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Fatigue stress concentration and notch sensitivity in nanocrystalline metals

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Abstract

Recent studies have shown the potential for nanocrystalline metals to possess excellent fatigue resistance compared to their coarse-grained counterparts. Although the mechanical properties of nanocrystalline metals are believed to be particularly susceptible to material defects, a systematic study of the effects of geometric discontinuities on their fatigue performance has not yet been performed. In the present work, nanocrystalline Ni-40 wt%Fe containing both intrinsic and extrinsic defects were tested in tension-tension fatigue. The defects were found to dramatically reduce the fatigue resistance, which was attributed to the relatively high notch sensitivity in the nanocrystalline material. Microstructural analysis within the crack-initiation zones underneath the defects revealed cyclically-induced abnormal grain growth (AGG) as a predominant deformation and crack initiation mechanism during high-cycle fatigue. The onset of AGG and the ensuing fracture is likely accelerated by the stress concentrations, resulting in the reduced fatigue resistance compared to the relatively defect-free counterparts.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank Michael Rye for FIB notch preparation and microscopy support and Dr. Bill Mook and Amy Allen for additional microscopy support. The authors also thank Dr. Khalid Hattar and Dr. Stephen Foiles for careful internal review of this manuscript. This work was performed, in part, at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, a United States Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences user facility. This work was funded by the United States Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Science and Engineering. Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under Contract No. DE-AC04-94AL85000.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Science & Engineering, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87185, USA

    Timothy A. Furnish, Brad L. Boyce, John A. Sharon, Christopher J. O’Brien & Blythe G. Clark

  2. United Technologies Research Center, Hartford, Connecticut, 06118, USA

    John A. Sharon

  3. Microsystems Science, Technology & Components, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87185, USA

    Christian L. Arrington & Jamin R. Pillars

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  1. Timothy A. Furnish
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Correspondence to Brad L. Boyce.

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Furnish, T.A., Boyce, B.L., Sharon, J.A. et al. Fatigue stress concentration and notch sensitivity in nanocrystalline metals. Journal of Materials Research 31, 740–752 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2016.66

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