BEHAVIOUR OF SHORT CRACKS EMANATING FROM TINY DRILLED HOLES

Specimens with martensitic microstructure were defected by tiny drilled holes with the existing local residual stresses induced by drilling and without them. The objective of this research was to determine the cyclic stress level for the crack initiation and fatigue limit of the defected and smooth specimens' dependence upon the residual-stress field. Compressive residual stresses retarded the crack initiation. Immediately after the crack initiation, residual stresses decelerated the short-crack propagation, but later, when the residual-stress sign was changed, they accelerated it. Non-propagating short-crack size and fatigue limit also depend on the residual-stress field.