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.