EFFECT OF CRACK CLOSURE ON SLOW PROPAGATION IN DUAL-PHASE STEEL

The effect of ferrite content in ferrite-martensite dual-phase steel on the initiation and prop-agation of fatigue crack and the plastic deformation at crack tip has been studied.In the rangeof ferrite content from 24.2 to 41.5％,the optimum seems to be 33.8％,of which the crack ini-tiation will be prolonged,the threshold value increased,the propagation rate decreased and theclosure stress intensity factor increased.As the propagation force is described by effectivestress intensity factor,three steels with various ferrite contents will show the same propagationbehaviour on da/dN vs △ K_(eff)curve.It is shown that the closure effect increases with thedecrease in △K at the fatigue crack tip.When △K equals to △K_(th),the closure effect reachesa maximum value of0.7 in a dual-phase steel with 33.8％ferrite.