Propagation Behaviour of Microstructurally Short Fatigue Cracks in the High-Cycle- and Very-High-Cycle Fatigue Regimes

In the present paper examples for propagating and non-propagating conditions of slip bands and short fatigue cracks in a ferritic-austenitic duplex steel are given, which were quantified by means of SEM in combination with automated EBSD. To classify the results within the scope of predicting the service life under HCF- and VHCF-loading conditions a numerical model based on the boundary-element method has been developed, where crack propagation is described by means of partially irreversible dislocation glide on crystallographic slip planes in a polycrystalline model microstructure (Voronoi cells). This concept is capable to account for the strong scattering in fatigue life for very small strain amplitudes and to contribute to the concept of tailored microstructures for improved cyclic-loading behaviour.