The fatigue of beta-brass

Abstract

During fatigue at room temperature the marked elastic anisotropy of beta-brass produces severe stress concentration at the grain boundaries, which causes at the free surface either intercrystalline cracking or the formation of regular arrays of intensified slip bands adjacent to the boundaries. The minimum fatigue stress required for subsequent transcrystalline crack propagation is sensitive to environment and if it is greater than that needed for intercrystalline crack initiation then non-propagating cracks may exist. Crystallographic fatigue crack propagation occurs on (110) planes until the alternating stress on the section remaining intact reaches 0±41 000 p.s.i. when the mode of propagation becomes non-crystallographic.