A NOVEL PARAMETER FOR EVALUATING THE FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH RATE IN CARBON STEELS

A novel parameter is suggested for evaluating the fatigue crack growth rate in carbonsteels.Fatigue crack propagation tests of an annealed 0.42% carbon steel were carriedout under different conditions to investigate the relationship between this dominatingparameter and the crack opening displacement (COD).A new equation of fatiguecrack growth rate is formulated in terms of the suggested parameter.The physicalmeanings of the material parameters in this equation are explored experimentally.Considering the relation of crack growth and deformation properties,a simple andapplicable method is proposed to evaluate the fatigue crack growth rate.It is alsoobserved that the material parameters in the fatigue crack growth rate equation ofcarbon steels are related linearly to the material strength.The results are in a goodagreement with experimental results.