Significant reduction of fatigue crack non-propagation limit caused by damage accumulation mode fatigue crack propagation in a precipitation-hardened punched steel plate

Abstract

Precipitation-hardened steel exhibits specific characteristics due to the punching process that deteriorates its strength. To investigate these characteristics, fatigue tests were conducted with artificial micro defects on the punching processed surface that imitate the flaws caused by the process. The authors found that changes in material properties and the flaws change the fatigue strength properties. Specifically, the fatigue crack extends in the damage accumulation mode, which does not have the non-propagation mechanism and reduces the crack non-propagation limit. Furthermore, the damage accumulation mode fatigue crack propagation changes the fatigue limit's physical meaning from the fatigue crack non-propagation limit to the initiation limit. Finally, processing conditions that improve the fatigue strength characteristics were proposed.