Fatigue crack closure in submicron-thick freestanding copper films

The fatigue crack closure in approximately 500-nm-thick freestanding copper films were investigated by in situ field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) observations of the fatigue crack opening/closing behavior at three stress ratios of R=0.1, 0.5, and 0.8 in the low-Kmax (maximum stress intensity factor) region of Kmax<4.5 MPam1/2. The direct observation of fatigue cracks clarified that crack closure occurred at R=0.1 and 0.5, while the fatigue crack was always open at R=0.8. Changes in the gage distance across the fatigue crack during a fatigue cycle were measured from the FESEM images, and the crack opening stress intensity factor Kop was evaluated on the basis of the stress intensity factor K vs. the gage distance relationship. The effective stress intensity factor range ΔKeff=Kmax−Kop was then evaluated. The R-dependence of the da/dN vs. ΔKeff relationship was smaller than that of the da/dN vs. ΔK relationship. This suggests that ΔKeff is a dominating parameter rather than ΔK in the fatigue crack propagation in the films. This paper is the first report on the presence of the fatigue crack closure in submicron-thick freestanding metallic films.