Fretting fatigue life prediction of 316L stainless steel based on elastic–plastic fracture mechanics approach

• Effect of large scale yielding on fretting fatigue life of SUS316L was evaluated.
• Fretting fatigue crack nucleated at the location of the maximum shear stress range.
• Crack path could be estimated based on the maximum tangential stress criterion.
• Fretting fatigue lives were predicted by using the LEFM and EPFM approaches.
• The EPFM approach successfully predicted the experimental fretting fatigue lives.

The fretting fatigue test of SUS316L stainless steel was carried out to investigate the influence of large scale yielding on fretting fatigue life. The location of the maximum shear stress range coincided with that of crack nucleation. The crack path could be estimated based on the maximum tangential stress range criterion. The larger plastic zone exceeding the small scale yielding condition was observed at a crack tip. The predicted fatigue lives based on the elastic–plastic fracture mechanics approach were in good agreement with the experimental lives, while those based on the linear-elastic fracture mechanics approach were longer than the experimental lives.