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Grain size effects on NiTi shape memory alloy fatigue crack growth

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Abstract

Fatigue cracking in polycrystalline NiTi was investigated using a multiscale experimental framework for average grain sizes (GS) from 10 to 1500 nm for the first time. Macroscopic fatigue crack growth rates, measured by optical digital image correlation, were connected to microscopic crack opening and closing displacements, measured by scanning electron microscope DIC (SEM-DIC) using a high-precision external SEM scan controller. Among all grain sizes, the 1500 nm GS sample exhibited the slowest crack growth rate at the macroscale, and the largest crack opening level (stress intensity at first crack opening) and minimum crack opening displacements at the microscale. Smaller GS samples (10, 18, 42, and 80 nm) exhibited nonmonotonic trends in their fatigue performance, yet the correlation was strong between macroscale and microscale behaviors for each GS. The samples that exhibited the fastest crack growth rates (42 and 80 nm GS) showed a small crack opening level and the largest crack opening displacements. The irregular trends in fatigue performance across the nanocrystalline GS samples were consistent with nonmonotonic values in the elastic modulus reported previously, both of which may be related to the presence of residual martensite only evident in the small GS samples (10 and 18 nm).

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Dr. S. Daly gratefully acknowledges financial support from the National Science Foundation (CAREER Award, CMMI-1251891). Mr. W. LePage is grateful for financial support from the U.S. Department of Defense (Air Force Office of Scientific Research, National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate, or NDSEG, Fellowship program, 32 CFR 168a). Dr. A. Ahadi is grateful for financial support from the International Center for Young Scientists (ICYS), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) Japan, under grant number C1052. Dr. QP Sun is grateful for financial support from the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong through GRF Project No. 16214215. We sincerely thank Dr. J. Wayne Jones, Dr. Michael Thouless, and Dr. Alan Pelton for insightful discussions, Dr. Nakhiah Goulbourne for sharing fatigue testing equipment, Dr. Zhe Chen for assistance with SEM-DIC experiments, Dr. Jerry Zhongrui Li for assistance with X-ray diffraction measurements, Mr. Benjamin Marchi for developing the function to compute the coefficients of determination (R2) in Mathematica, Dr. Ryan Watkins for developing the DIC image overlay plotting routines, and the Michigan Center for Materials Characterization for instrument use and staff assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA

    William S. LePage

  2. International Center for Young Scientists, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0047, Japan

    Aslan Ahadi

  3. Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, 93106, USA

    William C. Lenthe & Tresa M. Pollock

  4. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Qing-Ping Sun

  5. Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109, USA

    John A. Shaw

  6. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, 93106, USA

    Samantha H. Daly

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  1. William S. LePage
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LePage, W.S., Ahadi, A., Lenthe, W.C. et al. Grain size effects on NiTi shape memory alloy fatigue crack growth. Journal of Materials Research 33, 91–107 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2017.395

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