Identification of fretting fatigue crack propagation mechanisms using acoustic emission

In this study, a fretting fatigue test has been equipped with an acoustic emission (AE) device in order to identify the successive crack propagation mechanisms. The fretting fatigue crack nucleation and propagation is a complicated process. Cracks initiate and propagate firstly due to shearing (mode II) and then by tension (mode I). The crack propagation generates mechanical energy emission. Elastic waves appear and can be detected through AE. A complete analysis of the AE signals (multi-parameter analysis, location of the AE in the loading cycle and a statistical analysis) led to an identification of three different steps in the crack propagation process. The evolution of the shearing and the tension influences in the crack propagation process is recognizable separately. Therefore, the three crack propagation steps have been identified as (a) crack propagation in mode II, (b) mixed mode crack propagation and (c) pure mode I crack propagation.