Chapter 3 Fatigue Fracture From the practical point of view,fatigue fracture is the most important dam- age process.Available statistics show that,including corrosive assistance,fa- tigue is a leading cause of material failures registered during a long-term per- formance of engineering components and structures [246.From the microme- chanical point of view,the fatigue process can be understood as a sequence of the following stages:nucleation of cracks,stable propagation of short(small) cracks,stable propagation of long cracks and unstable fracture [247]. This chapter is divided into four sections.In Section 3.1,morphological patterns reflecting all crack growth stages on the fracture surface are briefly described.Moreover,the topological methods widely utilized in fatigue re- search and the quantitative fractography are outlined.These topics are im- portant for all subsequent sections of the chapter. The second section is devoted to the propagation of fatigue cracks under the remote opening mode(mode I).Mechanisms of nucleation and growth of short cracks are briefly reported,although these initial stages of the fatigue process were not a special subject of our research.Inclusion of these topics was,however,inevitable in order to provide a self-contained description of fatigue micromechanisms.The growth of short cracks is governed by shear stress components in favourably oriented crystallographic slip systems that are inclined at about 45 with respect to the maximal principal stress.This means that the short cracks grow in a local mixed-mode I+II and the pic- ture of dislocation emission from the crack tip as well as the related growth micromechanisms are completely different from those related to long cracks. After a certain incipient period that incorporates crystallographic and transient growths of short cracks,the fatigue cracks incline towards a di- rection perpendicular to the maximal principal stress,i.e.,nearly towards mode I loading of the crack tip.This means that the long cracks keep prop- agating so that the crack tip plasticity is produced in the opening loading mode.Thus,the second section provides the reader with a micromechanical interpretation of all important phenomena accompanying this,most frequent, type of fatigue crack growth.Knowledge of these micromechanisms is essen- 125
Chapter 3 Fatigue Fracture From the practical point of view, fatigue fracture is the most important damage process. Available statistics show that, including corrosive assistance, fatigue is a leading cause of material failures registered during a long-term performance of engineering components and structures [246]. From the micromechanical point of view, the fatigue process can be understood as a sequence of the following stages: nucleation of cracks, stable propagation of short (small) cracks, stable propagation of long cracks and unstable fracture [247]. This chapter is divided into four sections. In Section 3.1, morphological patterns reflecting all crack growth stages on the fracture surface are briefly described. Moreover, the topological methods widely utilized in fatigue research and the quantitative fractography are outlined. These topics are important for all subsequent sections of the chapter. The second section is devoted to the propagation of fatigue cracks under the remote opening mode (mode I). Mechanisms of nucleation and growth of short cracks are briefly reported, although these initial stages of the fatigue process were not a special subject of our research. Inclusion of these topics was, however, inevitable in order to provide a self-contained description of fatigue micromechanisms. The growth of short cracks is governed by shear stress components in favourably oriented crystallographic slip systems that are inclined at about 45◦ with respect to the maximal principal stress. This means that the short cracks grow in a local mixed-mode I+II and the picture of dislocation emission from the crack tip as well as the related growth micromechanisms are completely different from those related to long cracks. After a certain incipient period that incorporates crystallographic and transient growths of short cracks, the fatigue cracks incline towards a direction perpendicular to the maximal principal stress, i.e., nearly towards mode I loading of the crack tip. This means that the long cracks keep propagating so that the crack tip plasticity is produced in the opening loading mode. Thus, the second section provides the reader with a micromechanical interpretation of all important phenomena accompanying this, most frequent, type of fatigue crack growth. Knowledge of these micromechanisms is essen- 125
126 3 Fatigue Fracture tial not only for materials scientists and mechanical engineers,but also for technologists attempting to design structural materials exhibiting better re- sistance to fatigue crack propagation. When the shear components of the applied stress are dominant,both short and long cracks can grow macroscopically under shear loading modes II or III.As usual,however,pure shear-mode crack propagation persists only for a limited number of loading cycles and the cracks incline or branch to get loaded in mode I.This leads to a local mixed-mode I+II,I+III or I+II+III crack propagation.The factory roof formation under torsion loading is an instructive example of such behaviour.Therefore,Section 3.3 refers to both shear-mode and mixed-mode crack growth.The first subsections introduce theoretical models and experimental results concerning crack growth under pure-shear and torsional loading.Since a combined cyclic bending-torsion is applied to many structural components,a rather extended part of the third section reports on the results of fracture tests performed under this kind of loading. The final Section,3.4,is devoted to the application of quantitative frac- tography to failure analysis.The fracture morphology can purvey a direct link between damage micromechanisms and both initiation and propagation of cracks.This section directly outlines how the knowledge of fracture mi- cromechanisms can help to identify the reasons for failures of structural com- ponents in service.Therefore,its content can be useful for machine designers, especially for those working in the transport industry. In general,Chapter 3 attempts to convince the reader of how useful the unified nano-micro-meso-macroscopic approach can be when trying to de- scribe and interpret the behaviour of fatigue cracks. 3.1 Quantitative Fractography Micromechanisms of fatigue crack propagation can be advantageously stud- ied by means of fractographic tools.Indeed,the fracture surface morphology reflects many important stages of both stable and unstable fatigue crack propagation.Moreover,quantitative fractography is a powerful tool for fail- ure analysis.Consequently,all sections of this fatigue chapter more or less refer to morphological patterns and fractographical results.Therefore,the quantitative fractography section was placed at the very beginning of this chapter. The term "fractography"was first used by Carl A.Zapffe for the proce- dure of descriptive analysis of fracture surfaces in 1945 248.The output of this analysis is a set of numerical characteristics(number,shape,size,orien- tation,distribution)related to morphological patterns or parameters(rough- ness,fractality,texture)of the global surface topography.In both cases,the accuracy of these data is determined by knowledge of space coordinates of
126 3 Fatigue Fracture tial not only for materials scientists and mechanical engineers, but also for technologists attempting to design structural materials exhibiting better resistance to fatigue crack propagation. When the shear components of the applied stress are dominant, both short and long cracks can grow macroscopically under shear loading modes II or III. As usual, however, pure shear-mode crack propagation persists only for a limited number of loading cycles and the cracks incline or branch to get loaded in mode I. This leads to a local mixed-mode I+II, I+III or I+II+III crack propagation. The factory roof formation under torsion loading is an instructive example of such behaviour. Therefore, Section 3.3 refers to both shear-mode and mixed-mode crack growth. The first subsections introduce theoretical models and experimental results concerning crack growth under pure-shear and torsional loading. Since a combined cyclic bending-torsion is applied to many structural components, a rather extended part of the third section reports on the results of fracture tests performed under this kind of loading. The final Section, 3.4, is devoted to the application of quantitative fractography to failure analysis. The fracture morphology can purvey a direct link between damage micromechanisms and both initiation and propagation of cracks. This section directly outlines how the knowledge of fracture micromechanisms can help to identify the reasons for failures of structural components in service. Therefore, its content can be useful for machine designers, especially for those working in the transport industry. In general, Chapter 3 attempts to convince the reader of how useful the unified nano- micro- meso- macroscopic approach can be when trying to describe and interpret the behaviour of fatigue cracks. 3.1 Quantitative Fractography Micromechanisms of fatigue crack propagation can be advantageously studied by means of fractographic tools. Indeed, the fracture surface morphology reflects many important stages of both stable and unstable fatigue crack propagation. Moreover, quantitative fractography is a powerful tool for failure analysis. Consequently, all sections of this fatigue chapter more or less refer to morphological patterns and fractographical results. Therefore, the quantitative fractography section was placed at the very beginning of this chapter. The term “fractography” was first used by Carl A. Zapffe for the procedure of descriptive analysis of fracture surfaces in 1945 [248]. The output of this analysis is a set of numerical characteristics (number, shape, size, orientation, distribution) related to morphological patterns or parameters (roughness, fractality, texture) of the global surface topography. In both cases, the accuracy of these data is determined by knowledge of space coordinates of
3.1 Quantitative Fractography 127 points on the fracture surface investigated.A very intensive development of quantitative fractography is obviously directly associated with increasing accuracy of measuring methods as well as with a rapidly growing capac- ity and computing rate of computers.During the second half of the last century,two-dimensional fractography in the scanning electron microscope was widely developed.In the last 20 years,however,an extended utilization of computer-aided topography techniques has enabled enormous progress in three-dimensional methods.Similarly,a number of descriptive concepts,dis- tinguished by both the extent and the quality of utilized parameters,have been developed in the area of quantitative fractography. Nevertheless,two various approaches can be distinguished here.The first utilizes various parameters of roughness,fractality or texture of fracture sur- faces in order to find relationships between the fracture topology on one side,and the loading mode or the crack growth rate on the other side.In the first subsection,therefore,definitions of basic topological parameters are outlined.A rather different problem,usually demanding extensive research experience,constitutes the correct identification of morphological patterns as fracture facets,ridges,beach marks,tire tracks or fatigue striations.Thus, the second approach deals with the quantification of morphological patterns and their relationships to the loading parameters. 3.1.1 Topological Analysis A general description of fracture surfaces by means of topographical param- eters should be able to provide topological characteristics as well as morpho- logical patterns as special cases.This might,in principle,be achieved by an analysis of a global set and relevant subsets of topological data.However, the basic problem here is represented by a high variability of fracture surface topology measured at different resolutions as well as an extreme complexity of the related microreliefs.In spite of a rather long history,no general defini- tion of the surface topology and,consequently,no universal methodology of its quantification has been commonly accepted up to now 249-254]. In order to acquire a sufficiently wide and relevant set of topological param- eters,advanced three-dimensional topological methods are to be employed.A great majority of results presented in this book was obtained by application of two methods that are based on different physical principles.Stereophotogram- metry is a method that makes use of the stereoscopic principles in order to obtain topological data of the fracture surface under investigation.Inputs to the method are two images of the analyzed region taken from different angles of view(so-called stereoimages or the stereopair)and some additional parameters that characterize a projection used during their acquisition.Usu- ally,a scanning electron microscope(SEM)equipped with a eucentric holder is employed and the stereopair is obtained by tilting the specimen in the
3.1 Quantitative Fractography 127 points on the fracture surface investigated. A very intensive development of quantitative fractography is obviously directly associated with increasing accuracy of measuring methods as well as with a rapidly growing capacity and computing rate of computers. During the second half of the last century, two-dimensional fractography in the scanning electron microscope was widely developed. In the last 20 years, however, an extended utilization of computer-aided topography techniques has enabled enormous progress in three-dimensional methods. Similarly, a number of descriptive concepts, distinguished by both the extent and the quality of utilized parameters, have been developed in the area of quantitative fractography. Nevertheless, two various approaches can be distinguished here. The first utilizes various parameters of roughness, fractality or texture of fracture surfaces in order to find relationships between the fracture topology on one side, and the loading mode or the crack growth rate on the other side. In the first subsection, therefore, definitions of basic topological parameters are outlined. A rather different problem, usually demanding extensive research experience, constitutes the correct identification of morphological patterns as fracture facets, ridges, beach marks, tire tracks or fatigue striations. Thus, the second approach deals with the quantification of morphological patterns and their relationships to the loading parameters. 3.1.1 Topological Analysis A general description of fracture surfaces by means of topographical parameters should be able to provide topological characteristics as well as morphological patterns as special cases. This might, in principle, be achieved by an analysis of a global set and relevant subsets of topological data. However, the basic problem here is represented by a high variability of fracture surface topology measured at different resolutions as well as an extreme complexity of the related microreliefs. In spite of a rather long history, no general definition of the surface topology and, consequently, no universal methodology of its quantification has been commonly accepted up to now [249–254]. In order to acquire a sufficiently wide and relevant set of topological parameters, advanced three-dimensional topological methods are to be employed. A great majority of results presented in this book was obtained by application of two methods that are based on different physical principles. Stereophotogrammetry is a method that makes use of the stereoscopic principles in order to obtain topological data of the fracture surface under investigation. Inputs to the method are two images of the analyzed region taken from different angles of view (so-called stereoimages or the stereopair) and some additional parameters that characterize a projection used during their acquisition. Usually, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with a eucentric holder is employed and the stereopair is obtained by tilting the specimen in the
128 3 Fatigue Fracture SEM chamber by an angle that depends on the local roughness of the sur- face.The stereopair is processed via a matching algorithm in order to find corresponding points on both images (homologous points)and the relative z-coordinates of these points are calculated.The 3D model of the depicted surface area usually consists of ten to twenty thousand non-equidistant points and so the Delaunay triangulation must be performed [255. Optical chromatography represents another method useful for a 3D recon- stitution of the fracture surface micromorphology.The profilometer Micro- Prof FRT,Fries Research Technology GmbH,makes use of the chromatic aberration of the optical lens.Different light monochromatic components are focused at different heights from a reference plane at the output of the opti- cal fibre.The light intensity exhibits a maximum at the wavelength exactly focused on the surface and the height of the surface irregularities is deduced by using a calibration table.This optical method was usually employed only for verification of selected results obtained by stereophotogrammetry. According to their mathematical basis,recently used topological param- eters can be divided into five main categories.This classification is based on published works 250-253]and,in particular,on the work of Petropou- los et al.[256].First two categories represent vertical (altitudinal)and length roughness parameters which characterize vertical and horizontal distributions of surface points,respectively.The third group involves hybrid parameters si- multaneously describing more than one of the above-mentioned aspects.The fourth and fifth groups respectively consist of spectral and fractal character- istics of the fracture surface. 3.1.1.1 Roughness Parameters In this brief overview only vertical,length,hybrid,spectral and fractal pa- rameters are mentioned in more detail.The description of other parameters can be found elsewhere [214,249-251.For the sake of simplicity,the assump- tion of non-overlapping surface elements is accepted hereafter.This means that each pair of coordinates(ri,yi)that determine the location of a point on the reference plane perpendicular to the macroscopic fracture surface is uniquely related to one altitudinal coordinate zi.Because of a discrete data set of points utilized here to quantify surface topography,only a discrete form of definition of individual parameters is presented.Integral definition of many topological characteristics can be found,e.g.,in [251,252] Vertical Parameters Most important altitudinal parameters are characteristics associated with the probability of realization of the value zi in terms of central moments,defined as
128 3 Fatigue Fracture SEM chamber by an angle that depends on the local roughness of the surface. The stereopair is processed via a matching algorithm in order to find corresponding points on both images (homologous points) and the relative z-coordinates of these points are calculated. The 3D model of the depicted surface area usually consists of ten to twenty thousand non-equidistant points and so the Delaunay triangulation must be performed [255]. Optical chromatography represents another method useful for a 3D reconstitution of the fracture surface micromorphology. The profilometer MicroProf FRT, Fries Research & Technology GmbH, makes use of the chromatic aberration of the optical lens. Different light monochromatic components are focused at different heights from a reference plane at the output of the optical fibre. The light intensity exhibits a maximum at the wavelength exactly focused on the surface and the height of the surface irregularities is deduced by using a calibration table. This optical method was usually employed only for verification of selected results obtained by stereophotogrammetry. According to their mathematical basis, recently used topological parameters can be divided into five main categories. This classification is based on published works [250–253] and, in particular, on the work of Petropoulos et al. [256]. First two categories represent vertical (altitudinal) and length roughness parameters which characterize vertical and horizontal distributions of surface points, respectively. The third group involves hybrid parameters simultaneously describing more than one of the above-mentioned aspects. The fourth and fifth groups respectively consist of spectral and fractal characteristics of the fracture surface. 3.1.1.1 Roughness Parameters In this brief overview only vertical, length, hybrid, spectral and fractal parameters are mentioned in more detail. The description of other parameters can be found elsewhere [214,249–251]. For the sake of simplicity, the assumption of non-overlapping surface elements is accepted hereafter. This means that each pair of coordinates (xi, yi) that determine the location of a point on the reference plane perpendicular to the macroscopic fracture surface is uniquely related to one altitudinal coordinate zi. Because of a discrete data set of points utilized here to quantify surface topography, only a discrete form of definition of individual parameters is presented. Integral definition of many topological characteristics can be found, e.g., in [251, 252]. Vertical Parameters Most important altitudinal parameters are characteristics associated with the probability of realization of the value zi in terms of central moments, defined as
3.1 Quantitative Fractography 129 n-1 Hk= (a-(), 三0 where k is the order of the central moment,n is the range of the analyzed set of data and(2)is the arithmetic average height: n-l 0 With respect to properties of (2),the first central moment is zero.The second moment(variance)yields information on the width of the distribution. This parameter is connected with the standard deviation Ro by the relation Rg=VH2. The characteristic of the third central moment,the skewness,describes a symmetry of the function p(z).It is defined as 2 A normalized form of the fourth central moment is the kurtosis: =-3=觉-8 This parameter becomes zero for the Gaussian distribution and a negative value indicates a more flat distribution.Another parameter often used in the literature is the arithmetic roughness (the centre line average): a-(z This parameter,however,is usually nearly proportional to the standard de- viation Ra [250]. The second group of vertical parameters involves characteristics based on extreme values of the set Z 257.The most widely used parameters are the highest height Rp(Rp=2max-(2))and the maximum depth Ro (R=(z)-2min)which are the maximal and minimal values of the rel- ative coordinates associated with a selected altitudinal level (2),respec- tively.Another parameter is the vertical range,R:,representing their sum R:=2max -2min (Figure 3.1)
3.1 Quantitative Fractography 129 μk = 1 n n −1 i=0 (zi − z) k, where k is the order of the central moment, n is the range of the analyzed set of data and z is the arithmetic average height: z = 1 n n −1 i=0 zi. With respect to properties of z, the first central moment is zero. The second moment (variance) yields information on the width of the distribution. This parameter is connected with the standard deviation Rq by the relation Rq = √μ2. The characteristic of the third central moment, the skewness, describes a symmetry of the function p(z). It is defined as γ1 = μ3 μ 3/2 2 = μ3 R3 q . A normalized form of the fourth central moment is the kurtosis: γ2 = μ4 μ2 2 − 3 = μ4 R4 q − 3. This parameter becomes zero for the Gaussian distribution and a negative value indicates a more flat distribution. Another parameter often used in the literature is the arithmetic roughness (the centre line average): Ra = 1 n n −1 i=0 |zi − z|. This parameter, however, is usually nearly proportional to the standard deviation Rq [250]. The second group of vertical parameters involves characteristics based on extreme values of the set Z [257]. The most widely used parameters are the highest height Rp (Rp = zmax − z) and the maximum depth Rv (Rv = z − zmin) which are the maximal and minimal values of the relative coordinates associated with a selected altitudinal level z, respectively. Another parameter is the vertical range, Rz, representing their sum Rz = zmax − zmin (Figure 3.1)