A methodology for predicting fatigue crack propagation rates in titanium based on damage accumulation

A methodology has been developed for predicting fatigue propagation rates at ambient temperature in Ti 6246. The method is based on the assumption that a similar number of cycles is required to propagate a crack through the cyclic plastic zone as to initiate a crack in a plain strain-control specimen where an equivalent stress–strain profile exists. The model is assessed with reference to measured fatigue data and its ability to account for load ratio effects is discussed.