AN IN SITU SEM STUDY OF CRACK PROPAGATION（裂纹扩展的原位扫描电镜研究）.pdf

ECF15 AN IN SITU SEM STUDY OF CRACK PROPAGATION * * ** Michael Andersson , Christer Persson and Solveig Melin * Division of Materials Engineering ** Division of Mechanics, Lund University, Sweden Box 118, Lund University, Sweden Michael.Andersson@material.lth.se Abstract In this paper fatigue crack propagation in an aluminium alloy is studied using an in situ SEM technique. It is demonstrated that crack propagation is strongly dependent on the local conditions around the crack tip and that the nominal stress intensity factor is only an averaging parameter. It is also shown that the crack propagates mainly through a single slip mechanism and by joining of micro cracks. Introduction It is well known that fatigue is caused by propagation of cracks under cyclic loading. Thus, the ability to understand fatigue and accurately calculate fatigue lives depends on the understanding of the mechanisms behind fatigue crack propagation. Also, detailed understanding of the various phenomena related to fatigue will improve the quality of life predictions and lead to better utilization of materials. In this paper fatigue crack propagation in an aluminium alloy (AA2014) is studied by in situ scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations. The SEM has proven to be a very valuable tool for investigating fatigue growth mechanisms, see for instance Vehoff and Neumann [1], Andersson and Persson [2] or Zhang et al. [3]