Abstract
Abstract In order to investigate the mechanisms of intergranular crack nucleation in the high cycle fatigue of oxygen-free high conductivity polycrystalline copper, the details of crack nucleation and propagation have been studied in several kinds of gaseous environments. The variety of gaseous environments included argon and oxygen, both dry and fully saturated with water vapor. This study of the effect of environment revealed that the environment is not the key factor in determining the crack nucleation mode. However, the mechanisms of crack propagation and fatigue life do depend on the environment. The main effect is due to oxygen. Water vapor did not show a significant effect on its own in this study. The presence of oxygen increased the rate of propagation of cracks and hence reduced the fatigue life.
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