Investigation of microstructure effect on fretting fatigue crack initiation using crystal plasticity

The onset of fretting fatigue is characterized by material microstructural changes in which the extent of the damage is comparable to grain size, and hence, the microstructure characteristics could have a significant effect on fatigue crack initiation. In this paper, a three‐dimensional finite element crystal plasticity framework is presented for simulation of the fretting fatigue. Controlled Poisson Voronoi tessellation (CPVT) method is employed to generate the polycrystalline region. In the CPVT method, regularity parameter controls the shape of grains. In this study, the impact of grain size and regularity parameter on crack initiation life and initiation site has been investigated. Cumulative plastic slip was used as a parameter of microstructure‐sensitive fatigue indicator. This parameter could effectively predict the location of crack initiation and its life. The results show that regularity parameter has a significant effect on the location of crack initiation. Furthermore, the effect of grain size on the fretting fatigue life of 316L stainless steel was investigated experimentally through testing different specimens with different grain sizes, to validate the simulation results.     

Fatigue behaviour prediction of steel reinforcement bars using an adapted Navarro and De Los Rios model

Fatigue cracks tend to initiate on the rebar surface and therefore, the surface conditions may control their fatigue behaviour. This study investigates the influence of surface microstructure and roughness dispersion on the scatter and fatigue life of hot rolled (HR)–cold worked (CW) and quenched and self-tempered (QST) rebars. The stochastic nature of the fatigue life is mainly affected by the scatter of short cracks in the crack initiation phase. A model adapted from Navarro and De Los Rios (N–R) was developed to predict the crack initiation, including short crack growth, and long crack propagation phases. The crack initiation phase includes the dispersion inherent to the grain size, grain orientation ratio and multiple phases i.e., ferrite–pearlite and martensite as well as the roughness dispersion determined on the rebar surface and the influence of the rib geometry. The stress concentration factor due to the rib geometry was considered as a constant parameter. In the long crack propagation phase, all microstructural features are considered as constants. The model results were compared to experimental data from the literature.     

Ausbreitungsverhalten mikrostrukturell kurzer Ermüdungsrisse – experimentelle Charakterisierung und mechanismenorientierte Simulation

Propagation behaviour of microstructural short fatigue cracks – experimental characterization and mechanism‐based simulation This paper presents results of an interdisciplinary research project, which was undertaken by the authors during the past seven years on the subject of experimental characterization and modelling of microstructurally short fatigue crack growth. Fatigue testing was carried out on the austenitic‐ferritic duplex stainless steel X2 CrNiMoN 22–5‐3. It was shown clearly that microstructural features like grain size, phase distribution or yield stress of the grain containing the crack tip control an advancing short crack. On the basis of these findings, a mechanism‐oriented model was established, which is able to simulate the growth of microstructurally short fatigue cracks in a physically reasonable way. Microstructural parameters like grain size, grain distribution, grain orientation etc. are taken into account by assigning measured values to a modelled microstructure, in which the crack growth simulation takes place. The comparison of experimentally observed and calculated values shows excellent agreement.     

Effect of microstructure of simulated heat‐affected zone on low‐ to high‐cycle fatigue properties of low‐carbon steels

To clarify the effect of microstructural changes on the fatigue property of the weld heat‐affected zone (HAZ), low‐ to high‐cycle fatigue tests were conducted on 16 types of simulated HAZ specimens that had been prepared using thermal processes. The results showed the fatigue S‐N curves of the HAZ to be widely scattered as a function of strength level. These fatigue data were divided into two groups: coarse grain (CG) and fine grain (FG) HAZ, when strain amplitude was used to represent S‐N curves. The fatigue data for the CGHAZ group showed a relatively short fatigue life. Based on surface observations, the initiated fatigue crack size of CGHAZ was larger than that of FGHAZ as a function of microstructural unit size. Hence, fatigue crack growth life, which is almost the same as total fatigue life of CGHAZ, decreased.     

INFLUENCE OF CONTACT LOADING ON FRETTING FATIGUE BEHAVIOUR

Abstract— Fretting induced cracking is commonly observed in industrial components that are in contact and are subjected to small oscillatory movements between them. Fretting causes a considerable reduction in fatigue strength. In this paper recent knowledge on the short and long crack growth behaviour is applied to estimate crack propagation and fatigue life in fretting. The model is based on mode I stress intensity factors with a threshold modified for short cracks. The predicted results are compared with experiments and the influence of the contact pressure is examined. A good correlation between predictions and experimental results are obtained for crack growth rates as well as fatigue lives in terms of number of cycles to failure. It is seen that the increase of fatigue life observed for contact pressures above a certain level can be predicted by the crack growth model.     

ON CRACK INITIATION LIFE DURING LOW CYCLE FATIGUE

Abstract— A new method of investigating life to crack initiation during low cycle fatigue, which combines hour-glass shape specimen testing with scanning electron-microscopy observations, was introduced in the paper. The effect of grain size on low cycle fatigue crack initiation life of 37CrNi3MoV steel and the propagation of cracks in this multi-phase steel was studied. Results show that refining the grain size can increase fatigue initiation lifetime.     

EXAMINATION OF SHORT-CRACK MEASUREMENT AND MODELLING UNDER CYCLIC INELASTIC CONDITIONS

The opening and closure behaviour of short fatigue cracks is seen as one of the important phenomena which control fatigue life of components where a major part of life consists of the growth of short cracks. Therefore attempts are undertaken to experimentally assess and to model the behaviour of short cracks with respect to opening and closure. In this paper crack opening results obtained by Sunder et al. through SEM evaluation of striation patterns of 2000 series aluminium alloys are examined and compared to predictions using a model recently developed for fatigue life prediction based on fracture mechanics of short cracks. Sunder's technique for crack opening measurements involves particular load sequences with increasing and decreasing load ranges applied to notched specimens with naturally nucleated surface cracks where crack opening levels are identified by steady-state striation widths for increasing load ranges. A detailed review of Sunder's results, however, indicates a number of inconsistencies and contradictions which are discussed. Opening and closure behaviour of short fatigue cracks, in particular for inelastic conditions, is compared to predictions obtained with the above-mentioned model which incorporates a constant strain opening and closure assumption. For inelastic conditions that may develop at notches this assumption means that cracks would close at considerably lower stress levels as compared to the opening stress which becomes important when effective (local) stress-strain ranges are to be determined for fatigue life prediction under spectrum loading. The constant strain assumption is supported by a number of experimental observations from the literature as discussed in the paper. The approximative nature of this assumption and further details of the model are pointed out which show a need for further developments.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of fatigue of thin tensile specimen

This paper presents the results of experimental and numerical investigation on fatigue of thin 304 stainless steel tensile specimens. In order to achieve the experimental aspects of this investigation a Micro Fatigue Test Rig (MFTR) was designed and developed to evaluate fatigue life and failure mechanism of tensile specimen. A 3D finite element model was also developed to investigate the fatigue damage of thin tensile specimen and to account for the effects of topological randomness of material microstructure on fatigue lives. The topology of the material grain structure was modeled using randomly generated 3D Voronoi tessellations corresponding to the measured grain size. Continuum damage mechanics was used to model the progressive material degradation. The damage parameters were obtained from the experimentally obtained S–N curve. A 3D mesh partitioning procedure was developed to consider both crack initiation and propagation stages considering the predominant transgranular, non-planar crack growth observed in the experiments. The stress–life results obtained from the fatigue damage model are in good agreement with the experimental data. The progression of damage and the proportion of life spent in crack initiation obtained from the model are consistent with empirical observations. The fatigue damage model was used to assess the influence of microstructure randomness accompanied by material inhomogeneity and internal voids on fatigue life dispersion.     

A RELIABILITY-BASED MODEL TO PREDICT SCATTER IN FATIGUE CRACK NUCLEATION LIFE

This paper investigates the scatter inherent in the early stages of fatigue life. A probabilistic fatigue model is proposed which relates the microstructural heterogeneity to the scatter in crack nucleation life. The crack nucleation life is defined as the number of cycles necessary to develop a crack with a length equal to the grain size. The model assumes homogeneity at the level of the grain size. A fracture mechanics-based microstructural model is used to describe the response of the grains. The primitive random variables which drive crack nucleation are identified and recent developments recorded in the literature are used to describe their statistical characteristics. First order reliability methods are used to predict the statistical distribution of fatigue crack nucleation life. Comparisons are made with trends in experimental observations.     

Propagation behaviour of microstructural short fatigue cracks in the high-cycle fatigue regime

In the high-cycle fatigue regime, it is assumed that crack initiation mechanisms and short fatigue crack propagation processes govern fatigue life of a component. Moreover, it is now becoming accepted that the conventional fatigue limit does not imply complete reversibility of plastic strain and is connected to crack initiation. However, interaction of the crack tip with microstructural barriers, such as, e.g. grain boundaries or second phases, leads to a decrease and eventually to a stop in the crack propagation. In the present contribution, examples for propagating and non-propagating conditions of short fatigue cracks in the microstructure of a duplex steel are given, quantified by means of automated EBSD. To classify the results within the scope of predicting the service life for HCF- and VHCF-loading conditions, a numerical model based on the boundary element method has been developed, describing crack propagation by means of partially irreversible dislocation glide on crystallographic slip planes in a polycrystalline model microstructure (Voronoi cells). This concept is capable to account for the strong scattering in fatigue life for very small strain amplitudes and to contribute to the concept of tailored microstructures for improved cyclic-loading behaviour.     

THE EFFECT OF GRAIN SIZE ON THE FATIGUE OF COMMERCIALLY PURE ALUMINIUM

Abstract— Fully reversed uniaxial fatigue tests were performed on polished hour-glass specimens of commercially pure aluminium with three different grain sizes, in order to examine the effect of grain size on fatigue. The growth of surface cracks was monitored by a plastic replication method. An improvement in fatigue strength was observed, as the polycrystal grain size was refined. The endurance limit stress was shown to depend on the inverse square root of the grain size as described empirically by a type of Hall-Petch relation. The effect of refining grain size on fatigue crack growth is to increase the number of microstructural barriers to the advancing crack and to reduce the slip length ahead of the crack tip, and thereby lower the crack growth rate. Multiple crack initiation and growth is a feature of the fatigue of aluminium, while the grain size influences the specific detail of crack coalescence. Crack path deviation is greatest in the coarse grained microstructure and crack surface roughness is more pronounced. SEM fractography reveals that crack initiation and early crack growth takes place along crystallographic slip planes, and that fatigue striations, characteristic of stage II cracking, extend to the very edge of the specimen section, suggesting extensive crack tip blunting.     

THE EFFECT OF GRAIN SIZE ON FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH IN AN ALUMINIUM MAGNESIUM ALLOY

Abstract Fully reversed uniaxial fatigue tests were performed on aluminium magnesium alloy Al 5754 with four different grain sizes in order that the effect of grain size on fatigue crack growth could be examined. Surface cracks were monitored by a plastic replication technique. Fatigue strength was shown to improve with a decrease in grain size. The endurance stress is a function of the inverse square root of the grain size and is described empiricdty by a Hall-Petch type relation. The effect of grain size on fatigue crack growth is most significant when the crack length is of the order of the microstructure. Fluctuations in the growth rate of microstructurally short cracks are most marked in a fine grained microstructure and may be related to the need to transfer slip to adjacent grains. Crack path deviation is greatest in the coarsest grained microstructure and SEM fractography reveals a more pronounced crack surface roughness in the coarser grained alloy than in the finer grained alloy.     

FATIGUE CRACK INITIATION AND PROPAGATION IN A LOW-CARBON STEEL OF TWO DIFFERENT GRAIN SIZES

Rotary bending fatigue tests were carried out using both plain and notched specimens of a low-carbon steel with two different grain sizes (15 and 50 μm). The process of early crack development was observed by the replication method. The effect of grain size on crack development was studied. The main conclusions were as follows. (1) Fatigue resistance, in terms of the relative positions of the S-N curves, increases with decreasing grain size. This phenomenon is related to the number of cycles to propagate a crack to failure and the condition for the non-propagation of a fatigue crack. (2) The size of a non-propagating crack, which initiates below the fatigue limit, tends to become larger as grain size increases. (3) The difference in fatigue behaviour between small (15μm) and large (50μm) grain sized specimens is due both to a decrease in crack propagation rate and a smaller non-propagating crack limit in the finer grained material.     

A modification of UniGrow 2‐parameter driving force model for short fatigue crack growth

In this paper, a modification of the UniGrow model is proposed to predict total fatigue life with the presence of a short fatigue crack by incorporating short crack propagation into the UniGrow crack growth model. The UniGrow model is modified by 2 different methods, namely the “short crack stress intensity correction method” and the “short crack data‐fitting method” to estimate the total fatigue life including both short and long fatigue crack propagations. Predicted fatigue lives obtained from these 2 methods were compared with experimental data sets of 2024‐T3, 7075‐T56 aluminium alloys, and Ti‐6Al‐4V titanium alloy. Two proposed methods have shown good fatigue life predictions at relatively high maximum stresses; however, they provide conservative fatigue life predictions at lower stresses corresponding high cycle fatigue lives where short crack behaviour dominates total fatigue life at lower stress levels.     

STATISTICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE BEHAVIOUR OF SMALL CRACKS AND FATIGUE LIFE IN CARBON STEELS WITH DIFFERENT FERRITE GRAIN SIZES

Abstract— In order to study the relation between the scatter characteristics of small crack growth behaviour and fatigue life, rotatory bending fatigue tests of smooth specimens were carried out using 0.21% carbon steels of different ferrite grain sizes. Fifteen to eighteen specimens were fatigued at each stress amplitude, and the initiation and propagation behaviour of the cracks which led to the final fractures were examined for all the specimens. The physical basis of scatter in fatigue life was investigated, based on the successive observation of fatigue damage on the surface using the plastic replica technique, followed by an analysis of the data assuming a Weibull distribution. A statistical investigation of the physical basis of scatter in relation to the ferrite grain size was performed, i.e. the distributions for crack initiation life, crack propagation life, fatigue life and growth rate of small cracks. Finally, the fluctuation of crack growth rate was studied in relation to the application of a crack growth law for microstructurally small cracks.     

MODELING THE LONG-LIFE FATIGUE BEHAVIOR OF A CAST ALUMINUM ALLOY

As-cast specimens and smooth specimens of a AA 319 cast aluminum alloy containing casting porosity were fatigue tested with special attention given to the long-life region ( N 1.25 × 10⁸ cycles). Fatigue cracks were observed to initiate from the near-surface casting pores or from discontinuities resulting from the as-cast surface texture. The observed fatigue lives were strongly dependent on the size (√area) of these casting defects.
The effect of casting defects on the fatigue life was modeled assuming the fatigue life to be the sum of the crack nucleation and the crack propagation life (including both the growth of short and long cracks). The crack growth behavior of (mechanically) short cracks was considered in detail by a developed crack-closure-at-a-notch (CCN) model. The CCN model predicted the fatigue lives for both as-cast and machine-notched specimens. Extension of the CCN model to reliability-based design was attempted using the measured size distribution of the fatigue-initiating casting pores.     

Fatigue life assessment of nodular cast iron containing casting defects

The fatigue behaviour of a nodular cast iron containing casting defects has been investigated in the high-cycle fatigue regime. In this paper, we propose a fatigue life assessment model for flawed materials based on a fracture mechanics approach which takes into account the position and size of the defect, short crack behaviour and the notch effect introduced by the defect. The fatigue behaviour of smooth samples, and long and short crack behaviour have been experimentally determined in order to identify the relevant mechanical parameters; these being introduced into the model. An experimental study has been made both in air and in vacuum in order to account for the position of the defect, noting that internal defects are supposed to be under vacuum conditions. Experimental results, which are based on a two-crack front-marking technique specially developed for this study, show that the propagation of natural cracks is controlled by the effective stress intensity factor in air as well as in vacuum. The K calculation for a short crack in the stress field of a notch is analysed using numerical elastic–plastic results. Comparison between experimental results and the computation of fatigue life for fatigue lives less than 10⁶ cycles shows that the fatigue behaviour of nodular cast iron is controlled by a propagation process. The model proposed is thus relevant for fatigue lives less than 10⁶ cycles so that the defect can be considered as a crack and the initiation stage neglected. Closer to the fatigue limit, this study shows that the initiation stage should be considered in the assessment of fatigue life of nodular cast iron, because a single macroscopic propagation assessment is not enough to describe the whole fatigue life. The defect cannot be considered as a pre-existent crack in the high-cycle fatigue range (>10⁶ cycles), and the initiation stage that contains microcrack propagation around the defect should be evaluated when assessing the high-cycle fatigue life of nodular cast iron.     

EFFECT OF BIAXIAL MEAN STRESS ON CYCLIC STRESS-STRAIN RESPONSE AND BEHAVIOUR OF SHORT FATIGUE CRACKS IN A HIGH STRENGTH SPRING STEEL

Abstract— Biaxial fatigue tests were conducted on a high strength spring steel using hour-glass shaped smooth specimens. Four types of loading system were employed, i.e. (a) fully reversed cyclic torsion, (b) uniaxial push—pull, (c) fully reversed torsion with a superimposed axial static tension or compression stress, and (d) uniaxial push—pull with a superimposed static torque, to evaluate the effects of mean stress on the cyclic stress—strain response and short fatigue crack growth behaviour. Experimental results indicate that a biaxial mean stress has no apparent influence on the stress—strain response in torsion, however a superimposed tensile mean stress was detrimental to torsional fatigue strength. Similarly a superimposed static shear stress reduced the push—pull fatigue lifetime. A compressive mean stress was seen to be beneficial to torsion fatigue life. The role of mean stress on fatigue lifetime, under mixed mode loading, was investigated through experimental observations and theoretical analyses of short crack initiation and propagation. Using a plastic replication technique the effects of biaxial mean stress on both Stage I (mode II) and Stage II (mode I) short cracks were evaluated and analysed in detail. A two stage biaxial short fatigue crack growth model incorporating the influence of mean stress was subsequently developed and applied to correlate data of crack growth rate and fatigue life.     

Influence of grain size on the small fatigue crack initiation and propagation behaviors of a nickel-based superalloy at 650 °C

GH4169 at 650 °C in atmosphere was investigated by using single edge notch tensile specimens. The number of main cracks and crack initiation mechanisms at the notch surface strongly depended on the grain size. The crack initiation life accounted for more percentages of the total fatigue life for the alloy with smaller grain size. The fatigue life generally increased with increasing crack initiation life. The small crack transited to long crack when its length reached ˜10 times the grain size.     

Microstructural effects on the short crack behaviour of a stainless steel weld metal during low-cycle fatigue

An experimental study into microstructural effects on short fatigue crack behaviour of 19 stainless steel weld metal smooth specimens during low-cycle fatigue is performed by a so-called ‘effective short fatigue crack criterion’. This material has a mixed microstructure in which it is difficult to distinguish the grains and measure the grain diameter. The columnar grain structure is made up of matrix-rich δ ferrite bands, and the distance between the neighbouring rich δ ferrite bands is an appropriate measurement for characterizing this structure. Particularly, the effective short fatigue cracks (ESFCs) always initiate from the bands of δ ferrite in the matrix in the weakest zone on one of the specimen surface zones which is orientated in accordance with the inner or outer surface of welded pipe from which the specimens were machined. These cracks exhibit characteristics of the microstructural short crack (MSC) and the physically small crack (PSC) stages. The average length of the ESFCs at the transition between MSC and PSC behaviour is ≈40 μm, while the corresponding fatigue life fraction is ≈0.3 at this transition. Different from previous test observations, the growth rate of the dominant effective short fatigue crack in the MSC stage still shows a decrease with fatigue cycling under the present low-cycle fatigue loading levels. A statistical evolution analysis of the growth rates reveals that the short fatigue crack growth is a damage process that gradually evolves from a non-ordered (chaotic) to a perfectly independent stochastic process, and then to an ordered (history-dependent) stochastic state. Correspondingly, the microstructural effects gradually evolve from a weak effect to a strong one in the MSC stage, which maximizes at the transition point. In the PSC stage, the effects gradually evolve from a strong to weak state. This improves our understanding that the short crack behaviour in the PSC stage is mainly related to the loading levels rather than microstructural effects.