SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 1960
STP45927S

A Method for Predicting the Rate of Fatigue-Crack Propagation

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The rate at which fatigue cracks grow under cyclic loading is of considerable concern in the safe operation of aircraft. If it is accepted that fatigue cracks are inevitable, then information is needed concerning their growth characteristics. This subject has drawn an increasing amount of attention in recent years, in both theoretical (1) and experimental investigations (2,3). Much of the theoretical work, however, is qualitative, and the empirical expressions derived in connection with experimental work are of an ad hoc nature and cannot be extended to specimen configurations and stress levels other than those used in the particular investigations. In several recent papers however (4,5,6), an attempt has been made to put the subject of crack propagation on a generalized, quantitative basis. The purpose of this paper is to summarize briefly this recent work, and to present quantitative expressions for the rate of fatigue-crack propagation in sheet specimens of the aluminum alloys 2024-T3 and 7075-T6 for stress ratios R = 0 and R = −1.

Author Information

McEvily, Arthur, J.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Langley Field, Va.
Illg, Walter
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Langley Field, Va.
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Details
Developed by Committee: E08
Pages: 112–119
DOI: 10.1520/STP45927S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-6746-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-6579-3