[pt] O projeto mecânico de componentes estruturais para vidas longas à fadiga requer limites de fadiga confiáveis. Porém, a previsão do limite de fadiga ainda apresenta alguns desafios, especialmente por causa dos inevitáveis entalhes e pela presença de pequenos defeitos intrínsecos do material que podem ser considerados como microtrincas. Os entalhes atuam como concentradores de tensão e microtrincas podem ser geradas na ponta destes. Tais microtrincas (geradas ou intrínsecas) podem propagar até provocar a falha do componente ou parar de propagar depois de crescer uma pequena distância e se tornarem não-propagantes, dependendo do nível de carga e do gradiente de tensão à frente do entalhe. Modelos empíricos e teóricos têm sido propostos para fazer previsão do limite de fadiga de componentes entalhados. Entre os teóricos, o chamado modelo do Gradiente de Tensão (GT), que utiliza conceitos da mecânica da fratura linear elástica, apresenta-se como um modelo promissor. No entanto, a validação experimental das previsões deste modelo ainda não tem sido completamente realizada. Neste contexto, corpos de prova tipo C(T) do aço 1020 e com vários valores do raio da ponta do entalhe foram testados sob controle de amplitude de carga constante, frequência de 40 Hz e razão de tensão R igual a 0.1 para avaliar o limite de fadiga através de testes acelerados com cargas tipo step up durante blocos de 3.10 elevado a sexta potência ciclos. O limite de fadiga determinado experimentalmente foi comparado com as previsões do modelo GT e do Método do Ponto, um dos métodos da chamada Teoria da Distância Crítica (TDC). No modelo GT foram considerados três métodos: GTc-p, GTs-e e GTquebra, segundo o método usado para achar o fator geométrico para determinar o fator de intensidade de tensão. As previsões dos modelos GTc-p, GTquebra e TDC são similares no caso de entalhes com raios de ponta grandes, e bem próximas do limite de fadiga medido experimentalmente, enquanto que eles são não-conservativos no caso de entalhes afiados (raios de ponta pequenos). As previsões do modelo GTs-e foram conservativas para entalhes afiados e não afiados. Devido a que os dois modelos são baseados em conceitos lineares elásticos, foi demonstrado que uma análise elástica apresenta limitações para modelar o comportamento à fadiga em entalhes afiados, pois nesses casos a tensão local no ponto crítico pode exceder o limite de escoamento do material. Alem disso, o modelo GT também permite estimar o tamanho da maior trinca curta não-propagante (TCNP) associada ao limite de fadiga. Tais TCNP foram monitoradas nas faces do C(T) através de técnicas não-destrutivas tais como microscopia óptica, correlação digital de imagens e tomografia; enquanto que as TCNP internas foram detectadas usando a técnica destrutiva da metalografia. Os tamanhos das TCNP detectadas foram muito menores do que as estimadas pelo modelo GT, dificultando ainda mais o problema de detecção daquelas trincas. / [en] The mechanical design of structural components for high cycle fatigue applications needs reliable fatigue limits. However, mainly because of notches and the unavoidable presence of small defects, such a task still presents some challenges. Notches cause a stress concentration effect that can initiate short cracks at their tips, but such short cracks may propagate or become non-propagating, depending not only on the load level, but on the stress gradient ahead of the notch tip as well. Notch-like defects, such as scratches, pores, and inclusions, behave in the same way. There are empirical and theoretical models to predict the fatigue limit of notched components. The latter includes the so-called Stress Gradient (SG) model, based on linear elastic fracture mechanics concepts and using the El Haddad-Topper-Smith (ETS) characteristic size aR, as a promissory approach. However, there is a lack of experimental data verifying their fatigue limit predictions. In this context, C(T)-like notched specimens of SAE 1020 steel with several notch root radii were tested under constant load amplitude control at 40 Hz and a stress ratio R equal 0.1, to evaluate their fatigue limit through accelerated tests involving step loading procedures with blocks of 3.10 to sixth power cycles. The experimental fatigue limit was compared with values predicted by SG model, following three approaches: SGc-p, SGs-e, and SGquebra, according to the determination of the geometric factor of the stress concentration factor; and with an alternative prediction by the Point Method based on the theory of critical-distance (TCD). SGc-p, SGquebra and TCD model predictions are almost coincident for blunt notches and they present a good agreement with experimental results, but they are non-conservatives in the case of sharp notches; while SGc-p predictions are conservative for both blunt and sharp notches. Since both models are based on linear elastic concepts, it was demonstrated that an elastic analysis presents limitations to model the behavior of short cracks emanating from sharp notches, due to the local stress at the critical point can exceed the yield strength of the material. Furthermore, according to SG model, the fatigue limit is related to the presence of non-propagating short cracks (NPSC). Such surface NPSCs on the face of the specimens were monitored by non-destructive techniques including optical microscopy, digital image correlation (DIC) and micro-computed tomography; whereas subsurface NPSCs were detected through destructive metallographic technique. The sizes of the detected NPSCs were much smaller than those values predicted by SG model, which in turn makes the detection of these cracks a more complex problem.

The fatigue life and the kinetics of short crack growth in specimen of austenitic-ferritic duplex steel cycled with constant stress amplitude and different mean stresses is studied. Fatigue life was determined on smooth cylindrical specimens. Strain amplitude and mean strain were recorded. Short crack growth was studied in cylindrical specimens with a shallow notch. Cyclic straining was interrupted and crack length was measured using an optical microscope mounted on the testing machine. Crack length and crack growth rates were evaluated. The effect of the mean stress on the rate of short cracks and fatigue life were discussed.

Rolling contact fatigue is a problem encountered with many machine elements.In the current report a numerical study has been performed in order to predictthe crack path and crack propagation cycles of a surface initiated rolling contactfatigue crack. The implementation of the contact problem is based on theasperity point load mechanism for rolling contact fatigue. The practical studiedproblem is gear contact. Different loading types and models are studied andcompared to an experimental spall profile. Good agreement has been observedconsidering short crack lengths with a distributed loading model using normalloads on the asperity and for the cylindrical contact and a tangential load on theasperity. Several different crack propagation criteria have been implemented inorder to verify the validity of the dominant mode I crack propagation assumption.Some general characteristics of rolling contact fatigue cracks have beenhighlighted. A quantitative parameter study of the implemented model hasbeen performed. / Utmattning med rullande kontakter är ett ofta förekommande problem för många maskinelement. I den aktuella rapporten utfördes en numerisk studieför att förutsäga sprickvägen hos utmattningssprickor som initierats i ytan vidrullande kontakter. Implementeringen av kontaktproblemet bygger på asperitpunktlastmekanismen för rullande kontakter. Studien av kontaktproblemetär tillämpad till kugghjul. Olika belastningstyper och modeller studeradesoch jämfördes med profilen hos en experimentell spall. Bra överensstämmelseobserverades för korta spricklängder när en modell med fördelad belastninganvänds för en belastningstyp där en normalbelastning agerar på asperiten ochvid cylindriska kontakten och en tangentialbelastning införs på asperiten. Olikakriterier för spricktillväxt implementerades för att verifiera giltigheten av antagandetatt mode I spricktillväxt är dominant. Några generella kännetecken avutmattningssprickor med rullande kontakter framhävdes. En kvantitativ parameterstudie för den implementerade modellen utfördes.

<div>Defects are unavoidable, life-limiting and dominant sites of damage and subsequent failure in a material. Ni-based superalloys are commonly used in high temperature applications and inevitably found to have defects in the form of inclusions, voids and microscopic cracks which are below the resolution of standard inspection techniques. A mechanistic understanding of the role of defects in such industrially relevant bulk polycrystalline material is essential for philosophies of design and durability to follow and ensure structural integrity of components in the inevitable presence of such defects. The current understanding of defect-mediated damage, in bulk Ni superalloys, is limited by experimental techniques that can capture the local micromechanical state of the material surrounding the defect. In this work, we combine mechanical testing with in-situ, non-destructive 3-D X-ray characterization techniques to obtain rich multi-modal datasets at the microscale to interrogate complex defect-microstructure interactions and elucidate the mechanisms of failure around defects. The attenuated X-ray beam, after passage through the material, is utilized through computed micro-tomography to characterize the defects owing to its sensitivity to density differences in the material. The diffracted X-ray beam, after illuminating the material, is employed through high energy diffraction microscopy in various modes to interrogate the evolving micromechanical state around the discovered defects.</div><div>Three case studies are performed with specimens made of a Ni-based superalloy specially designed and fabricated to have internal defects in the form of: (i) an inclusion, (ii) a microscopic crack, and (iii) voids. In each case, the grain scale information is investigated to reveal heterogeneity in the local micromechanical state of the material as a precursor for the onset of failure. Models and simulations based on finite element or crystal plasticity are utilized, wherever necessary, to assess the factors essential to the underlying mechanism of failure. In the first case study, the detrimental effects of an inclusion in initiating a crack upon cyclic loading is interrogated and the state of bonding, residual stresses, and geometrical stress concentrations around the inclusion are demonstrated to be of utmost importance. In the second case study, the propagation of a short fatigue crack through the microstructure is examined to reveal the crystallographic nature of crack growth through the (i) alignment of the crack plane with the most active slip system, (ii) the correlation between the crack growth rate and the maximum resolved shear stresses, and (iii) the dependence of the crack growth direction on microplasticity within grains ahead of the crack front. In the third case study, the role of voids in ductile failure under tensile loading is explored to illuminate the activation and operation of distinct mechanisms of inter-void shear and necking under the control of the local state of stress triaxiality and the local plasticity within the grains at critical sites of fracture.</div><div>In summary, a grain scale description of the micromechanical state has been unambiguously determined through experiments to examine the heterogeneity around defects in the material. It has enabled us to identify and isolate the nature of factors essential to the activation of specific mechanisms at the onset failure. The grain scale thus provides an ideal physical basis to understand the fundamentals of defect mediated damage and failure instilling trust in the predictive capabilities of models that incorporate the response of the grain structure. The generated datasets can be used to instantiate and calibrate such models at the grain level for higher fidelity. </div>