Evaluation of crack growth rate and growth model of ultrafine grained copper

Abstract

High-cycle fatigue tests were carried out on smooth specimens of ultrafine grained (UFG) copper produced by equal channel angular pressing for 12 passes. The growth behavior of a small surface-crack was monitored. A major crack, which led to the final fracture of the specimen, initiated from shear bands (SBs) at an early stage of stressing. Different tendencies of growth behavior occurred depending on the ranges of crack length. To understand the changes in growth rate and fracture surface morphologies, a quantitative model describing a crack growth mechanism were developed considering the reversible plastic zone size at a crack tip. In addition, the crack growth rate of UFG copper was evaluated by applying the small-crack growth raw. ? 2011 WIT Press.