The Initiation and Propagation of Fatigue Cracks in Mild Steel Pieces of Square Section

Abstract

Summary An investigation has been made to determine the positions and directions of initiation and the directions of propagation of fatigue cracks and to examine the correlation between these positions and directions and the planes on which maximum tensile and maximum shear stresses are generated. To afford as wide a range as possible of the ratio of maximum shear stress to maximum tensile stress, tests have been made under combinations of alternating bending and torsion; and in order to separate partially the regions of high shear stress from those of high direct stress, the tests have been made on pieces of square section with the plane of bending parallel to one diagonal of the section. Two series of tests have been made; one a preliminary series on pieces having no parallel portion and the other on pieces having a parallel portion about three times the length of the side of the square section. The positions and directions of initiation and the directions of propagation of fatigue cracks have been observed and compared with the positions and directions of the maximum tensile and shear stresses. Fatigue cracks may be initiated as a result of either high shear stress or high tensile stress and in the present series of tests on mild steel, cracking in tension has occurred in preference to cracking in shear when the ratio of the tensile stress range to the shear stress range has exceeded about 1.6; for values of this ratio less than 1.6, the cracks started in shear (and vice versa); propagation along the plane of maximum shear appears to be preferred up to a slightly greater value of the tensile/shear ratio (about 1.7 possibly). The general direction of a crack formed as a result of high tension usually follows the plane of maximum tension and that of a crack formed as a result of shear usually follows the plane of maximum shear. In detail both types of crack—in this mild steel—deviate quite widely from their general directions but this deviation bears no obvious relation to the microstructure of the material. Cracks propagating along one plane of maximum shear occasionally show a marked tendency to branch along the associated plane of maximum shear; but this tendency is not always observed and in other cases no tendency to branch has been noted.