Fatigue Crack Growth in a Monocrystal and Its Similarity to Short-Crack Propagation in a Polycrystal of Nickel

Short fatigue cracks in polycrystalline materials are very important from both practical and basic aspects, yet they are very difficult to observe. Therefore, it is suggested to emulate some properties of short cracks with long fatigue cracks in monocrystals. Indeed, such experiments in pure nickel crystals prove that the three peculiar properties of short fatigue cracks in polycrystalline metals are observed in long cracks in monocrystals, i.e., a lower threshold of the stress intensity factor (ΔK_I)_th, a higher crack propagation rate at low ΔK_I regimes, and the fact that different cracks exhibit different growth behaviors. The fatigue experiments in monocrystals reveal interesting details of the slip activity at the front of fatigue cracks, including a selection rule for the active slip systems above and below the crack, the slip behavior under conditions of steep strain gradients, and the activation of a new slip system.