Fracture Modes and Low Cycle Biaxial Fatigue Life at Elevated Temperature

This paper describes the crack growth direction in biaxial low cycle fatigue under combined axial and torsional stresses in hollow cylindrical specimens of type 304 stainless steel at 923 K in air. Three types of crack are identified, namely macrocrack greater than 1 mm in length, subcracks between 0.1 mm and 1.0 mm in length, and microcracks less than 0.1 mm in length. The macrocrack direction as well as that of the subcrack depends on the principal strain ratio but the microcrack is mode I for all the principal strain ranges tested. The connection of the three types of crack is discussed in relation to the surface oxidation. Typical strain stress and criteria for the biaxial low cycle fatigue failure are applied to the experimental data and their applicability is discussed.