A Study on Evaluation of Overload Effects on Fatigue Crack Growth

Abstract

In the fatigue tests of specimens, sufficiently large tensile overload included in cyclic constant amplitude loading causes the retardation in fatigue crack growth. Crack retardation remains for some period of time after the overloading. The number of cycles in the retarded crack growth has been shown to be related to the plastic zone developed due to the overload. The magnitude of the elastic-plastic zone around the crack tip of DENT(Double Edge Notched Tension) specimen after a overloading was measured by ESPI(Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry) system. The fatigue crack growth rate also was measured by a traveling microscope. The relationship between the measured magnitude of plastic zone and the crack growth rate was compared with the equations proposed by Wheeler. Crack growth retardation model that was characterized by crack growth length and the size of plastic zone was proposed and compared with test result. From the research, the validity of proposed model is examined on crack growth retardation, and consequently fatigue life.