A study of the cluster effect on fatigue crack initiation

International audienceFatigue crack initiation is classically predicted by macroscopic models, where the critical variables are combinations of macroscopic stress and strain. Nevertheless, the local mechanisms responsible for crack initiation in metals and alloys are persistent slip bands (PSB), which develop on a microscale, in each grain. Having in view a better understanding of the local mechanisms, the purpose of this work is to get an improved knowledge of the local stress and strain fields and to examine the result obtained by using the relevant variables in local crack initiation models