Closure effects on fatigue crack growth rates at constant and variable amplitude loading

Accurate measurements of fatigue propagation rates after single and during repetitive overloads were performed. It was shown that plastic deformations in the crack tip region and in the crack wake cause crack closure that is of major importance for crack growth rates. The consequences of this for methods to determine certain material properties are discussed. An improved method to measure closure free propagation rate data was utilised. The possibilities and shortcomings of compliance methods to determine crack closure levels are pointed out. The relevance of using DeltaK(I,eff) = K-I,K-max - K-I,K-lim, where K-I,K-lim possibly could be interpreted as the crack closure level was investigated and is discussed. A method to predict average crack propagation rates at block loadings consisting of well-defined load cycles of different amplitudes and R-factors was suggested. Three-dimensional effects after overloads were observed. These observations confirmed that the crack closure behaviour also depends on geometry of the specimen. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.