| Abstract: | Fatigue crack retardation with infiltrated SiC paste into a crack is examined in low carbon structural steel. Two different sizes of SiC powders, whose average diameters are 15 and 53 μm, are used. The SiC powder mixed with oil is infiltrated into a through thickness fatigue crack from the crack mouth. Fatigue crack growth retardation is examined by the ΔK increasing test of R = 0.1, comparing with the base plate property, where ΔK is stress intensity factor range and R is stress ratio. Crack growth is retarded just after infiltrating SiC paste into the crack mouth, and the deceleration of crack growth rate to 1/50 of the base plate appears in the maximum. It is revealed that this crack retardation behaviour results from the crack closure induced by the wedge effect of the SiC particle into a crack. The crack retardation effect is investigated with several combinations of SiC particle size and cyclic stress conditions. The crack growth rate, da/dn and stress intensity factor, Kcl for the crack closure depend on both the maximum stress intensity factor, Kmax, and the stress ratio, R. While the better retardation effect can appear in the higher Kmax and the higher R ratio, it disappears in the R ratio over 0.7. The SiC paste with 15 μm powder brings the crack retardation effect in the wider cyclic stress condition more stable than in the SiC paste with 53 μm powder. |
