Effect of compressive load and crack closure on fatigue crack growth of commercial pure titanium at negative load ratios

In this paper, the effect of compressive load and crack closure on mode-I fatigue crack growth (FCG) behavior at negative load ratios is studied with compact-tensile-shear (CTS) specimens made from commercial pure titanium (CP-Ti). The FCG behavior at negative load ratios under constant maximum load controlled has been explained by the interaction of compressive load effect and crack closure. The variation of crack closure level at negative load ratios within stable crack growth stage is obtained by the experiment. The crack closure level keeps constant which makes the crack closure effect dominate the FCG behavior in pre-stage. While in post-stage, the crack closure level drops gradually. The crack closure effect can be neglected currently and the compressive load effect plays a dominate role in post-stage. Meanwhile, the influence of crack closure effect on mechanical behavior at crack tip is described by finite element method (FEM) to explain the anomaly in pre-stage. It is confirmed that there exists a maximum reversed plastic zone induced by the crack closure effect during unloading process in pre-stage at negative load ratios.