AFM and SEM observation on mechanism of fatigue crack growth in an Fe-Si single crystal

Fatigue crack growth tests are carried out on sheets of an Fe-3.2% Si single crystal with a crystallographic orientation appropriate for striation formation. The behaviour of slip near a crack tip during the loading and unloading parts of a fatigue cycle is observed using an Atomic Force Microscope and a Scanning Electron Microscope. The fracture surfaces are also analysed with an AFM and an SEM. The mechanism of fatigue crack growth is discussed based on the observations, and a fundamental kinematic model for fatigue crack growth is proposed. The model gives a reasonable explanation for both the crack growth and striation formation.     

Fatigue voids and their significance

ABSTRACT Fractures from tests on 2014‐T6511 and 2024‐T3 test coupons under specially designed programmed loading reveal voids with distinct fatigue markings. These ‘fatigue voids’ appear to form as a consequence of the separation of noncoherent secondary particulates from the matrix in early fatigue. The process of their formation is through the initiation, growth and coalescence of multiple interfacial cracks around the particulate. Such voids become visible on the fatigue fracture surface if and when the crack front advances through them. In vacuum, each fatigue void is the potential initiator of an embedded penny‐shaped crack. The one closest to the specimen surface is likely to become the dominant crack, indicating that fatigue voids appear to be the likely origins of the dominant crack in vacuum. In air, the dominant crack forms at the notch surface and grows much faster, giving less opportunity for multiple internal cracks to spawn off from the innumerable internal fatigue‐voids. Thus in air, fatigue voids do not appear to affect the fatigue process at low and intermediate growth rates. At high crack growth rates involving considerable crack tip shear, slip planes with particulate concentration offer the path of least resistance. This explains the increasing density of fatigue voids with growth rate. Very high growth rates signal the onset of a quasi‐static crack growth component that manifests itself through growing clusters of microvoid coalescence associated with static fracture. Fatigue voids are likely to form in other Al‐alloys with secondary noncoherent particulates. They have nothing in common with microvoids associated with ductile fracture.     

Incremental model for fatigue crack growth based on a displacement partitioning hypothesis of mode I elastic–plastic displacement fields

The mode I displacement field in the near crack tip region is assumed to be depicted by its partition into an elastic field and a plastic field. Then, each part of the displacement field is also assumed to be the product of a reference field, a function of space coordinates only, and of an intensity factor, function of the loading conditions. This assumption, classical in fracture mechanics, enables one to work at the global scale since fracture criteria can be formulated as a function of the stress intensity factors only. In the present case, the intensity factor of the plastic part of the displacement field measures crack tip plastic flow rate at the global scale. On the basis of these hypotheses, the energy balance equation and the second law of thermodynamics are written at the global scale, i.e. the scale of the K-dominance area. This enables one to establish a yield criterion and a plastic flow rule for the crack tip region. Then, assuming a relation between plastic flow in the crack tip region and fatigue crack growth allows an incremental model for fatigue crack growth to be built. A few examples are given to show the versatility of the model and its ability to reproduce memory effects associated with crack tip plasticity.     

Some Peculiarities of Fatigue Crack Growth at Various Stages of Its Development

The author considers some peculiarities of fatigue crack growth in metals at the stages of its initiation and initial development, and stable and unstable growth that precedes final fracture. It is shown that at the stage of initial growth of fatigue cracks, the stress state, nonlocalized fatigue damage that precedes initiation of the main fatigue crack, residual surface stresses, surface manufacturing and in-service defects, and contact interactions are the factors that determine the crack paths. Stable growth of a fatigue crack is primarily determined by the stress-strain state of a structure as a whole and by the stress-strain state at the crack tip with allowance for its variation due to crack propagation, which is evaluated by the criteria of fracture mechanics. The author also studied peculiarities of fatigue crack development in compressor blades of marine gas turbines. It is shown that for embrittled steels, when fatigue cracks develop under plane strain conditions, final fracture occurs at very small crack sizes. In this case, the characteristics of fatigue fracture toughness are appreciably lower than the static values. The paper also considers peculiarities of unstable fatigue crack propagation.     

镍基单晶高温合金热机疲劳断裂特征

为了进一步提高镍基单晶高温合金的热机疲劳性能,通过微观结构解析研究了合金热机疲劳断裂特征.通过金相和扫描电子显微镜研究了热机疲劳断裂的断口特征和微观结构.研究表明:裂纹起源于形变孪晶与试样外表面的交截处,过程中的氧化有助于裂纹的长大;裂纹尖端的应力场诱发出大量形变孪晶,而形变孪晶的存在为裂纹进一步沿着孪晶界扩展提供了便利条件;镍基单晶高温合金的疲劳断裂主要是由于形变孪晶的形成以及裂纹沿孪晶界的扩展造成的.形变孪晶与高温合金疲劳断裂密切相关.     

Modeling fatigue crack and spalling for rolling die under hot milling

In hot milling process, rolling die is subjected to nonsteady conditions which can rise the combinations of fatigue and spalling damage mechanism. An understanding about the failure mechanism of the rolling die is essential under hot rolling process. Fatigue crack growth and spalling process are governed by highly concentrated strain and stress in the crack tip region. Based on the theory of elastic‐plastic fracture mechanics, an analytical model are presented in this paper to determine the elliptical crack growth rate and spalling damage mechanism. The model includes new proposed constitutive equations for fatigue and spalling crack growth. To verify the models, finite element simulation and experimental data are considered. The results show good agreement with finite element simulation and experimental data.     

Observation of hydrogen effects on fatigue crack growth behaviour in an 18Cr-8Ni austenitic stainless steel

The hydrogen effect on crack growth behaviour in a type 304 austenitic stainless steel was investigated and the following results were obtained. The crack growth rate in hydrogen gas is accelerated compared with that in air. In order to clarify the mechanism of the acceleration, the growth behaviours of a crack propagating in a grain and propagating along the boundary to be a fracture facet were investigated. Slip behaviour, opening displacement and fractography showed that the slip-off mechanism in fatigue crack growth is valid even in hydrogen gas. Hydrogen mainly affects slip behaviour such that slip bands concentrate at a crack tip and result in acceleration of the growth rate. The facets are not significantly responsible for the acceleration. The ratio of facets to the entire area is low, and a crack nearly compensates for the temporary acceleration by the facets with subsequent deceleration.     

基于声发射技术的30CrMnSi钢断裂机理研究

采用三点弯曲试样加载过程声发射监测实验,结合断口SEM观察及X射线能谱分析,考察了30CrMnSi合金钢延性断裂的整个物理过程.结果表明:30CrMnSi钢的断裂过程从宏观上可以分为裂尖塑性变形、裂纹亚临界扩展和裂纹失稳扩展三个阶段.其机理如下:裂尖塑性变形过程是位错的滑移、堆积而引起的孔洞形核和长大;裂纹亚临界扩展过...     

Mechanisms and modeling of low cycle fatigue crack propagation in a pressure vessel steel Q345

The fatigue process near crack is governed by highly concentrated strain and stress in the crack tip region. Based on the theory of elastic–plastic fracture mechanics, we explore the cyclic J-integral as breakthrough point, an analytical model is presented in this paper to determine the CTOD for cracked component subjected to cyclic axial in-plane loading. A simple fracture mechanism based model for fatigue crack growth assumes a linear correlation between the cyclic crack tip opening displacement (ΔCTOD) and the crack growth rate (da/dN). In order to validate the model and to calibrate the model parameters, the low cycle fatigue crack propagation experiment was carried out for CT specimen made of Q345 steel. The effects of stress ratio and crack closure on fatigue crack growth were investigated by elastic–plastic finite element stress–strain analysis of a cracked component. A good comparison has been found between predictions and experimental results, which shows that the crack opening displacement is able to characterize the crack tip state at large scale yielding constant amplitude fatigue crack growth.     

A FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH MODEL FOR FIBER-REINFORCED METAL–MATRIX COMPOSITES

A fracture-mechanics based model is proposed for fatigue crack growth in fiber-reinforced metal-matrix composites (MMCs). The model incorporates most of the fracture micromechanisms commonly observed in fiber-reinforced MMCs, including (1) formation of microcracks ahead of the crack tip by either fiber fracture or interface decohesion, (2) interactions of the main crack tip with fibers and microcracks, (3) linkage of the main crack with microcracks, and (4) crack deflection by fibers. Statistical variations of fiber or interface strength are also considered. The essential feature of the model is to compute the changes in the local stress intensity due to various fracture mechanisms; the local stress intensity is then utilized to predict crack growth rate in MMCs via an elastic modulus normalization procedure. Application of the model to predicting crack growth in an alumina fiber Mg-alloy composite is presented.     

Influence of material properties on dynamic fracture toughness of steels

Recent studies of plastic enclave formation at running brittle cracks were extended to account for the influence of crack tip boundary conditions on the temperature at which the enclaves start to develop. The En 2A and three other steels were used in the analysis. It was found that this temperature depends very strongly both on the magnitude and on the distribution of the stresses in the discrete crack tip zone. This suggests that the onset of enclave formation and the rate of their growth are governed by the balance of two sets of material characteristics. The first set consists of at least two parameters describing the microscopic fracture resistance which promotes enclave formation. The second set includes the macroscopic yield and flow properties which may make enclave formation more difficult in higher strength steels.These findings are related to the dynamic or crack arrest fracture toughness which is found to be derived from two different sources. One is connected with the microscopic plastic deformation of the fracturing metal in the crack tip zone and is present at all temperatures. The other is the result of enclave formation, it is present only at higher temperatures and is responsible for the energy transition. In contrast to the case of crack initiation, the dynamic fracture toughness depends not only on the microscopic fracture strength or strain but on the complete stress-displacement relationship of the weakened material which is governed by the microscopic fracture mechanism at the tip of a running crack. It is noted that the present results can be expected to be valid for all steels which fracture in the cleavage or quasi-cleavage modes.     

DRAFT EGF RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DETERMINING THE FRACTURE RESISTANCE OF DUCTILE MATERIALS: EGF PROCEDURE EGF P1–87D

Abstract— The EGF Working Party on Fracture Mechanics Testing Standards has written a draft ECF Procedure for determining the crack growth fracture resistance of ductile materials. either in terms of the J-integral or the crack tip opening displacement. Methods are also given for deriving J and δ fracture parameters related to initiation of crack growth. The multiple specimen method is taken as the reference method. Several single specimen techniques are described in Appendices. The EGF Procedure is currently being validated by an experimental round robin.     

Maximum Average Tangential Stress Criterion for Prediction of the Crack Path

The concept of the average stress has been employed to propose the maximum average tangential stress (MATS) criterion for predicting the direction of fracture angle. This criterion states that a crack grows when the maximum average tangential stress in the fracture process zone ahead of the crack tip reaches its critical value and the crack growth direction coincides with the direction of the maximum average tangential stress along a constant radius around the crack tip. The tangential stress is described by the singular and non-singular (T-stress) terms in the Williams series solution. The predicted directions of fracture angle are consistent with the experimental data for the mixed mode I/II crack growth behavior of Guiting limestone.     

Examination of the fatigue crack growth equations

Most of the crack growth equations proposed so far correlate the crack growth rate (da/dN or da/dt) with crack tip parameters such as the stress intensity factor (SIF) or energy release rate (ERR). In our previous works, an experimental setup was designed to examine the applicability and the boundary of the functional relationship between da/dN and the crack tip parameters, particularly, ERR. In the present paper, the variation of the ERR along the experimentally observed curvilinear crack trajectories is obtained by means of the finite element method. The analysis shows that the Paris-Erdogan type of laws are applicable until the crack tip is located outside the strong crack-defect interaction region (SI region). A functional relationship between da/dN and ERR breaks down within this region. This suggests the existence of additional crack tip parameters that are not accounted for within conventional fracture mechanics. An approach to modeling the observed phenomenon is discussed following the concept of the Crack Layer theory.     

Microstructure-based fatigue modeling of cast A356-T6 alloy

High cycle fatigue (HCF) life in cast Al-Mg-Si alloys is particularly sensitive to the combination of microstructural inclusions and stress concentrations. Inclusions can range from large-scale shrinkage porosity with a tortuous surface profile to entrapped oxides introduced during the pour. When shrinkage porosity is controlled, the relevant microstructural initiation sites are often the larger Si particles within eutectic regions. In this paper, a HCF model is introduced which recognizes multiple inclusion severity scales for crack formation. The model addresses the role of constrained microplasticity around debonded particles or shrinkage pores in forming and growing microstructurally small fatigue cracks and is based on the cyclic crack tip displacement rather than linear elastic fracture mechanics stress intensity factor. Conditions for transitioning to long crack fatigue crack growth behavior are introduced. The model is applied to a cast A356-T6 Al alloy over a range of inclusion severities.     

Steady-state crack growth in rubber-like solids

The fracture toughness of rubber-like materials depends on several factors. First there is the surface energy required to create new crack surface at the crack tip. Second, a significant amount of energy is dissipated through viscoelastic processes in the bulk material around the crack tip. Third, if the crack propagates very rapidly, inertia effects will come into play and contribute to the fracture toughness. In the present study, a computational framework for studying high-speed crack growth in rubber-like solids under conditions of steady-state is proposed. Effects of inertia, viscoelasticity and finite strains are included. The main purpose of the study is to study the contribution of viscoelastic dissipation to the total work of fracture required to propagate a crack in a rubber-like solid. The model was fully able to predict experimental results in terms of the local surface energy at the crack tip and the total energy release rate at different crack speeds. In addition, the predicted distributions of stress and dissipation around the propagating crack tip are presented.     

Micromechanical simulations of microstructure-sensitive Stage I fatigue crack growth

Simulations of dislocation dynamics at the tip of a Stage I crack are performed, taking into account the influence of the normal stress on the friction of the crack flanks and on the condition for dislocation emission at the crack tip. The interactions of the emitted dislocations with microstructural obstacles are analysed. The repeated decelerations and sometimes arrests that characterize Stage I crack growth are properly described by the model, and the differences in Stage I kinetics observed in reversed torsion and push–pull are analysed in terms of crack tip–grain boundary interactions.     

Nanoscale void nucleation and growth and crack tip stress evolution ahead of a growing crack in a single crystal

A constrained three-dimensional atomistic model of a cracked aluminum single crystal has been employed to investigate the growth behavior of a nanoscale crack in a single crystal using molecular dynamics simulations with the EAM potential. This study is focused on the stress field around the crack tip and its evolution during fast crack growth. Simulation results of the observed nanoscale fracture behavior are presented in terms of atomistic stresses. Major findings from the simulation results are the following: (a) crack growth is in the form of void nucleation, growth and coalescence ahead of the crack tip, thus resembling that of ductile fracture at the continuum scale; (b) void nucleation occurs at a certain distance ahead of the current crack tip or the forward edge of the leading void ahead of the crack tip; (c) just before void nucleation the mean atomic stress (or equivalently its ratio to the von Mises effective stress, which is called the stress constraint or triaxiality) has a high concentration at the site of void nucleation; and (d) the stress field ahead of the current crack tip or the forward edge of the leading void is more or less self-similar (so that the forward edge of the leading void can be viewed as the effective crack tip).     

Object Grating Method Application in Strain Determination on CTOD Tests

Abstract:  Standard fracture toughness tests require standard specimens with the presumption that mechanical properties are uniform in the crack growth direction. Standards for crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) fracture tests prescribe remote crack mouth opening displacement, which can lead to inadequate results in the case of heterogeneous materials properties. This paper describes the application of an object grating method (OGM) on the fracture behaviour of a heterogeneous specimen. Fracture behaviour is described by measuring deformation on the surface of a specimen, in terms of CTOD and, consequently, by strain determination. An OGM is advantageously used when measuring modified CTOD tests on two specimens with an initial crack in a macroscopic heterogeneous welded joint. Results significantly show that fracture behaviour depends on the material in the vicinity of the crack tip concerning the direction of crack propagation.     

Sphere contact fatigue of a coarse-grained Al2O3 ceramic

The opposite sphere test is an appropriate tool to determine crack‐growth exponents for fatigue under repeated contact loading. Lifetime measurements for a coarse‐grained Al₂O₃ are reported. To explain the fatigue exponents that strongly deviated from those obtained in cyclic bending tests, a fracture mechanics analysis was carried out. It was aimed at determining the correct stress intensity factor solution for the tests, including limited dimensions of test specimens deviating from the case of a cone crack in a half space. Cone crack development was observed microscopically and the related stress intensity factors were computed for the observed crack shape. For modelling the fatigue behaviour, it is assumed that the fatigue effect is influenced by a reduction of the shielding term of crack growth resistance due to periodical friction between the grain‐interlock bridges in coarse‐grained alumina. This results in a loss of traction at the junctions, crack tip shielding is reduced, and the effective load at the crack tip is increased.