Continuous estimation of the crack growth rate during rotating-bending fatigue testing

A method for estimating the crack growth rate in steel during rotating-bending fatigue testing is presented. Constant deflection tests were conducted in which the initial load remained constant prior to crack nucleation, when it decreased as the crack grew. In the proposed approach, steel samples were sharp-notched to produce a characteristic circular fracture upon loading and the final fracture area was correlated with a ratio of the load prior to fracture and the initial load. In this method, the deflection imposed is a function of a material’s elastic modulus rather than its yield strength and the correlation obtained to estimate the average crack length as a function of the instantaneous load is independent of the applied stress or steel grade.