Numerical modelling of fatigue crack initiation of martensitic steel

Numerical simulation of micro-crack initiation that is based on Tanaka–Mura micro-crack nucleation model is presented. Three improvements were added to this model. Firstly, multiple slip bands where micro-cracks may occur are used in each grain. Second improvement deals with micro-crack coalescence by extending existing micro-cracks along grain boundaries and connecting them into a macro-crack. The third improvement handles segmented micro-crack generation, where a micro-crack is not nucleated in one step like in Tanaka–Mura model, but is instead generated in multiple steps. Numerical simulation of crack-initiation was performed with ABAQUS, using a plug-in that was written specially for handling micro-crack nucleation and coalescence. Since numerical model was directed at simulating fatigue properties of thermally cut steel with martensitic structure, edge properties of specimen were additionally inspected in terms of micro-structural properties, surface roughness and residual stresses.