Development of fatigue crack closure mechanism maps Part 2 – Construction of maps for various materials

Crack closure mechanism maps are constructed for a variety of ferrous and non-ferrous alloys using the boundary equations derived in Part 1. Extensive fatigue crack growth studies involving crack closure measurements and fractography were performed to validate the predictions of the crack closure mechanism maps developed in this way. It is demonstrated that the dominance of a particular mechanism under a given set of loading conditions is dependent on the deformation behaviour, controlling microstructure unit, yield strength, texture, and component thickness. Finally, some possible engineering applications of crack closure mechanism maps are suggested.