International Journal of Fatigue 145 (2021) 106002

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International Journal of Fatigue

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfatigue

Fatigue performance of additive manufactured metals under variable

amplitude service loading conditions including multiaxial stresses and
notch effects: Experiments and modelling
Reza Molaei, Ali Fatemi *
Mechanical Engineering, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Additive manufacturing technology has gained significant attention in recent years. However, due to lack of
Additive manufacturing sufficient understanding of their fatigue behavior under service loading conditions, design of critical load car­
Variable amplitude loading rying parts using this technique is still at early stages. These conditions include multiaxial stress states, notches
17-4 PH Stainless Steel
and stress concentrations, and variable amplitude load cycles. Some of the distinguishing features of AM metals
Ti-6Al-4V
Multiaxial fatigue
as compared to the conventionally fabricated metals include defects, surface roughness, anisotropy and build
orientation effects, and residual stresses due to the fast solidification during the fabrication process. These factors
resulting from AM processes may significantly affect the fatigue performance of AM parts under multiaxial
variable amplitude loading. In this work, unnotched and notched fatigue behavior of two commonly used AM
metals with different surface roughness conditions were studied under variable amplitude multiaxial loads. Both
crack initiation approach using critical plane-based model and fracture mechanics approach using crack growth
from the rough surface or surface defects at the notch were used to estimate the fatigue lives. Fatigue estimations
are then compared to the experimental results.

multiaxial variable amplitude loadings. The anisotropy resulting from

1. Introduction
Even though Additive Manufacturing (AM) as a state-of-the-art
process has gained significant attention in recent years, understanding
of their fatigue behavior is far less than their wrought counterparts. The
distinguishing features of AM act in a synergistic manner and present
additional challenges to the task of performing accurate fatigue life
analysis as compared to the conventionally fabricated materials. A wide
range of variables and many process parameters result in various mi­
crostructures, defect characteristics and directionality effects, surface
roughness profiles, and residual stresses. Each of these factors by itself
adds its own degree of complexity to the task of fatigue life estimations.
Not only the stress state varies with time in variable amplitude multi­
axial load histories, but also it mostly acts in a non-proportional manner.
Although fatigue analysis procedure for multiaxial variable amplitude
loading can be quite complex, yet is a realistic condition in most typical
applications [1].
While the aforementioned effects have been studied to some extent
for the conventionally fabricated wrought metals, for example in [1,2],
no such comprehensive studies yet exist for AM metals subjected to
microstructure and directional Lack of Fusion (LOF) defects could
significantly affect the fatigue performance and cracking behavior of AM
metals under complex loadings. Depending on the loading history and
cumulative nature of the damage, a variety of planes could experience
high amount of damage (not necessarily the weak build plane which is
the plane perpendicular to the build direction), where anisotropy and
LOF defects may play an important role and cause failures along specific
orientations. The interaction between defects, residual stresses, and
stress concentrations caused by notches could also affect the fatigue
performance and failure orientations of AM metals under multiaxial
variable amplitude loading conditions. Presence of rough surface defects
could also significantly affect the estimation procedures.
A very small number of studies on fatigue of AM metals under var­
iable amplitude loading conditions are available in the literature [3–5].
Sarkar et al. [3] investigated uniaxial fatigue behavior of LB-PBF 15–5
stainless steel under both zero and tensile mean stress variable ampli­
tude loads. It was found that while multiple crack initiation sites were
present in the fracture surface of the loading sequences with smaller load
amplitudes applied first, fewer crack initiation sites were evident for
sequences having higher amplitude loads applied first, indicating the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: afatemi@memphis.edu (A. Fatemi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2020.106002
Received 11 October 2020; Accepted 18 October 2020
Available online 11 December 2020
0142-1123/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
R. Molaei and A. Fatemi International Journal of Fatigue 145 (2021) 106002

Nomenclature W Specimen width

β Defect inclined angle
a Crack depth σ ’f Fatigue strength coefficient
b Fatigue strength exponent γ ’f Shear fatigue ductility coefficient
bo Shear fatigue strength exponent
ΔK Stress intensity factor
C Paris equation coefficient
ΔK0 Stress intensity factor at threshold
c Crack half width
ΔKeff Effective stress intensity factor
co Shear fatigue ductility exponent
Δγmax Maximum shear strain range
da/dN Crack growth rate
Δγ Shear strain range
Dcr Critical damage value
σa Nominal axial stress amplitude
FIB Mode-I geometry factor
σ n,max Maximum stress normal to analysis plane
G Shear modulus
KIe Elastic stress intensity factor τ’f Shear fatigue strength coefficient
Kmax Maximum stress intensity factor Abbreviations
k FS material dependent constant AM Additive Manufacturing
m Paris equation exponent BS Bannantine-Socie
2Nf Reversals to failure CA Condition A
Nf Cycles to failure DIC Digital Image Correlation
p Fitting constant FS Fatemi-Socie
q Fitting exponent HCF High Cycle Fatigue
r Notch radius LCF Low Cycle Fatigue
R Minimum to maximum stress ratio LCG Long Crack Growth
Rv Maximum profile valley depth LDR Linear Damage Rule
SA,max Maximum axial stress LOF Lack of Fusion
SA,min Minimum axial stress LB-PBF Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion
ST,max Maximum shear stress PBF Powder Bed Fusion
ST,min Minimum shear stress PH Precipitation Hardened
Smax Maximum stress SCG Small Crack Growth
S0 , S’0 Crack-opening stress SIF Stress Intensity Factor
t Specimen thickness SWT Smith-Watson-Topper
X Fitting coefficient TCD Theory of Critical Distance
Y Fitting exponent TT Thin-walled Tube

effect of load sequence. LB-PBF and E-Beam PBF Ti-6Al-4V unnotched
and notched specimens with as-built surface were subjected to uniaxial
variable amplitude loads in [4]. Haigh diagram was used to account for
the mean stress effect, and rain-flow cycle counting and Palmgren-Miner
Linear Damage Rule (LDR) were used to calculate the cumulative fatigue
damage. Good agreement was observed between the estimated and
experimental fatigue data.
In this paper, which is an extended version of previously published
conference paper for the Variable Amplitude Fatigue Loading confer­
ence (VAL4) [6], fatigue behavior of two commonly used metallic ma­
terials was studied under multiaxial variable amplitude loading
conditions. These include Ti-6Al-4V and 17–4 PH stainless steel alloys
with a wide range of applications in different studies. Titanium is a high
strength, light weight, and high resistant to corrosion alloy, and Ti-6Al-
4V is the most widely used titanium alloy which particularly is used in
the aerospace and biomedical industries. Precipitated Hardened (PH)
stainless steels, including 17–4 PH alloy are commonly used in corrosion
resistant applications such as aerospace, petroleum and chemical in­
dustries. Unnotched and notched specimens with different surface
roughness conditions were considered. Applied loading conditions
included pure axial and combined axial-torsion loadings. Two different
methods were used for life estimations and the results are compared to
each other. First, a critical plane-based approach along with the
appropriate cycle counting and damage summation procedure was used
for fatigue life analysis. Second, a crack growth-based life estimation
model (FASTRAN) was used to estimate the fatigue life of as-built sur­
face specimens under both axial and axial-torsion variable amplitude
loads.
2. Experimental program
A Laser-Beam based Powder Bed Fusion (LB-PBF) system, EOS M290,
was used to fabricate the specimens. Gas-atomized Ti-6Al-4V and 17–4
PH powders with the particle size of 15–45 μm were used for the spec­
imen fabrications. Fabrication process parameters included laser power
of 285 W, scanning speed of 1200 mm/s, and layer thickness of 30 μm
for Ti-6Al-4V, and laser power of 220 W, scanning speed of 756 mm/s,
and layer thickness of 40 μm for 17–4 PH. Chemical composition of Ti-
6Al-4V consists of about 0.90Ti, 0.06Al, 0.04V, 0.003Fe, and 0.002O.
Chemical composition of 17–4 PH stainless steel consists of about
0.17Cr, 0.04Ni, 0.04Cu, <0.01Mn, <0.01Si, and 0.73Fe.
All tests were done utilizing thin-walled tubular specimens, as shown
in Fig. 1, built with specimen axis in the vertical direction. The speci­
mens were built in two different sizes. The geometry shown in Fig. 1(a)
was used for fatigue testing of unnotched specimens, and the geometry
presented in Fig. 1(b) was used for the notched specimen testing. Both
geometries had identical gage section thickness and diameters to pre­
vent any size effect.
The specimens were tested in both as-built surface and machined
surface conditions. Machined surface specimens were built with di­
mensions larger (i.e. 3.25 mm gage section thickness) than what is
shown in Fig. 1, and then machined to the dimensions shown in this
figure. The inside and outside surfaces of all of the machined surface
specimens were mirror-polished to eliminate any adverse effect of
machining marks. For more information about the polishing procedure
the reader is referred to [7].
Material properties used in subsequent analyses were generated
experimentally through a number of monotonic and constant amplitude

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R. Molaei and A. Fatemi International Journal of Fatigue 145 (2021) 106002

Fig. 1. (a) Tubular specimen geometry and

nominal dimensions used for unnotched fatigue
tests (all dimensions are given in mm). For 17–4
PH as-built surface condition gage section thick­
ness, t, of 1.6 mm, and for Ti-6Al-4V as-built and
machined surface conditions gage section thick­
ness of 1.25 mm were used. (b) Tubular specimen
geometry and nominal dimensions used for
notched fatigue testing, resulting in stress con­
centration factor, of 3.0 and 3.5 under uniaxial
and pure torsion loads, respectively.

Table 1
Summary of material properties for Ti-6Al-4V and 17–4 PH [10] alloys used.
17–4 PH Ti-6Al-4V Ti-6Al-4V 17–4 PH Ti-6Al-4V Ti-6Al-4V
CA-H1025 Annealed Annealed CA-H1025 Annealed Annealed
As-Built As-Built Machined As-Built As-Built Machined

Axial Shear
Monotonic Properties
E(GPa) 203.1 111.0 121.8 G(GPa) 78.8 43.0 47.0
σy (MPa) 1154 1024 1084 τy (MPa) 648 615
σu (MPa) 1193 1094 1119 τu (MPa) 760 –
εf (%) 21.2 14.5 22.1 γf (%) 36.2 –
K(MPa) 1398 1153 1315 K0 (MPa) 767 757
n 0.032 0.0167 0.0282 n0 0.025 0.0312
EL (%) 12.4 9.7 13.0
RA (%) 19.1 12.9 19.8
Cyclic Properties
K’ (MPa) 1294 K’0 (MPa) 654 829
n’ 0.0465 n’0 0.0455 0.0825
σ’f (MPa) 5827 5034 2032 τ’f (MPa) 1900 1777 796
b − 0.209 − 0.229 − 0.0923 b0 − 0.128 − 0.1465 − 0.0483
ε’f 29.38 γ’f 3.2 0.6834
c − 1.237 c0 − 0.822 − 0.608

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R. Molaei and A. Fatemi
fatigue tests by the authors in [8,9] for Ti-6Al-4V alloy and in [10] for
17–4 PH stainless steel. Some of these properties are included in Table 1.
In addition, since the two materials exhibited cyclic softening behaviors
when plastically deformed (as shown in Fig. 2), cyclic properties were
used for the analysis rather than monotonic properties.
While 17–4 PH specimens were only tested in the as-built surface
unnotched condition, Ti-6Al-4V specimens were tested in both
unnotched and notched conditions. For the as-built surface notched Ti-
6Al-4V specimens, a 2.4 mm diameter transverse hole notch was built in
the gage section of the specimens, while for the machined surface con­
dition the notch was drilled after machining the samples. The ratio of the
hole diameter to the wall thickness of the specimen was chosen in a way
to maintain the plane stress condition surrounding the hole.
In order to relieve residual stresses generated during the AM fabri­
cation process, Ti-6Al-4V specimens were annealed prior to testing. This
process consisted of leaving the specimens inside a preheated chamber
at 700 ◦ C for 1 h under a constant supply of Argon gas, followed by free
convection air-cooling at room temperature. This below β transus phase
temperature procedure was found in [11] to not to make any change in
the microstructure morphology of the fabricated specimens. 17–4 PH
specimens were tested in CA-H1025 heat treatment condition. This
process included solution treating the specimens at 1050 ◦ C for half an
hour, followed by air cooling at room temperature. The process was then
followed by aging the specimens at 552 ◦ C for 4 h and then again air
cooling at room temperature.
All of the tests were performed in load-controlled mode using Instron
closed-loop servo-hydraulic axial-torsion load frame with dynamic ca­
pacity of 100 kN axial load and 1 kN.m torque. The load history used for
this study contains both normal and shear stresses extracted from the
recorded flight full-scale test data on the lower wing skin of a P-3C
aircraft, as shown in Fig. 3. The full-scale fatigue load test spectrum was
developed from the fleet operational data collected over 6 years [12].
Fatigue critical locations were identified after testing and strains were
recorded. An example of such a location with tension dominated loading
is shown in Fig. 3(b). The extracted normal and shear stress/strain load
histories at this particular fatigue critical location are used in this study.
A variety of maneuvers including take-off, in-flight, and landing of the
aircraft are represented in the load history. More in-depth information
about the fatigue testing of the aircraft and obtaining the critical loca­
tions can be found in [12].
Although the original load history included 915,000 reversals, it was
edited in [13] in order to reduce the testing and analysis time, while
maintaining the main aspects of the original history. This was done with
the goal of retaining about 90% of the fatigue damage contained in the
full history. Damage was calculated in the editing procedure based on
von Mises equivalent stress-life approach in conjunction with the SWT
mean stress correction model. The modification was done in a way that
all of the cycles resulting in equivalent fully-reversed stress amplitude of
less than 125 MPa were removed, while preserving the load sequence of
Fig. 2. Monotonic and cyclic stress–strain curves and data for Ti-6Al-4V and
17–4 PH alloys [8,10]. Both materials exhibit cyclic softening.
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International Journal of Fatigue 145 (2021) 106002
the larger loads. The edited load history only included about 58,000
reversals, which is referred to as a sequence throughout the paper. For
some additional information and considerations of the load history
editing procedures the reader is referred to [13,14].
Representative 500 reversals of the edited load sequence are shown
in Fig. 4(a). The stress path shown in Fig. 4(b) also indicates that the
loading history contains significant non-proportionality. The loading
history in this figure is normalized by the maximum applied axial stress
value. Variations of the normalized mean stresses as well as normalized
stress ranges are also shown in Fig. 4(c) and (d) for axial and torsion
loads, respectively. As can be seen, the loading history was tension
dominated with the lowest to highest stress ratio of about − 0.25.
However, the load history was further modified for some of the tests in a
way that this ratio in the history became − 1. This was done to evaluate
the significance of the mean stress effect under variable amplitude
loading conditions. The summary of the fatigue test conditions and re­
sults are shown in Table 2. The maximum and minimum values of axial
and axial-torsion load histories, as well as the experimental fatigue lives
to failure are shown in the table. The stress ratio (i.e. minimum to
maximum nominal stress ratio during the load sequence) can be easily
computed for axial and torsion channels from the values listed in this
table.
Crack initiation and growth were monitored using cellulose acetate
replication for unnotched machined surface specimen tests. However,
for the as-built surface unnotched specimen tests, crack initiation was
identified after breaking the samples. For the notched specimens where
crack initiation location at the notch was known prior to testing, a 2.0-
megapixel digital microscope camera or a Digital Image Correlation
(DIC) system were used to monitor crack growth. Images were taken
periodically from beginning to end of the tests. Due to the presence of
un-melted particles on the surface of as-built surface specimens as well
as light reflections on the surface of machined surface specimens and,
therefore, difficulties in observing the crack orientation and length, a
thin layer of white paint was sprayed on the outer surface of specimens
to better observe crack orientation and length.
Similar to the constant amplitude loading condition in [15], in some
of the unnotched specimen tests cracks initiated from the inner surface,
making it difficult to define the failure based on a specific length of the
crack. Therefore, crack initiation life was defined as 1% change in
displacement at the maximum tensile load, which corresponded to a
crack length of about 2–3 mm. For the notched specimen tests crack
initiation definition was based on the crack transition length based on
Kitagawa-Takahashi diagram. This length is defined as the crack length
when failure switches from being controlled by the fatigue limit (defined
as fatigue strength at long life of several million cycles), to being
controlled by the threshold stress intensity factor. This was found to be
about 100–200 µm for the materials considered in this study. Significant
effort was carried out in obtaining the initial cracks via replication and
camera/DIC systems for the unnotched and notched specimens,
respectively.
Two approaches were considered for fatigue life estimation, a critical
plane-based approach and a crack growth-based approach. For the
critical plane approach, Fatemi-Socie (FS) damage parameter along with
appropriate cycle counting and damage summation methods was used.
For the crack growth approach, FASTRAN, which is based on plasticity
induced crack closure concept was used. Fatigue life estimations and
comparisons with the experimental results for the two approaches are
presented in Sections 3 and 4, respectively.
3. Critical Plane-Based approach to life estimation
There are mainly four major steps in calculating/estimating the fa­
tigue initiation life of variable amplitude tests. The first step is deter­
mination of the nominal stresses/strains applied to unnotched
specimens, or local stresses/strains calculated for notched specimens
using notch analysis methods, presented in [2,13,15] for example. The
R. Molaei and A. Fatemi
Fig. 3. (a) P-3C aircraft full-scale fatigue testing setup. (b) Schematic of fatigue critical location with tensile dominated loading [12].
next step requires a multiaxial cycle counting method to be able to
decompose the variable amplitude load history into equivalent constant
amplitude loading, which will be used to calculate the amount of
damage in the next steps. Although different cycle counting methods are
available in the literature (i.e. listed in ASTM Standard E1049 [16]), in
this study the procedure proposed by Bannantine and Socie (BS) [17,18]
was used for cycle counting of the variable amplitude loadings. Gates
and Fatemi [1] extensively discussed these multiaxial cycle counting
methods in [19,20]. In BS procedure, after selecting the appropriate
critical plane damage parameter, which is either the Fatemi-Socie (FS)
parameter as a shear-based critical plane approach, or Smith-Watson-
Topper (SWT) as a tensile-based critical plane parameter, shear and
normal components of the stresses and strains are projected onto
5
International Journal of Fatigue 145 (2021) 106002
different plane orientations.
While FS parameter has been used extensively in the literature for
many materials with shear failure mechanism, while maintaining all of
the advantages of the original parameter, a modified form of the
parameter recently proposed by Gates and Fatemi [21] is found by the
authors to also be able to capture the failure mechanism transition from
shear in Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF) to tensile in High Cycle Fatigue (HCF).
Therefore, consistent with the findings presented in [8–10,22] about the
failure mechanism transition of the materials considered in this study,
only this parameter was used for damage quantification. Then, cycle
counting was performed using the standard uniaxial rainflow counting
techniques.
The modification of the FS parameter proposed by Gates and Fatemi
R. Molaei and A. Fatemi International Journal of Fatigue 145 (2021) 106002

Fig. 4. Representative nominal loading segment showing 500 reversals of the edited load history in terms of (a) applied stresses vs. time and, (b) axial-shear stress
path. (c) and (d) Variations of normalized mean stress and normalized stress ranges throughout one sequence for axial and torsion channels, respectively.
Normalizing was performed by dividing stress range and mean by the maximum stress in the axial channel. Reversals smaller than 25% of the maximum normalized
stress ranges for parts (c) and (d) are not shown.

[21] is given by: each plane using the selected damage parameter. It is worth mentioning
that although the equivalent stress/strain based approaches may seem to
Δγmax ( σ n, max ) τf (
′
)b ′( )c
1+k = 2Nf 0 + γ f 2Nf 0 (1) be easier in calculating the amount of damage, these parameters have
2 GΔγ G been found not to result in reliable estimations even for constant
amplitude loading conditions [8,10,11,23]. On the other hand, critical
where Δγ is the shear strain range on the plane that experiences that
plane-based approaches which consider both stress and strain terms of
maximum shear strain range, Δγmax is the maximum shear strain range
the loading history, not only can consider the constitutive behavior of
experienced on the plane where the damage parameter is maximized (i.
the material, but also can accurately predict the most damaging plane
e. maximum damage plane), σ n,max is the maximum normal stress
and, therefore, the failure plane orientation. Based on the constant
occurring on the maximum damage plane, G is the shear modulus, and k
amplitude multiaxial fatigue tests for Ti-6Al-4V in [8,9] and for 17–4 PH
is the material dependent parameter reflecting the effect of normal stress
in [10], also shown in Fig. 5, runout was considered to be after 106
on the amount of fatigue damage. In addition to maintaining all of the
cycles. Therefore, damage values corresponding to longer lives than 106
advantages of the original parameter, this modification better accounts
cycles were considered to be non-damaging.
for the effect of tensile mean stresses. Examples showing the good cor­
Based on the applied axial and shear stresses, the strain histories
relations between the constant amplitude multiaxial data of Ti-6Al-4V
were calculated using a simplified version of the modified Armstrong-
and 17–4 PH alloys with different surface conditions using the Fatemi-
Fredrick-Chaboche plasticity model [24]. As compared to the original
Socie criterion are shown in Fig. 5.
model, a smaller number of material constants are needed to predict the
After identifying the cycles, additional variables such as maximum
deformation behavior of the materials. In this model, von Mises yield
normal stresses occurring on every particular plane, σn,max , were calcu­
function was used as a yield criterion. In addition, Tanaka’s non-
lated. Then, the amount of damage was computed for each cycle and on
proportionality parameter is also implemented into the model to

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R. Molaei and A. Fatemi International Journal of Fatigue 145 (2021) 106002

Table 2
Summary of variable amplitude fatigue tests.
Material Surface Condition Loading SA,max (MPa) SA,min (MPa) ST,max (MPa) ST,min (MPa) No. of Sequences to Failure

Ti-6Al-4V Unnotched As-Built A 550 − 140 – – 18.40

As-Built A 550 − 140 – – 18.91
As-Built A-T 364 − 93 296 − 29 21.0
As-Built A-T 364 − 93 296 − 29 25.84
Machined A 1040 − 1040 – – 18.31
Machined A 1040 − 1040 – – 18.65
Machined A-T 910 –232 532 − 532 7.12
Machined A-T 775 − 198 453 − 453 53.33
Machined A-T 775 − 775 453 − 453 >100.0
Notched As-Built A 365 − 93 – – 8.0
As-Built A 310 − 79 – – 17.03
As-Built A 310 − 79 – – 17.69
As-Built A 236 − 60 – – >61
As-Built A-T 310 − 79 143 − 14 9.54
As-Built A-T 310 − 79 143 − 14 10.0
Machined A 400 − 102 – – 55.0
Machined A 365 − 93 – – 69.0
Machined A 365 − 93 – – >240.0
Machined A 310 − 79 – – >118.0
Machined A-T 400 − 102 184 − 18 44.0
Machined A-T 400 − 102 184 − 18 64.53
17–4 PH Unnotched As-Built A 1139 − 1139 – – 4.28
As-Built A 1036 − 1036 – – 11.85
As-Built A 932 − 932 – – 22.68

SA: Axial Stress, ST: Torsion Stress.

A: Axial, A-T: Combined Axial-Torsion.

account for the effect of non-proportional stress states on the response of

the material. The reader is referred to [24] for an in-depth discussion of
this issue.
At the last step, a damage accumulation rule was needed to calculate
the fatigue life. A variety of approaches have been proposed to calculate
the cumulative damage under variable amplitude loading. Linear
Damage Rule (LDR) which was first proposed by Palmgren [25] and
Miner [26] was used in this study. Although there are several arguments
against its robustness, this rule still remains the most commonly used
approach due to its simplicity and also because none of the other non-
linear methods have been shown to result in better agreements in fa­
tigue life estimations for a wide range of materials and loading condi­
tions [27,28]. The conventional value of the sum of damage ratios for
failure, Dcr = 1.0, was used.

3.1. Unnotched fatigue test results

The experimental fatigue lives of the variable amplitude tests on Ti-

Fig. 5. Unnotched multiaxial constant amplitude fatigue data correlations
based on Fatemi-Socie damage parameter for LB-PBF (a) as-built (AB) surface
and machined (M) surface Ti-6Al-4V [8], and (b) as-built (AB) surface and
polished (P) surface not-HIPed, and machined (M) surface HIPed 17–4 PH
[10] alloys.
6Al-4V and 17–4 PH specimens are plotted against the estimated fatigue
lives using FS parameter in Fig. 6. As can be seen, nearly all of the data
(except two Ti-6Al-4V axial-torsion tests with machined surface condi­
tion) fall within the scatter bands of 1/3 and 3. A plausible explanation
for the conservative fatigue life estimations of the axial-torsion
machined surface tests could be the effect of random distribution of
defects in these samples, while for the as-built surface specimens there is
more consistency in the location and size of the surface and sub-surface
defects. In other words, while killer defects for the machined surface
specimens could be randomly distributed in the cross section, detri­
mental defects for the as-built surface specimens are always at or near
the surface in the form of un-melted particles and LOF defects.
In order to study the significance of mean stress effect, two axial-
torsion tests were performed on machined surface Ti-6Al-4V speci­
mens with and without significant mean stress in the axial channel.
While the maximum stresses in both axial and torsion channels were
chosen identical for both tests (maximum stress of 775 MPa in axial and
453 MPa in torsion), one specimen was tested with the original stress
ratio of R = -0.25 (i.e. minimum to maximum stress ratio in the load
history) and the other specimen was tested under R = -1 stress ratio in
axial channel. The torsion loading was chosen identical in terms of stress

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R. Molaei and A. Fatemi International Journal of Fatigue 145 (2021) 106002

Fig. 6. Unnotched variable amplitude axial and axial-torsion fatigue test and life estimation results for LB-PBF Ti-6Al-4V and 17–4 PH alloys. Dashed lines indicate
the factors of 1/3 and 3 scatter bands.

ratio and magnitude for both tests (R = -1). As can be seen in Fig. 6 and
Table 2, while the test with mean tensile stress failed after about 53
sequences, the test without substantial mean tensile stress became a run
out, indicating the significance of tensile mean stress effect in shortening
the fatigue life.
As mentioned earlier, an advantage of the critical plane-based ap­
proaches is the capability in estimating the fatigue failure orientations.
A representative crack orientation picture of as-built surface Ti-6Al-4V
specimen under axial-torsion variable amplitude loading is shown in
Fig. 7 along with the estimated failure orientations. As seen, crack
initiated about the estimated orientation. Fig. 7(a) shows multiple crack
initiation sites resulting from the stress concentration effect of the rough
surface. Generally, for the as-built surface condition cracks initiate at
different locations, grow to some length, and then coalesce to failure. As
can be seen, these cracks could be from a few hundred microns to a few
millimeters.

Fig. 7. (a) Failure crack orientation and fracture surface of an as-built surface Ti-6Al-4V specimen under axial-torsion variable amplitude loading. (b) Estimated
number of sequences to failure indicating maximum damage planes for the same specimen using FS damage parameter.

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R. Molaei and A. Fatemi International Journal of Fatigue 145 (2021) 106002

The cumulative damage calculated using the LDR on each plane is

shown in Fig. 7(b). In this figure, the plane(s) experiencing the minimum
number of sequences to failure are considered as the estimated failure
plane orientation(s), which are about − 11◦ and − 47◦ for this loading
condition. However, as can be seen, although these planes result in
minimum number of sequences to failure, a wide range of planes
experience very similar amount of damage, where depending on the
anisotropy and directional defects, cracks can occur along those orien­
tations as well.
Note that this may not be the case for all additive manufactured
specimens where depending on the quality of the build, circum­
ferentially connected surface defect networks and/or large internal LOF
defects may substantially affect the cracking behavior and result in
failures along material weak planes, rather than on planes of maximum
calculated damage. This behavior has been reported for AM metals even
under constant amplitude loadings [10,22,29].

3.2. Notched fatigue test results

While for the unnotched specimen tests nominal stresses and strains
are used for stress/strain transformations, local stresses and strains are
needed to apply these transformations for the notched specimen tests.
Another important consideration in the notch fatigue analysis is the
stress/strain gradient effect since the mechanism causing fatigue dam­
age occurs within a finite volume of the material. This is particularly
important if there is a steep stress/strain gradient when moving away
from the notch root.
As discussed in [2], different approaches such as Theory of Critical
Distance (TCD) along with the Neuber’s rule, or Fatigue Notch Factor,
kf , could be used to account for this gradient effect. TCD refers to a group Fig. 8. (a) Unnotched and notched fatigue test results of as-built and machined
of fracture mechanics-based approaches which use the transition length surface annealed Ti-6Al-4V specimens under constant amplitude axial loading.
found from the Kitagawa-Takahashi diagram to account for the stress (b) Fatigue notch factors variation with life for the conditions in (a).
gradient effects. Fatigue Notch Factor, on the other hand, is defined as
the ratio of unnotched to notched fatigue strength at particular lives.
where σ ’f is the unnotched fatigue strength coefficient, b is the unnotched
Due to the simplicity as well as availability of the unnotched and
notched constant amplitude fatigue test results [15] and, hence, avail­ fatigue strength exponent, and X and Y are the fitting coefficient and
ability of kf values for different conditions, the Fatigue Notch Factor exponent terms, respectively, relating the fatigue notch factor to the life.
approach was used for fatigue life estimation. However, as discussed in Using this equation, the local stresses and corresponding strains were
[15] for the AM metals considered in this study, variation of kf with calculated for each reversal in the loading history.
It is worth mentioning that although local stresses and strains were
fatigue life could show different trends, even for a given material but
used for the fatigue life analysis of the notched specimen tests, location
with different surface roughness conditions.
at which these values are computed is an important consideration. This
Nominal stresses versus reversals to failure plots for constant
is due to the fact that the location and magnitude of the maximum local
amplitude as-built and machined surface Ti-6Al-4V alloy are shown in
stresses and strains, and subsequently the maximum principal stress
Fig. 8(a) along with fatigue notch factor versus reversals to failure plots
magnitudes and their direction, can change with the change in the
for the same conditions in Fig. 8(b). It was discussed in [15] that
nominal stress ratio, which is the case for variable amplitude loading.
different trends of fatigue notch factor with life for the two surface
This, along with the change in the degree of non-proportionality of the
conditions is due to the fact that the rough surface of unnotched as-built
loading history can make the analysis quite complex.
surface specimens acts as local notch on the surface, which is similar to
It should be noted that for the considered notch geometry the stress
the effect of a mechanically induced notch. In fact, both unnotched and
state on the notch surface is predominantly uniaxial. However, the
notched as-built surface specimens can be considered as notched spec­
maximum damage location around the hole continuously changes with
imens with different stress concentration factors. However, machining
the continuous change in the shear to normal stress ratio during the VA
the surface of the unnotched specimens results in significant improved
loading, which is out-of-phase by nature. Therefore, the principal stress
fatigue behavior, while it has less effect in the notched condition, since
directions keep changing with respect to the specimen axis during the
similar to the conventional wrought materials the mechanically induced
load history. As a result, the critical plane approach is still advantageous
notch still controls the fatigue behavior. As a result, and in order to
even in this uniaxial case.
consider these different trends, fatigue notch factor variations with life
Under such a condition, if the failure location is unknown, the life
were considered for different surface conditions in calculating the local
estimation analysis needs to be performed at several locations at the
stresses and strains.
notch root to determine the highest damage location(s). However, with
Considering the unnotched stress-reversals equation of σa = σ ’f (2Nf )b the notch geometry used in this study and based on the experimental
and then kf = X(2Nf )Y for each notched condition results in the observations, cracks initiated at about 0˚and 180˚locations around the
following equation to calculate the fatigue notch factor for different hole for both axial and axial-torsion loading conditions. Therefore, the
stress levels: fatigue analysis was performed at these locations for both loadings.
( )Y Since the stress state is primarily uniaxial around the perimeter of the
σ a /b notch regardless of the degree of multiaxiality and non-proportionality
kf = X (2)
of the nominal applied loading [13,30], the applied axial history and
′
σf

9
R. Molaei and A. Fatemi
its corresponding fatigue notch factor was used for the analysis of both
loading conditions.
The experimental fatigue lives of the notched variable amplitude
axial and axial-torsion tests on Ti-6Al-4V specimens with different sur­
face conditions plotted against the estimated fatigue lives using FS
damage parameter are shown in Fig. 9. Similar to the unnotched spec­
imen test results of both materials in Fig. 6 (also included in Fig. 9(b)
along with the notched specimen results), nearly all of the data fall
within the scatter bands of 1/3 and 3. In this method, fatigue lives of the
notched specimen tests correspond to the time when the first individual
crack growing from the notch root reached a length of about 100–200
μm.
4. Crack growth-based approach to life estimation
A major feature of AM fabricated parts is the produced defects and
their dominance in controlling the fatigue lives. The most common
responsible flaws for fatigue failure of these materials are pores due to
entrapped gas, LOF defects with irregular shapes, and rough surface
defects. While the specimens in this work were fabricated with the
Fig. 9. (a) Notched variable amplitude axial and axial-torsion fatigue test and
critical plane (FS) life estimation results for LB-PBF Ti-6Al-4V alloy. (b)
Notched and unnotched variable amplitude axial and axial-torsion fatigue test
and critical plane (FS) life estimation results for LB-PBF Ti-6Al-4V and 17–4 PH
alloys. Dashed lines indicate the factors of 1/3 and 3 scatter bands.
10
International Journal of Fatigue 145 (2021) 106002
manufacturer suggested processing parameters, still a good number of
defects were produced during the fabrication process. As can be seen in
Fig. 10, while Ti-6Al-4V specimens contain a small number of defects
with no defects more than 100 μm, some defects up to 200 μm were
observed for 17–4 PH specimens.
Surface roughness of AM fabricated parts is another major factor that
needs to be considered in investigating their fatigue behavior. Regard­
less of the microstructural aspects and internal defects and their distri­
butions, fatigue cracks most often start from the surface for AM as-built
surface specimens. Although the rough surface could be machined for
some applications, in some other applications such as biomedical and
orthopedic implants a rough surface may be favorable over a smooth
surface finish, or it may not be feasible to remove the rough surface due
to the complex geometry of some parts.
Due to the dominance of defects in controlling the fatigue behavior of
AM metals, it is important to estimate their fatigue performance based
on these defects in damage tolerant design applications. In other words,
when defects mainly control the fatigue behavior, additional fracture
mechanics-based parameters such as Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) may
need to be considered in design and analysis, particularly for safe­
ty–critical components.
In this study, a fatigue crack growth analysis program, FASTRAN
[31], which is based on plasticity induced crack closure mechanism was
used for fatigue life estimation of the as-built surface unnotched and as-
built and machined surface notched specimens. The basis of the model is
dividing the crack tip plastic zone into discreet regions. As the crack
grows, these segments break and become part of the crack length. Then,
the residual deformation is assumed to be equal to the amount of plastic
deformation that the segment experienced during the break. This will
then be used to compute the crack contact stresses as well as far field
opening stress level for the new crack configuration. Using the differ­
ence between the maximum applied stress and the current opening
stress, an effective stress intensity factor range is then calculated. For
more in depth information about the model the reader is referred to
[32,33].
The main crack-growth relation used in this program is given by:
[ ]
da/dN = C(ΔKeff )m 1 − (ΔKo /ΔKeff )p /(1− (Kmax /KIe )q (3)
where C and m are Paris equation constants, p and q are constants to fit
test data in either the threshold or fracture regions, ΔK0 is the effective
stress intensity factor at threshold, ΔKeff is the effective stress intensity
factor, Kmax is the maximum stress intensity factor, and KIe is the elastic
stress intensity factor at failure. The effective stress intensity factor in
this equation is calculated as follows:
Fig. 10. 3D analysis results of number of defects vs. square root of defect
projected area for LB-PBF Ti-6Al-4V and 17–4 PH alloys. The wall thicknesses
were 1.25 mm and 1.6 mm for Ti-6Al-4V and 17–4 PH, respectively [45].
R. Molaei and A. Fatemi
′
ΔKeff = [(1 − So /Smax )/(1 − R)) ΔK
In this equation, S’0 is the crack-opening stress calculated from the
FASTRAN code. This value is higher than S0 which is the crack opening
stress computed from the original crack-opening stress equations
without using the crack tip growth element.
The basic material properties required by FASTRAN such as Young’s
modulus, yield stress, and ultimate strength were obtained from [8] for
Ti-6Al-4V and from [10] for 17–4 PH (also reported in Table 1). Crack
growth data were taken from [34] and [35] for Ti-6Al-4V and 17–4 PH,
respectively. Specimens used in [34] were built with a similar LB-PBF
machine followed by very close stress relieving procedure as used in
this work. However, due to the lack of any available data in the litera­
ture for crack growth of AM 17–4 PH CA-H1025 heat treated specimens,
crack growth properties of H900 heat treated 17–4 PH specimens
fabricated with the same AM machine as the current study were
extracted from [35] for the analysis. Both heat treatment processes
Fig. 11. Representative surface defects for (a) Ti-6Al-4V, and (b) 17–4 PH specimens. (c) Crack aspect ratio definition.
International Journal of Fatigue 145 (2021) 106002
(4) resulted in similar martensite microstructure with some retained
austenite phase [10,36].
4.1. Unnotched fatigue test results and analysis
The specimen geometry and its geometrical factors in calculating the
stress intensity factor as well as initial crack size and its shape can have a
significant impact on the resulting crack growth behavior. Considering
the fact that cracks initiate from surface when a rough surface is present
[7,8,10,11], the initial crack was considered to be at the surface of the
specimens. Similar to that discussed in [37], an equivalent semi-
elliptical surface crack was assumed for the analysis.
The aspect ratio of the considered initial crack could affect the
estimation results. Based on the observations from the fracture surfaces
of the as-built surface specimens, with typical examples shown in Fig. 11
for both materials, aspect ratios (a/c) of 0.7 and 0.6 were chosen for Ti-
6Al-4V and 17–4 PH, respectively. For Ti-6Al-4V, as can be seen in
11
R. Molaei and A. Fatemi International Journal of Fatigue 145 (2021) 106002

Fig. 11(a), repeated semi-ellipses are evident at the fracture surface Forman et al. [41] was used.
resulting from fabrication processes such as hatch spacing and melt pool Fatigue test results and estimated lives of as-built surface Ti-6Al-4V
effects. Therefore, one of these semi-ellipses was considered as the initial and 17–4 PH specimens based on both critical plane and fracture me­
crack for the analysis. chanics approaches under variable amplitude axial and axial-torsion
On the other hand, there were not such clear crack initiation trends loads are shown in Fig. 12. As can be seen, both methods result in
on the fracture surfaces of 17–4 PH specimens. However, as can be seen very good fatigue life estimations. Fatigue test results of Ti-6Al-4V
in Fig. 11(b), clear fatigue crack front marks indicating crack growth specimen tests under both axial and axial-torsion loading conditions
from surface defects are evident on the fracture surface of the specimen. indicate consistent experimental lives between repeat tests, similar to
Hence, assuming no change in the aspect ratio of the growing crack from what was observed under constant amplitude loading in [8,9] for the
the surface, aspect ratio of the growing cracks in this figure was same batch of samples. This is partly due to the optimized
considered to be the same as the initial crack (a/c = 0.6). The value of a manufacturing process parameters used for the fabrication and the
was assumed to be equal to the radius of the largest observed equivalent resultant minimum number of defects in the specimens.
defect for this material (see [38]). Values of a and c were considered to As can be seen in Fig. 12(a), the estimated number of sequences
be 140 μm and 200 μm for Ti-6Al-4V, and 60 μm and 100 μm for 17–4 based on the fracture mechanics approach is higher than the critical
PH, respectively. plane approach estimations under both axial and axial-torsion loading
Characterization of defects is critical to qualifying and quantifying conditions. The two approaches are different in nature. The critical
the mechanical properties of AM parts and in particular for defect-based plane approach can estimate failure orientation and crack initiation life
modeling based on fracture mechanics. Distributions of defect charac­ using basic material fatigue properties. This approach uses fatigue
teristics and their variabilities within the specimens were analyzed in properties generated from specimens with the same defects, therefore,
[39]. For example, significant variability in defect characteristics based effect of defects is inherently and implicitly considered. In contrast, the
on location was observed, especially in as-built surface specimens. FM approach explicitly considers defects and, therefore, requires esti­
Quantification of such variability in defect distributions can be used for mation/assumption of initial defect size, location, and shape. Therefore,
probabilistic assessment of the fatigue performance and life estimation. this approach is more sensitive to the assumptions such as initial defect/
Comprehensive defect analysis and fracture surface analysis were per­ crack sizes and their shapes. The two approaches can be considered as
formed in 2D by digital microscopy and scanning electron microscopy either alternative approaches, or complimentary approaches. In the
and in 3D using X-ray computed tomography in [39]. Statistical func­ latter case, crack initiation plane and life are calculated based on the
tions to model the distribution of the defect characteristics, and Extreme critical plane approach, followed by crack growth on the critical plane
Value Statistics (EVS) concepts to compute a prospective maximum using the fracture mechanics approach.
defect size were used for fatigue life estimation.
FASTRAN only considers uniaxial loading, i.e. mode-I crack growth.
When the loading condition was multiaxial, both axial and torsion
stresses were transformed on the maximum damage plane predicted via
Fatemi-Socie damage parameter. Consistent with the experimental ob­
servations, mode-I crack growth on the maximum damage plane was
assumed and maximum principal stress on the damage plane was then
calculated. The crack initiation defect was also estimated from projec­
ting the aforementioned defects on the same maximum damage plane
orientation, assuming 2D projection with no change in defect depth (i.e.
a), while c was multiplied by cosine of the angel between the horizontal
plane (i.e. weak build plane for vertically built specimens) and the
maximum damage plane. This results in a change in the initial defect
aspect ratio for the multiaxial loading condition.
Rough surface defect networks on weak build plane is perpendicular
to the axial loading direction for vertically built specimens. It has been
shown that presence of these surface defect networks and their align­
ment with respect to the loading direction can significantly affect the
failure mechanism and cause the failure being along these defects
[8,10,22]. Therefore, for the axial loading condition, consistent with the
experimental observations, the analysis was performed on the plane
perpendicular to the applied load.
Crack growth was divided into two different steps to account for
different growth regimes; first, crack growing from surface defect to
become a through-thickness defect (i.e. 1.25 mm for Ti-6Al-4V and 1.6
mm for 17–4 PH), and then through-thickness crack growth up to fail­
ure, about 4–5 mm. For the first step, the crack geometry factor re­
lationships were derived from Murakami for inclined semi-elliptical
surface cracks [40] from the following equation, considering horizontal
cracks for the specimens built vertically, where defects are mostly
elongated between layers.
[( ) ( )( )]
FIB = 0.66 + 0.23β2 + 0.462 + 0.17β2 1 − a/ cos2 β (5)
c

where β is the inclined angle in radian, and FIB is the mode-I geometry Fig. 12. Comparison of unnotched fatigue test results and life estimations of (a)
factor. As soon as the crack grew all the way through the thickness (i.e. as-built surface Ti-6Al-4V for axial and axial-torsion loadings, and (b) as-built
a = t), the tubular specimen solution for a through crack growing surface 17–4 PH specimens under axial loading based on critical plane-based
around a circumference of a Thin-walled Tube (TT) formulated by and fracture mechanics-based approaches.

12
R. Molaei and A. Fatemi International Journal of Fatigue 145 (2021) 106002

4.2. Notched fatigue test results and analysis

Fatigue life estimation analysis of notched specimens for the same

notch and specimen geometry configuration as well as similar loading
histories under axial, torsion, and combined axial-torsion conditions
using FASTRAN is extensively discussed in [42]. For axial and torsion
loading histories stresses were projected onto the maximum principal
stress plane, consistent with the observed failure location and orienta­
tion, which correspond to 0˚and 45˚planes, respectively. For the com­
bined axial-torsion loading history, although the maximum principal
stress plane changed due to the changes in the normal to shear stress
ratios throughout the loading history, cracks mainly initiated and grew
on the 0˚ plane [40] since the loading history is axial dominated.
Therefore, the normal stress history on this plane was used as input for
the analysis. It was also discussed in [15] for the same notched specimen
geometries that the effect of shear stress at 0˚and 180˚planes around the
notch is negligible.
The overall fatigue life was divided into two distinct stages including
Small Crack Growth (SCG) and Long Crack Growth (LCG) lives. This was
done due to the necessity of using different geometry factors for different
crack lengths. Gates and Fatemi [42] extensively discussed the different
geometry factors in fatigue life estimations for the same notch and
specimen configurations made of a wrought aluminum alloy. As
mentioned previously, one of the advantages of the fracture mechanics-
based approaches is the capability of accounting for defects, including
volume and surface roughness, in the analysis. However, the initial
crack or defect assumptions can have significant effects in the resultant
life estimations, therefore, realistic assumptions need to be made to
result in reliable estimated lives.
Based on the defect observations discussed earlier, different defect
configurations were considered for both as-built surface and machined
surface conditions of the notched specimens under constant amplitude
loading in [43]. The sensitivity and accuracy of the analysis to all the
input parameters involved were also examined. For the as-built surface
condition with the notch being built during fabrication, it was found that
considering the equivalent surface defect including both roughness and
surface or near surface defects resulted in more accurate life estimations
than if only the rough surface was considered. This emphasizes the
importance of considering the synergistic effects of both surface
roughness and subsurface defects. The equivalent surface defect con­
sisted of the maximum profile valley depth plus the maximum observed
volume/subsurface defect (Rv + defect), as shown in Fig. 13(a).
Two different crack/defect configurations were also considered for
notched machined surface condition in [43]. Single defects were
considered as the initial flaws for the analysis. These included two
symmetric defects at the center of the hole, and two symmetric corner
cracks at the edges of the hole. Consistent with the experimental ob­
servations where most of the cracks initiated in the specimen thickness
regions (not at the corner), the center crack configuration was found to
result in more accurate life estimations in all life regimes [43]. This may
be due to the FEA calculated 5.5% higher equivalent stress at the middle
of the thickness as compared to the corners. Therefore, the same analysis
was used for the variable amplitude fatigue analysis of the notched
specimens in this study. It was found for the same specimen and notch
geometry in [42] that in situations where defects are not governing the
fatigue behavior (i.e. wrought metals), the corner crack assumption
along the bore of the hole would be a reasonable assumption.
The crack aspect ratio was assumed to remain constant during the
load history at one for the sake of simplicity. Hence, when c becomes
equal to t in Fig. 13(b), the crack is developed through the thickness, and
it can be observed on the outer surface. Therefore, when the crack could
be captured on the outer surface using the camera system, it was
considered as the end of small crack growth life (i.e. the same as crack
initiation life defined in Section 3 via critical plane approach). The same
approach was used during the experiments, where as soon as the crack
was observed on the outer surface (i.e. at the order of about 100 μm), the
Fig. 13. Crack configurations considered for as-built (a) and machined (b)
surface notched Ti-6Al-4V specimens. Through thickness crack with the width
of c = Rv + Defect = 160 µm for as-built surface, and center crack with c = 100
µm for machined surface conditions [15]. 2r = 2.4 mm and 2 W = 43.8 mm was
considered for both conditions. According to the notch configuration in FAS­
TRAN, t = 1.25 mm and 0.625 mm were considered for (a) and (b),
respectively.
number of cycles/sequences was recorded as the small crack or crack
initiation life.
Since the ratio of the considered initial crack length to the specimen
perimeter is small, through crack for as-built surface condition and
radial center crack for machined surface condition from a hole in a plate
were considered for small crack growth analysis. As such, the geometry
functions included in FASTRAN were used to account for the redistri­
bution of remote stresses due to the presence of the initial notch/crack
(In FASTRAN, NTYP = -4 for as-built surface and NTYP = -6 for
machined surface).
Continuation of the through-thickness crack (small crack) growth to
final failure was considered as the LCG life. Similar to [42], the geometry
function was taken from Forman et al. [41] for a through thickness crack
growing around the circumference of a Thin-walled Tube (TT). In this
portion of the fatigue life, as a result of the through thickness growing
crack and, therefore, larger plastic deformation at the crack tip, the
Irwin correction factor was used in FASTRAN to correct the stress in­
tensity factor solutions for the effect of crack tip plasticity.
Notched axial and axial-torsion fatigue test and FASTRAN life esti­
mation results of LB-PBF as-built surface and machined surface Ti-6Al-
4V specimens are shown in Fig. 14(a). As can be seen, the fracture
mechanics-based approach generally results in reasonable fatigue life
estimations, mostly within factors of 1/3 and 3 (excluding runout tests).
The experimental fatigue lives reported in Fig. 14(a) and Table 2 indi­
cate that there is generally more data scatter at longer lives, as compared
to shorter lives, and for the machined surface condition, as compared to
the as-built surface condition. This is mainly due to the variability in
defect size and location in different specimens resulting from the AM
fabrication process. While for the machined surface condition randomly
distributed volume defects are responsible for fatigue initiation sites, for
the as-built surface condition cracks nearly always initiated from the
rough surface.
Fig. 14(b) shows the combined notched and unnotched variable

13
R. Molaei and A. Fatemi
Fig. 14. (a) Notched variable amplitude axial and axial-torsion fatigue test and
FASTRAN life estimation results for LB-PBF Ti-6Al-4V alloy. (b) Notched and
unnotched variable amplitude axial and axial-torsion fatigue test and FASTRAN
life estimation results for LB-PBF Ti-6Al-4V and 17–4 PH alloys. Dashed lines
indicate the factors of 1/3 and 3 scatter bands.
amplitude axial and axial-torsion FASTRAN life estimation results for
both materials and with different surface conditions. As can be seen,
nearly all the data fall within the scatter bands of 1/3 and 3 (excluding
run out tests). This indicates that FASTRAN as a crack growth-based
analysis tool can reasonably estimate the fatigue life of both notched
and unnotched AM specimens where defects, including surface and
volume, are governing the fatigue damage process.
Crack length versus the applied load sequences is shown in Fig. 15 for
machined surface Ti-6Al-4V specimens for axial and axial-torsion
loading conditions. Since cracks were monitored on the outer surface
of the specimens SCG has no evidence of crack on this surface, therefore,
crack growth estimations in these figures are only plotted for LCG stage
of the life. As can be seen, FASTRAN analyses and through-thickness
(TT) crack geometry assumption result in very good crack growth life
estimations for both loading conditions.
5. Summary
Fatigue behavior of LB-PBF Ti-6Al-4V and 17–4 PH stainless steel
was studied under axial as well as combined axial-torsion variable
14
International Journal of Fatigue 145 (2021) 106002
Fig. 15. Experimental crack growth data and FASTRAN (LCG on the outer
surface) predicted curves for LB-PBF machined surface notched Ti-6Al-4V
specimens under axial (a) and axial-torsion (b) loading conditions. Green
dashed lines indicate the 1.2 mm hole radius. Reported axial and torsion
stresses are the maximum nominal stresses. (For interpretation of the references
to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of
this article.)
amplitude loading conditions. Different surface conditions (machined
and as-built) as well as notched and unnotched conditions were
considered. Two different methods were used for life estimation, a
critical plane-based approach, and a fracture mechanics-based
approach. Fatemi-Socie damage parameter along with Bannantine-
Socie cycle counting method and linear damage rule were used for the
critical plane approach, while FASTRAN was used for the application of
the fracture mechanics method.
Consistent with the findings for the constant amplitude loading
conditions, the critical plane approach used could reasonably and
accurately estimate the unnotched and notched fatigue lives for variable
amplitude axial as well as non-proportional combined axial-torsion
loading conditions. The data included those for both as-built and
machined surface data for the Ti-6Al-4V specimens, as well as the as-
built surface axial data of 17–4 PH stainless steel. Estimated crack
plane orientations were also consistent with the experimentally
observed failure orientations. However, this may not be generalized for
all AM metals, since significant build orientation and anisotropy effects
may affect the cracking behavior.
Due to the presence of defects and rough surface of AM parts, a
fracture mechanics-based approach may be considered as a robust
approach for fatigue life estimation of AM metals under variable
amplitude loadings. However, statistical analysis may be necessary for
correctly representing the initial defect size and shape, as such methods
are very sensitive to the initial crack size and other attributes. Similar to
the critical plane-based approach, FASTRAN, as a crack growth-based
approach, accurately estimated the fatigue life of both unnotched and
notched AM specimens of both materials and for both as-built and
R. Molaei and A. Fatemi
machined surface conditions. The available experimental surface crack
growth data was also consistent with the simulated crack growth data.
Although many different aspects present in real application condi­
tions were considered in this study, uncertainty quantification of fatigue
test results and life estimation methods are important aspects to
consider. Among these, one factor is the failure definition differences
between the notched and unnotched specimens, where nucleation life at
the order of two hundred microns was considered for the notched con­
dition while small crack growth period up to about 2–3 mm was
considered for the unnotched specimen tests. The crack developing
behavior between axial and torsion loads may also cause some level of
uncertainty. This is due to the fact that under torsion loading and due to
the stress gradient effect shallow cracks develop and grow, while cracks
under axial loading grow in-depth and in the thickness direction [44].
Definition of initial defect information in the fracture mechanics
approach is another important factor which could induce a high level of
uncertainty into the analysis and life estimations. Another issue
contributing to uncertainty is the definition of run-out or non-damaging
cycles in the analysis. These and other factors need to be considered in
quantifying uncertainty aspects of life estimations presented in this
paper.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
United States Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) provided
financial support for this study. The authors would like to thank Dr.
Nima Shamsaei of Auburn University for fabricating the AM specimens.
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