Why titanium alloys withstand more strain under dwell-fatigue than under fatigue?

Experimental observations reveal that crack initiation proceeds at a reduced number of cycles if a load hold at maximum stress is introduced during cyclic testing. Although this feature was extensively investigated and stems from the occurrence of room temperature creep, other differences between fatigue and dwell-fatigue behaviors are still to be clarified. In particular, a higher plastic strain is cumulated prior to failure if the load hold is present. This observation highlights differences in the deformation behavior depending on the applied loading. The present article reports an investigation of this point using Fast-Fourier transforms based crystal plasticity simulations of the stress and strain field. Significant differences were evidenced and discussed in light of experimental results reported in the literature. In particular, the occurrence of crack initiation for different cumulated plastic strain depending on the loading conditions is elucidated