Abstract

Fatigue damage and crack initiation behavior has been studied in an austenitic stainless steel using a novel progressive stepwise load increasing method with a cycle step greater than 108 cycles and investigated with a FIB-SEM. Subsurface crack origin with a fine granular area in the matrix was formed. Heterogeneous plastic deformation causes strain localization and grain fragmentation. Localized plasticity exhaustion induces crack initiation. A crack origin is completed once a short crack reaches the stress intensity factor threshold for stage II crack propagation. This study provides a fundamental discussion how damage and crack initiation in matrix occur during very high cycle fatigue.

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