Damage mechanism of a nodular cast iron under the very high cycle fatigue regime

Fatigue behaviour in the very high cycle regime (VHCF) of 10(10) cycles were investigated with a cast iron (GS51) under ultrasonic fatigue test system (20 kHz) in ambient air at room temperature with a stress ratio R = -1. The influence of frequency was examined by comparing similar data generated on conventional servo hydraulic test systems. An advanced, high-speed, and high-sensitivity infrared imaging system was used to measure the temperature changes during ultrasonic fatigue test at various load, levels caused by internal damping due to a very high frequency cycling. The temperature field on the surface specimen was determined by using a non-destructive measurement technique called infrared pyrometer. An infrared camera made up of a matrix of 320 x 240 detectors was used. The S-N curves obtained show that fatigue failure occurred beyond 10(9) cycles, fatigue limit does not exist for the cast iron and there is no evidence of frequency effect on the test results. A detailed study on fatigue specimens subjected to ultrasonic frequency shows that the temperature evolution of the cast iron specimen is very evident, the temperature increased just at the beginning of the test, the temperature increased depending on the maximum stress amplitude. Under the current test conditions, the high cycle fatigue (VHCF) behaviour of the cast iron exhibited a typical fatigue crack growth process, that is, fatigue initiation takes place always at the surface graphite or subsurface void.; the distinctive stable fatigue crack growth, zone can be found around the fatigue crack initiation site, the change of fatigue initiation site from surface to subsurface is associated with the complex effects of applied maximum stress level, surface condition. Under lower stress amplitude and high cycle condition, surface graphite fatigue initiation is predominantly depended on cyclic stress amplitude; subsurface void fatigue initiation is determined by maximum cyclic stress. In the process of small crack propagation, the temperature in local plastic zone increase very sharply. The temperature field of ultrasonic fatigue specimen can be changed with the cooling condition; internal heating can accelerate surface fatigue crack initiation and propagation. Fatigue properties in VHCF regime were studied for cast iron (GS51) at 20 kHz frequency and for the first time, crack initiation and propagation stages were analyzed using a high-sensitivity infrared camera. The new Paris's model for fish eye formation in the gigacycle fatigue were also confirmed by this study. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.