The effects of grain boundary- and triple junction-character on intergranular fatigue crack nucleation were studied in coarse-grained polycrystalline aluminium specimens whose grain boundary microstructures were analyzed by using the SEM-EBSD/OIM technique. Fatigue crack nucleation occurred mainly along grain boundaries and depended strongly upon both the grain boundary character and grain boundary configuration with respect to the persistent slip bands. However, it was little dependent upon the geometrical arrangements between the grain boundary plane and the stress axis. Particularly, random boundaries became preferential sites for fatigue crack nucleation. The fatigue cracks were also observed at coincidence site lattice boundaries when the grain-boundary trace on the specimen surface was parallel to persistent slip bands. On the other hand, no intergranular fatigue cracks were observed at low-angle boundaries. The fatigue cracks were observed at triple junctions as well as grain boundaries. Their nucleation considerably occurred at triple junctions where random boundaries were interconnected. The grain boundary engineering for improvement in fatigue property was considered on the basis of the results of the structure-dependent intergranular and triple junction fatigue crack nucleation.

Effects of Grain Boundary- and Triple Junction-Character on Intergranular Fatigue Crack Nucleation in Polycrystalline Aluminium. S.Kobayashi, T.Inomata, H.Kobayashi, S.Tsurekawa, T.Watanabe: Journal of Materials Science, 2008, 43[11], 3792-9