Fretting fatigue crack initiation and propagation behavior of Inconel 690 alloy

Several studies have been conducted on the fretting fatigue limit characteristics of Inconel alloy tube material used in steam generators of nuclear power plants. Nevertheless, additional research on fretting fatigue crack initiation and propagation behavior is necessary in order to evaluate its fretting fatigue life more accurately. In this study, crack growth tests of fretting fatigue are conducted, and the characteristics of fatigue crack initiation and propagation are analyzed on Inconel 690 alloy. Also, plain fatigue crack growth tests are performed on the same material, and the results are compared with those of fretting fatigue crack growth tests. From both of the plain and fretting fatigue crack growth test results, the ΔK-da/dN diagrams are obtained and the crack growth rates are compared. It is found that the crack growth rate for fretting fatigue tests is faster than that for plain fatigue tests under a certain value of DK. However, over this value of DK, the crack growth rate for fretting fatigue tests becomes slower than that for plain fatigue tests due to debris which is produced by fretting and trapped in the propagated cracks. Finally, the fracture surfaces examined by an optical microscope, and the initiation angles of the oblique cracks are determined under various applied stresses. Also, the microstructure of the fracture surfaces is observed by a Scanning electron microscopy (SEM).