materials and thus reduction of fatigue
resistance in crack initiation and propagation. In a mechanical
point of view, it is easier to accumulate fatigue damage in
materials with relatively lower tensile properties. Another is
the occurence of large amount of interior initiations at higher
temperature. In this respect, the process of surface oxidation at
high temperature, which can suppress surface crack nucleation
at low fatigue strain [26], is always introduced to justify the
interior initiations. Actually the suppresion of oxide layer does
exist, thus it is expected that fatigue strength and fatigue
lifetime will be increased. In addition, generally, the interior
crack initiation often has longer fatigue life [5]. However, this
contradicts with the test results in this work where the fatigue
strength is not increased at 370°C though crack initiations are
dominated by interior defects.
In this work, it is proposed that the occurence of interior
3 Copyright © 2011 by ASME
initiations are depended on different role played by internal
defects at different temperatures. In other words, the influence
of welding defects on VHCF behavior is more serious at
higher temprature than that at room temperature. Therefore, it
is very important to analysis the crack initiation characteristics
of interior welding imperfections in VHCF damage process.
Characteristics of crack initiation from interior
inclusions and pore
For the interior inclusions, Energy Dispersive
Spectrometer (EDS) analysis shows that the chemical
compositions are rich in Ca, Mg, Al and Si. It is interesting to
investigate the role of non-metallic inclusions in interior plane
cracks formation process. According to Fig. 5, both
matrix-inclusion separation (Fig. 5a) and cracking of interior
inclusion (Fig. 5b) are observed. In Fig. 5a, internal plane
crack is formed after the separation between the matrix and
inclusion, and the inclusion is almost intact while the
inclusion in Fig. 5b is cracked. It is observed in Fig. 5b that
the inclusion cracking locations are potential initiation sites,
though it seems that the main crack is also originated at which
the matrix and inclusion have been separated. In fact, the
amount of inclusion cracking is much less than
test results.
At higher temperature, the interior crack initiation
mechanisms around inclusions are depended on both stress
concentration and thermal residual stresses in the interface of
the matrix and inclusions. It is still unknown the thermal
residual stress around the inclusion is tensile or compressive
since it is difficult to obtain thermal expansion behavior of the
inclusion accurately. Nevertheless, the effect of thermal stress
is limited to the crack initiation regime because it will be
relaxed after interior cracks starting propagation. In this
respect, clear physical properties of the inclusion should be
obtained to analyze the role of thermal mismatching stresses
in the interior crack initiation process in future.
Fig. 6 shows the cracks formation behavior from interior
pore. Unlike inclusions, there is no matrix-inclusion
separation process (and thus no thermal residual stress) when
cracks initiate from the pore. In this case, the crack formation
will be easier since the pore can be regarded as a notch. This
is consistent with the fact that the number of interior plane
cracks originated from the periphery of the welding pore (Fig.
6) is much more than that around inclusion. However, it is
worth noting that only one specimen is failed by pore induced
fracture (Fig. 3). This may be related to the little existence of
pore in SAW specimens. Here the role of thermal residual
stress in interior crack initiation (promotion or suppression) is
not considered.
Fatigue life prediction model
In order to evaluate the role of inclusion in high cycle and
VHCF behaviors at moderate temperature, fatigue life is
estimated using the following equation,
{σ }
α
( area )
(1 − dinc / d ) β Nf = C
1/12
a (1)
where σa is the stress amplitude in MPa, area stands for the
critical inclusioin size in µm , d is the diameter of specimen in
2
mm, dinc is the nearest distance between the inclusion center
and specimen surface, α, β and C are fitting parameters of
material. Hence, a new fatigue life correlating parameter Z can
be defined as:
Z = σ a ( area ) (1 − dinc / d ) β
1/12
(2)
Fig. 7 illustrates the correlation between Z and Nf in both
high cycle and very high cycle regimes at 370°C by taking β =
1/4 empirically. In case of β = 0, Eq. (1) is reduced to the
traditional √area parameter model [9, 19] which does not take
the inclusion depth into account. In this work, it is obvious
that by considering the relative depth of inclusions, data
scattering are greatly reduced, especially in the very high
cycle regime. The larger the Z, the shorter the fatigue lifetime.
Therefore, the new Z parameter model can be used to estimate
fatigue life in both high cycle and very high cycle regimes.
Transition mechanisms of fatigue crack initiation
modes in high cycle and VHCF regimes
Not only the Z pamameter model can be used to predict
fatigue life, but also is the model usefull to evaluate the
transition of fatigue crack initiation modes from surface
inclusions to interior inclusions at 370°C. As shown in Fig. 7,
Z = 610 can be thought of as the threshold value for surface
inclusion initiation because surface inclusion initiated fracture
only occurs when Z is larger than 610. It can be inferred that
the threshold value for internal inclusion initiation is smaller
than that of surface inclusion. This conclusion agrees well
with the hypothesis proposed by Oguma and Nakamura [27].
In other words, the interior inclusion initiation can occur in
the whole range of Z investigated while surface inclusion
initiation only exists in case of Z ≥ Zth. In the area above Zth,
4 Copyright © 2011 by ASME
the coexistance of surface and interior inclusion initiations is
regarded as the competition of both surface and interior
inclusions. Fracture will occur in the inclusion which has
larger Z. In case of Z < Zth, the initiation site is determined by
the interior inclusions, and fatigue cracks will initiate from the
interior inclusions corresponding to the largest Z at certain
stress level. Therefore, the crack initiation mechanism of
inclusions experience the transition from the surface and
internal inclusions initiation competition process to the
interior inclusion dominated nucleation region. It should be
emphasized that the inclusion initiation mechanism depends
on stress level, inclusion size as well as inclusion depth.
As for the initiation modes in the high cycle regime, it is
proposed that the coexistence of initiation from pores,
inclusions and distontinuous microstructures is also a
competition process. As discussed before, the inclusions are
ideal initiation site because the superimposition of intrinsic
stress concentration and thermal residual stress. The welding
pore is always competitive with inclusions. If there is no
inclusion or its Z value is very low, then the welding pore
definitely becomes the crack initiation site. In this work, the
pore in specimens is expected to be rare due to the SAW
process, and thus inclusion initiation dominates the initiation
mechanism. Moreover, the discontinuous microstructure can
also originate fatigue cracks as a result of the accumulated
mismatching plastic deformation, under the condition of no
existence of inclusions or pores in the tested samples.
CONCLUSIONS
In this work, very high cycle fatigue tests under axial
loading (R = -1) were conducted in a low strength weld metal
at room temperature and 370°C. The influence of temperature
on fatigue strength was discussed and special attention was
paid to the fatigue life prediction and evaluation the role of
defect types in fatigue crack initiation mechasnims. The main
conclusions are listed as follows:
(1) A duplex S-N curve with four kinds of crack initiation
sites, i.e., surface, non-metallic inclusions, discontinunous
microstructures and interior pores was obtained at 370°C,
wheresas the S-N curve was continuously decreased at room
temperature.
(2) The fatigue strength decrease at 370°C was ascribed
to the tensile strength reduction, the suppresion effect of
surface initiation, and the more serious effects of welding
imperfections at higher temperature.
 (3) A new fatigue life prediction model (Z parameter)
involving the combination of stress level, inclusion size and
depth was developed to evaluate the role of inclusion in the
transition of crack initiation modes, and it was concluded that
with the Z value decreasing, fatigue crack initiation
transformed from the competition of surface and interior
inclusion initiations to internal inclusion dominated initiation
region.
(4) In the high cycle regime, the coexistence of different
modes of initiation was essentially a competition mechanism
among inclusions, pores and discontinuous microstructures.
Whereas in the very high cycle regime, the inclusion induced
failure depended on stress level, inclusion size as well as
inclusion depth.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful for the supports provided by
National Natural Science Foundations of China (50835003,
10972078) and the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai
(09JC1404400).
REFERENCE
[1] Cashman, G.T, 2010, "A Review of Competing Modes
Fatigue Behavior," International Journal of Fatigue, 32(3), pp.
492-496.
[2] Chandran, K.S Ravi, Chang, P, Cashman, G.T, 2010,
"Competing Failure Modes and Complex S-N Curves in
Fatigue of Structural Materials," International Journal of
Fatigue, 32(3), pp. 482-491.
[3] Wang, Q.Y, Berard, J.Y, Dubarre, A, Baudry, G, Rathery, S,
Bathias, C, 1999, "Gigacycle Fatigue of Ferrous Alloys,"
Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures,
22(8), pp. 667-672.
[4] Carstensen, J.V, Mayer, H, Brondsted, P, 2002, "Very High
Cycle Regime Fatigue of Thin Walled Tubes Made from
Austenitic Stainless Steel," Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering
Materials & Structures, 25(8-9), pp. 837-844.
[5] Sakai, T, Sato, Y, Oguma, N, 2002, "Characteristic S-N
Properties of High-Carbon-Chromium-Bearing Steel under
Axial Loading in Long-Life Fatigue," Fatigue & Fracture of
Engineering Materials & Structures, 25(8-9), pp. 765-773.
[6] Bathias, C, 1999, "There Is No Infinite Fatigue Life in
Metallic Materials," Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering
Materials & Structures, 22(7), pp. 559-565.
[7] Miller, K.J, O'Donnell, W.J, 1999, "The Fatigue Limit and
5 Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Its Elimination," Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials
& Structures, 22(7), pp. 545-557.
[8] Pyttel, B, Schwerdt, D, Berger, C, 2011, "Very High Cycle
Fatigue - Is There a Fatigue Limit?," International Journal of
Fatigue, 33(1), pp. 49-58.
[9] Murakami, Y, Yokoyama, N.N, Nagata, J, 2002,
"Mechanism of Fatigue Failure in Ultralong Life Regime,"
Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures,
25(8-9), pp. 735-746.
[10] Nie, Y.H, Fu, W.T, Hui, W.J, Dong, H, Weng, Y.Q, 2009,
"Very High Cycle Fatigue Behavior of 2000-Mpa
Ultra-High-Strength Spring Steel with Bainite-Martensite
Duplex Microstructure," Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering
Materials & Structures, 32(3), pp. 189-196.
[11] Bayraktar, Emin, Garcias, I.M, Bathias, C, 2006, "Failure
Mechanisms of Automotive Metallic Alloys in Very High
Cycle Fatigue Range," International Journal of Fatigue, 28(11),
pp. 1590-1602.
[12] Zhu, X, Shyam, A, Jones, J.W, Mayer, H, Lasecki, J.V,
Allison, J.E, 2006, "Effect of Microstructure and Temperature
on Fatigue Behavior of E319-T7 Cast Aluminum Alloy in
Very Long Life Cycles," International Journal of Fatigue,
28(11), pp. 1566-1571.
[13] Chai, Guocai, 2006, "The Formation of Subsurface
Non-Defect Fatigue Crack Origins," International Journal of
Fatigue, 28(11), pp. 1533-1539.
[14] Miao, Jiashi, M.Pollock, Tresa, Jones, J.Wayne, 2009,
"Crystallographic Fatigue Crack Initiation in Nickel-Based
Superalloy René 88dt at Elevated Temperature," Acta
Materialia, 57(20), pp. 5964-5974.
[15] Wang, Q.Y, Bathias, C, Kawagoishi, N, Chen, Q, 2002,
"Effect of Inclusion on Subsurface Crack Initiation and
Gigacycle Fatigue Strength," International Journal of Fatigue,
24(12), pp. 1269-1274.
[16] Shimatani, Yuuji, Shiozawa, Kazuaki, Nakada, Takehiro,
Yoshimoto, Takashi, Lu, Liantao, 2011, "The Effect of the
Residual Stresses Generated by Surface Finishing Methods on
the Very High Cycle Fatigue Behavior of Matrix Hss,"
International Journal of Fatigue, 33(2), pp. 122-131.
[17] Ishii, H, Yagasaki, T, Akagi, H, 2002, "Evaluation of
Giga-Cycle Fatigue Properties of Some Maraging Steels by
Intermittent Ultrasonic Fatigue Testing," Fatigue & Fracture
of Engineering Materials & Structures, 25(8-9), pp. 831-835.
[18] Shiozawa, K, Morii, Y, Nishino, S, Lu, L, 2006,
"Subsurface Crack Initiation and Propagation Mechanism in
High-Strength Steel in a Very High Cycle Fatigue Regime,"
International Journal of Fatigue, 28(11), pp. 1521-1532.
[19] Murakami, Y, 2002, Metal Fatigue - Effects of Small
Defects and Nonmetallic Inclusions, Elsevier, Oxford, UK, pp.
16.
[20] Zhang, J.M, Li, S.X, Yang, Z.G, Li, G.Y, Hui, W.J, Weng,
Y.Q, 2007, "Influence of Inclusion Size on Fatigue Behavior
of High Strength Steels in the Gigacycle Fatigue Regime,"
International Journal of Fatigue, 29(4), pp. 765-771.
[21] Yang, Z.G, Li, S.X, Zhang, J.M, Zhang, J.F, Li, G.Y, Li,
Z.B, Hui, W.J, Weng, Y.Q, 2004, "The Fatigue Behaviors of
Zero-Inclusion and Commercial 42crmo Steels in the
Super-Long Fatigue Life Regime," Acta Materialia, 52(18), pp.
5235-5241.
[22] Shiozawa, K, Murai, M, Shimatani, Y, Yoshimoto, T,
2010, "Transition of Fatigue Failure Mode of Ni-Cr-Mo
Low-Alloy Steel in Very High Cycle Regime," International
Journal of Fatigue, 32(3), pp. 541-550.
[23] Tanaka, K, Akiniwa, Y, 2002, "Fatigue Crack Propagation
Behavior Derived from S-N Data in Very High Cycle
Regime," Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials &
Structures, 25(8-9), pp. 775-784.
6 Copyright © 2011 by ASME
[24] Kobayashi, Hideo, Todoroki, Akira, Oomura, Toshikazu,
Sano, Takeru, Takehana, Tatsumi, 2006, "Ultra-High-Cycle
Fatigue Properties and Fracture Mechanism of Modified
2.25cr-1mo Steel at Elevated Temperatures," International
Journal of Fatigue, 28(11), pp. 1633-1639.
[25] Yu, Y, Gu, J.L, Shou, F.L, Xu, L, Bai, B.Z, Liu, Y.B, 2011,
"Competition Mechanism between Microstructure Type and
Inclusion Level in Determining VHCF Behavior of
Bainite/Martensite Dual Phase Steels " International Journal
of Fatigue, 33(3), pp. 500-506.
[26] Zimmermann, M, StÖcker, C, Christ, H.-J, 2011, "On the
Effects of Particle Strengthening and Temperature on the Vhcf
Behavior at High Frequency," International Journal of Fatigue,
33(1), pp. 42-48.
[27] Oguma, H, Nakamura, T, 2010, "The Effect of
Microstructure on Very High Cycle Fatigue Properties of
Ti-6Al-4V," Scripta Materialia, 63(1), pp. 32-34.
 SAW
A: CrMoV steel weld metal

B: CrMoV steel

Roughness Ra<0.2 m

r=72

5
30 50

M14
110

Fig. 1. Shape and dimensions of VHCF test specimen (dimensions in mm).

7 Copyright © 2011 by ASME

 Fig. 2. Optical micrograph showing the microstructure of the low strength weld metal.

 
 
 

8 Copyright © 2011 by ASME

 520
Room temperature
480 # Inclusions
Stress amplitude σa, MPa
440

# #
400

360 left solid line *

* * right solid line
370°C
320 Surface
Non-metallic inclusions *
280 Discontinuous microstructures platform
Interior pores
* Surface inclusions
240
4 5 6 7 8 9
10 10 10 10 10 10
Number of cycles to failure Nf , cycles

Fig. 3. S-N curve.

9 Copyright © 2011 by ASME

    
Fig.4. (a) Fig. 4. (b)

   
Fig.4. (c) Fig. 4. (d) 

 
Fig. 4. (e) 
Fig. 4. Fatigue crack initiation modes at 370°C of the low strength weld metal: (a) fracture surface (σa=420 MPa, Nf= 88201
cycles), (b) surface inclusion (σa=340 MPa, Nf= 1.02 × 106 cycles), (c) interior inclusion (σa=310 MPa, Nf= 4.76 × 107 cycles), (d)
interior pores (σa=300 MPa, Nf= 5.65 × 106 cycles) and (e) discontinuous microstructures (σa=320 MPa, Nf= 6.6 × 106 cycles).

10 Copyright © 2011 by ASME

 Fig. 5. (a)

Fig. 5. (b)
Fig. 5. Matrix-inclusion separation (a) and cracking of interior inclusion (b) in the process of interior plane crack formation.

11 Copyright © 2011 by ASME

Fig. 6. Cracks formation from interior welding pore (σa=300 MPa, Nf= 5.65 × 106 cycles).

12 Copyright © 2011 by ASME

 1300

1200 High cycle regime, β =0

High cycle regime, β =1/4
1100 Fitting curve
Very high cycle regime, β =0
1000
Very high cycle regime, β =1/4
Parameter Z

900 Fitting curve

800 *

700
Zth=610 *
*
600

500

400
5 6 7 8
10 10 10 10
Number of cycles to failure Nf , cycles
 
Fig. 7. Correlation between Z and Nf in high cycle and very high cycle regimes at 370°C.

13 Copyright © 2011 by ASME

View publication stats