Fatigue crack initiation life of fine grain brass H62

Fine grain alloys possess excellent properties entailing high strength and toughness. Fine brass H62 is made by re-crystallization with grain size ranging from 5 to 10 μm. Fatigue initiation life is investigated from specimens tested on Instron 1341 machine a frequency of 30 Hz. Furthermore fatigue crack initiation life of this fine brass H62 is predicted by the energetic approach. It is found that: (1) the finer the grain size, the longer the fatigue life, which is due to its higher toughness; (2) intergranular cracking is the main mechanism of fatigue failure. Concave pits were found in the zone of fatigue crack propagation; and (3) the energetic approach gave acceptable fatigue crack initiation life estimation.