Damage Evolution During Fatigue in Structural Materials

Early stages of damage evolution in cyclic loading are described and discussed. The importance of the role of cyclic plastic strain in damage evolution is emphasized and the relation between stress and strain in cyclic straining is clarified. The principal stages of damage evolution in fatigued crystalline structural material are identified. The basic characteristic and theories of fatigue crack initiation are sketched and confronted with experimental observations. Early fatigue crack growth is characterized and quantitatively described. The relation between the growth of short cracks and fatigue life in the form of Manson-Coffin law is established.