EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL STUDY ON NUMERICAL DENSITY EVOLUTION OF SHORT FATIGUE CRACKS

Fatigue testing was performed using a kind of triangular shaped specimen to obtain the characteristics of numerical density evolution for short cracks at the primary stage of fatigue damage. The material concerned is a structural alloy steel. The experimental results show that the numerical density of short cracks reaches the maximum value when crack length is slightly less than the average grain diameter, indicating grain boundary is the main barrier for short crack extension. Based on the experimental observations and related theory, the expressions for growth velocity and nucleation rate of short cracks have been proposed. With the solution to phase space conservation equation, the theoretical results of numerical density evolution for short cracks were obtained, which were in agreement with our experimental measurements.

GROWTH BEHAVIOR OF SHORT FATIGUE CRACKS FOR ALUMINUM- LITHIUM ALLOY 8090

The growth behaviors of short through cracks (0.2 < △a < 2.2mm) and long cracks are compared using CT type specimens in aluminum-lithium alloy 8090 T651. It is found that the short cracks grow much more than long ones and are observed to grow at the stress intensity ranges far below the long crack threshold. The distinction of growth bahavior between short and long cracks is attributed to the difference of their crack closure effect. The growth behavior of short cracks can be rationalized with that of long ones in terms of effective stress intensity ranges. The upper demarcation value of short through cracks for aluminum-lithium alloy 8090 is presented.

SHORT FATIGUE CRACK BEHAVIOUR IN ISO-STRESS SPECIMENS

Fatigue tests were made on a vibration machine using specially designed specimens to investi- gate the initiation and propagation features of short fatigue cracks in a weld metal.The spec- imens were triangular in shape so that when loaded as a cantilever beam the surface tensile stress is constant.Test results show that short fatigue cracks mainly originate from slip bands within ferrite grains.The development of short fatigue cracks is marked by a gradual increase in crack density with fatigue cycles.Coalescence of short cracks leads to crack propagation and the crack path is predominantly transgranular.

Influence Mechanism of Cerium on the Threshold of Short Fatigue Crack for Aluminum-lithium Alloy 2090

The thresholds of short fatigue cracks for aluminum-lithium alloys 2090 and 2090+Ce are quantitatively evaluated. The essential reason resulting in stronger short crack effect has been ascertained. Influence of cerium on the threshold of short fatigue cracks for aluminum-lithium alloy 2090 was investigated. The results show that, by adding Ce into this alloy, DeltaK(i) and DeltaK(Cl.th) are increased. The influence mechanism of Ce on the threshold of short fatigue crack for alloy 2090 was explored fi om the bound energy, T, phase, the energy of anti-phase boundary, the energy of super-lattice intrinsic stacking fault and the electron bonds. By adding Ce into alloy 2090, the bound energy of Cu atom in this alloy is increased; the effect of thinning and dispersing T, phase is obtained; the effect of increasing the energy of anti-phase boundary and decreasing the energy of super-lattice intrinsic stacking fault for delta ' phase can be achieved.

THRESHOLD OF SHORT FATIGUE CRACK FOR Al-Li ALLOY 8090

Threshold of fatigue for short through cracks for Al-Li alloy 8090 was evaluated to be lower than that of long cracks,and to decrease with the shortening of the crack length.The correla- tion among the threshold,crack wake,and crack tip shielding of the short fatigue cracks was discussed.The super demarcation length and lowest theoretical threshold of short through fa- tigue cracks were presented.

Size Evolution of the Surface Short Fatigue Cracks of 1Cr18Ni9Ti Weld Metal

Size evolution of the surface short fatigue cracks of lCrl8Ni'9Ti weld metal was investigated. A local viewpoint is applied to be agreement with a so-called 'effectively short fatigue crack criterion'. Attention was paid to the dominant effectively short fatigue crack (DESFC) initiation zone and the zones ahead of the DESFC tips. The results revealed that the evolutionary size shows a significant character of microstructural short crack (MSC) and physical short crack (PSC) stages. In the MSC stage, fatigue damage is due to mainly the initiation and irregular growth of the effectively short fatigue cracks (ESFCs). In the PSC stage, the damage is conversely due to mainly the DESFC growth and partially, the growth of the ESFCs and the coalescence of the ESFCs themselves with the DESFC. The process involves from a non-ordered/chaotic state in the initiation of MSC stage, gradually to an independently random state at the transition point between the MSC and PSC stages and then, to an ordered/history-dependent random state. Interactive effect of the collective cracks is stronger and shows an increase in the MSC stage, it reaches a maximum value at the transition point and then, tends to a decrease in the PSC stage. The DESFC acts as a result of the interactive cracks and thus, is deemed suitable to describe the behaviour of collective cracks.

Influence of Rare Earth Element on Short Fatigue Crack Threshold for Al－Li Alloy 2090

Curves of △Kth vs.△ath and △Kcl·th vs.△ath for aluminum-lithium alloy 2090 have been determined and compared with those for traditional aluminum alloy 2024.The growth resistance of short fatigue cracks for aluminum-lithium alloy 2090 is quantitatively evaluated.The essential reason resulting in stronger short cracks effect has been ascertained.Influence of cerium on the growth behavior of short fatigue cracks for aluminum-lithium alloy 2090 was investigated.The results show that by adding cerium into this alloy a significant improvement in △Ki can be achieved and at the same time △Kcl·th is increased.Consequently,the essential factor resulting in lower growth resistance of short fatigue cracks for this alloy is removed and the growth resistance of long and short fatigue cracks is increased.

GROWTH OF SHORT CRACKS OF A537CLI STEEL UNDER FATIGUE LOADING IN 3.5% NaCl SOLUTION

The effects of environmental media,both in atmosphere and in 3.5% NaCl aqueous solution, on the growth of short cracks in comparison with the long ones have been investigated under fatigue loading on the specimens of single-edge crack about 0.05—0.15 mm for A537CLI steel.The growth rate of short cracks is faster than those of long ones around the threshoht stress intensity.The threshold stress intensity for short crack growth decreases with de- creasing crack length.The acceleration effect of the salt water,as compared with atmosphere environment,on the growth of short cracks under fatigue is much greater than that on the growth of long cracks.

Nonequilibrium Statistical Modeling of Fatigue Crack Growth Behaviour

In order to study the influence of microstructural texture on the growth of short fatigue cracks in metals, the nonequilibrium statistical theory of fatigue fracture correlating a microscopic mechanism with the macroscopic properties is modified to take into consideration the microstructural features of a material, thereby allowing a rationalisation of the experimental data of short fatigue crack growth and long fatigue crack growth. The nonequilibrium statistical theory thus developed relates the growth of cracks with a dislocation mechanism to simulate short fatigue crack growth with the long fatigue crack growth behaviour and predicts the fatigue crack growth rates throughout the fatigue lifetime. The results is finally compared with that of other fatigue theories.

Optimization of Preventive Grinding of Backup Roll against Contact Fatigue Cracking

In order to optimize the current grinding procedure of the backup roll of 2050 continuously variable crown (CVC) mills, the behavior of rolling contact fatigue (RCF) cracking was investigated. Two RCF short cracks, including vertical short crack and ratcheting short crack initiated from ratcheting, were observed. The behavior of both RCF cracks was analyzed in detail. Then a modified grinding procedure was proposed according to the behavior of RCF cracks and the preventive grinding strategy.

Theoretical study on Manson-Coffin equation for physically short cracks and lifetime prediction

The Manson-Coffin equation has been widely applied to the prediction of fatigue lifetime.But this equation does not explicitly express the relation between the fatigue lifetime and the crack length.The present paper proposes that the grain size can be re-placed by the maximum non-damaging crack length.Thus,the growth rate will decrease to zero when the crack reaches this size.Combining with the theory of the fatigue short crack propagation,we derived the relations between physically short crack's initiation-propagation rates and material's mechanical properties,as well as crack length,stress and strain.With the derived relations,fatigue lifetime of short cracks can be successfully predicted by basic mechanical properties.Similar to the format of Manson-Coffin equation,our relations uncover the essence of Manson-Coffin equation which may reveal the short crack's initiation-propagation mechanism.Predictions of fatigue lifetime using our relations were compared with the results of well-known experiments.Good agreement is found in many aspects,such as coefficients,exponents,as well as fatigue life-times,especially for short cracks around 10 micrometers.Predictions on the short crack propagation rates are also compared for 16 types of carbon steels.Satisfactory consistency shows that our relations have wide applicability.