The Influence of the Cyclic Loading Rate on the Plastic Zone Depth in VNS-25 Alloy

We have studied the plastic zone depth at the fatigue crack tip in VNS-25 (03Kh12N10MT) alloy specimens, previously subjected to the cyclic fracture toughness tests under symmetrical push-pull loading with a frequency of 20, 170, 600 Hz, 3 and 10 kHz. For the same values of the stress intensity factor, an increase in the loading frequency is shown to slow down the fatigue crack growth and reduce the plastic zone depth under the fracture surface. However, the dependence of the plastic zone depth on the crack growth rate is invariant with respect to the loading frequency.