International

Journalof
International Journal of Fatigue 28 (2006) 15901602
Fatigue
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfatigue

Failure mechanisms of automotive metallic alloys in

very high cycle fatigue range
a,b,*
Emin Bayraktar , Israel Marines Garcias b, Claude Bathias b

a
SUPMECA/LISMMA-Paris, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, 3 rue Fernand Hainaut, 93407 Saint Ouen Cedex, France
b
ITMA-CNAM, Bathias Research Laboratory, School of Mechanical Engineering, 2 rue Conte 75003, Paris, France

Received 30 June 2004; received in revised form 2 September 2005; accepted 15 September 2005
Available online 18 April 2006

Abstract

In modern technology, analysis of fatigue behaviour of engineering components is obligatory to develop engines and mechanical parts
to improve the performance and to increase lifetime up to 109 cycles. On the other hand, the estimations and analysis of the mechanism
of fatigue failure must be known in detail for steel industry to develop high quality steels.
In this research, dierent alloys, failed under high frequency fatigue conditions, used in the automotive industry, were studied: steels,
heat treated at dierent conditions, cast iron and cast aluminium with dierent tensile strength ranging from 220 to 2350 MPa. These
alloys were tested at very high cyclegigacycle-fatigue (VHCF, >107), using a piezoelectric fatigue system (20 kHz) under tensioncom-
pression conditions with a stress ratio of R = 1. The central part of each specimen was cooled by compressed air to keep the temper-
ature constant at room temperature. Fatigue failure values were usually located between 107 and 1010 cycles. Eects of defect types on
failure mechanism in very high cycle fatigue range are discussed here in detail with fracture surface analysis by using Scanning Electron
Microscopy (SEM).
 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Failure mechanism; Very high cycle fatigue; (VHCF); Metallic alloys

1. Introduction about the failure mechanism in very high cycle fatigue.

Investigations concerning long fatigue lives (>107 cycles)
are relatively rare [16]. The reason is obvious, the testing
time and costs are too much to perform the fatigue tests
of more than 108 cycles using a conventional testing
machine. The experimental results show that the fatigue
fracture can occur beyond 107 cycles in the steels, and the
origin of this fracture not at the surface but at a certain dis-
tance from the surface.
In the high and low cycle ranges, the initial sites of fati-
gue crack are dierent. In case of VHCF (>107 cycles), the
initiation sites are found at non-metallic inclusions located
in the interior of the specimen; on the other hand, the ini-
tiation sites may be found at surface or just near the sur-
face. In literature [211], there are many interpretations
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 149 45 2954; fax: +33 149 45 2959.
E-mail address: bayraktar@supmeca.fr (E. Bayraktar).
The most common idea is that two initiation mechanisms
are acting: crack initiation is found at the surface up to
106 cycles, beyond 107 cycles, initiation site is internal of
the specimen.
This study entails the failure mechanisms of dierent
automotive metallic alloys in terms of the eects of defects,
such as inclusions, pores and internal microstructural or
metallurgical defects on the crack initiation in very high
cycle fatigue range. In this paper, special care was given
to the presentation of dierent types of mechanisms oper-
ating at the level of 109 cycles; The initiation site, which
depends on a defect is not always in the interior of the spec-
imen at this level of cycles, as claimed above, since the
probability of nding a defect at the surface depends on
the number of defects for a given volume of the specimen.
Additionally, the cause of the initiation site is not only the
inclusion but also the pores, the nature of microstructure
and/or the metallurgical defects.

0142-1123/$ - see front matter  2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2005.09.019
 E. Bayraktar et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 28 (2006) 15901602 1591

2. Experimental conditions Generally, the SN curves of the tested materials are

Chemical compositions of the materials studied here,
which have been heat-treated at dierent conditions, are
given in Table 1. Their tensile strengths vary from
220 MPa (cast Al) to 2350 MPa (AISI 52100). The speci-
mens from 42CrMo4 were prepared in longitudinal (L)
and transversal directions (T) with respect to the rolling
direction. Mechanical properties of these materials studied
are given in Table 2. The specimens are tested at ultrasonic
fatigue frequency of 20 kHz with a stress ratio of R = 1
(tensioncompression) under load control. In order to con-
trol the displacement amplitude at the end of the amplier
was calibrated by optical sensor before each fatigue test.
All of the samples were tested as received conditions
without polishing. The temperature of the central part of
the specimen was kept constant at room temperature by
a special temperature cooling system with compressed air
(10 C) during the test. It can arrange the level of the
cooling rate automatically. The mechanisms of fatigue fail-
ure have been studied by means of analysis of fractography
on the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The fracture
origin and/or inclusions were identied by use of energy
disperse analysis.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. High-cycle fatigue properties
Fig. 1af show experimental high-cycle fatigue test
results explained by SN curves for the materials,
42CrMo4 L and T, D38MSV5S, AISI 52100, perlitic steel,
cast iron and aluminium respectively. They show that fati-
gue failure of these materials may occur beyond 107 cycles,
in other words, fracture occurred between 106 and 1010
cycles.
continuously decreasing from the mega to the gigacycle
range. No step is observed in the SN curves when the load
is tensioncompression. The results obtained at dierent
frequency show that fatigue rupture can occur beyond
109 cycles and the dierence of fatigue resistance decreases
by 150, or even 200 MPa between 106 and 1010 cycles under
these conditions.
In case of 42CrMo4-T, any horizontal asymptote cannot
be drawn between 106 and 109 cycles, since the fatigue limit
decreases considerably regarding to 42CrMo4-L and the
scatter of the results is very high. Additionally, for the
grade of 42CrMo4-L, less scatter of the results is found.
As will be explained in Section 3.3, the fatigue behaviour
of the materials depends, essentially, on the size, the posi-
tion, the number and the type of the inclusion. In case of
steel-52100, we have tested two originally dierent speci-
mens (1st series: French norm NF100C6 and 2nd series:
Japanese norm SUJ2). Generally, all of these results
obtained in very high frequency (20 and 30 kHz) showed
a smooth decrease in the fatigue limit and they are consis-
tent with the conventional testing results (30 Hz). For the
grade of D38MSV5, a regular decrease was observed in
the fatigue and less scatter of the results is found. The dif-
ference of the fatigue strength between 106 and 109 cycles is
about 100 MPa. For the grade of perlitic steel (XC70), a
considerable decrease (100 MPa) is found in the fatigue
strength between 106 and 1010 cycles. For the nodular cast
iron, with higher mechanical properties, very smooth
decrease in the fatigue strength is observed between 107
and 1010 cycles and high fatigue life is found and the results
obtained in very high frequency (20 and 30 kHz) showed a
smooth decrease in the fatigue limit and they are consistent
with the conventional testing results (35 Hz). The dierence
of the fatigue strength between 107 and 1010 cycles is about
30 MPa. In case of cast aluminium, a continuous decrease

Table 1
Chemical composition of materials (wt%)
Steel grade C Mn P S Si Al Fe Mg Ni Cr Cu Mo V
42CrMo4 0.428 0.827 0.012 0.024 0.254 0.173 1.026 0.224
D38MSV5S ferriteperlite 0.384 1.23 0.012 0.064 5.67 0.025 0.063 0.063 0.018 0.089
Perlitic steel xC70 0.6695 0.568 0.011 0.0625 0.158 <0.002 0.127 0.034
52100 1.03 0.339 0.012 0.008 0.242 0.147 1.461 0.032
Cast iron GS51 3.65 0.5 2.49 0.04 0.7
Cast aluminium AS5 0.32 5.3 Sold 0.57 0.36 3.15

Table 2
Mechanical properties of materials
Steel grade E (GPa) q (kg/m3) r0.2 (MPa) UTS (MPa) A (%) HVN (30) rD at 107 rD at 109
42CrMo4-L (long.) 205 7870 1460 1535 6 465 760 740
42CrMo4-T (trans.) 210 7850 1482 1508 3 469 525 500
AISI 52100 210 7860 2358 704 880 860
D38MSV5S 210 7850 608 878 20 246 380 314
Perlitic steel XC70 210 7850 513 927 8.12 305 376 350
Cast iron GS51 169 7100 460 795 9 265 250 240
Aluminium AS5 72 2700 182 222 1 99 75 60
1592 E. Bayraktar et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 28 (2006) 15901602

1000 1200
42CrMo4, UTS=1500 52100
Mpa
1000
800

800

Stress (MPa)
Stress (Mpa)

600
600
400
400
NF100C6-I, 20 kHz, R = -1
NF100C6-I, 30 kHz, R = -1
200 Transversal specimens SUJ2, 20 kHz, R = -1
200 30 Hz
Logitudinal specimens
NF100C6-II, 20 kHz, R = -1

0 0
1,E+03 1,E+05 1,E+07 1,E+09 1,E+11 1,E+04 1,E+06 1,E+08 1,E+10 1,E+12
Cycles (Nf) Cycles (Nf)
(a) Steel: 42CrMo4-T and L (b) Steel: 52100

600 600
D38MSV5 30 Hz, R=-1, RENAULT Perlitic steel 20 kHz, R = -1
20 kHz, R=-1, ITMA-CNAM (XC70) 30 Hz

500 500
Stress (Mpa)

Stress (Mpa)

400 400

300 300

200 200
1,E+03 1,E+05 1,E+07 1,E+09 1,E+11 1,E+03 1,E+05 1,E+07 1,E+09 1,E+11
Cycles (Nf) Cycles (Nf)
(c) Steel: D38MSV5 (d) Steel: Perlitic (XC70)

375 200
20 kHz, R = -1 Aluminium AS5 20 kHz, R = -1
Cast iron (GS51)
30 kHz, R = -1 30 kHz, R = -1
35 Hz
300 30 Hz
150
Stress (MPa)

Stress (MPa)

225
100
150

50
75
same specimen
0 0
1,E+03 1,E+06 1,E+09 1,E+12 1,E+04 1,E+06 1,E+08 1,E+10 1,E+12
Cycles (Nf)
Cycles (Nf) Changing of failure
mechanism
(e) Castiron (f) Castaluminium
Fig. 1. Very high cycle fatigue test results at the stress ratio of R = 1 and at the frequency of 20 kHz at room temperature for the dierent materials.

is found between 107 and 1010 cycles and two dierent fati- is seen very well from this picture (Fig. 1f) that there is a
gue ranges, low cycle fatigue (up to 106 cycle) and very high passage and/or a strict zone between 106 and 107 cycles
cycle fatigue (beyond 108 cycle) gave two dierent slopes. It indicate the changing in the failure mechanism. It means
 E. Bayraktar et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 28 (2006) 15901602 1593

that there is a passage in the crack initiation mechanism

from the surface to the inside of the materials. This subject
will be discussed in Section 3.3 in detail.
All of the ultrasonic fatigue test results indicate very
clearly that the fatigue limit of these materials dened with
a statistical analysis between 106 and 107 cycles cannot
guarantee a safe design. Evidently, dierent initiation
mechanisms were found to explain why always failure
occurs at 109 cycles. These mechanisms depend strongly
on the microstructure of materials [12].

3.2. Microstructure

Fig. 2 shows the dierent microstructures and also the

position of inclusions of the materials studied here. The
most of the inclusions were of sulphide (MnS). Inclusions
like Al2O3, SiO2, CaO, and MgO were also found in the
grade of AISI 52100.
Dierent microstructures were found: Martensitic struc-
ture for the 42CrMo4, ferrite (50%) and perlite (50%) for
the D38MSV5S, perlitic structure for the XC70 and also
martensitic structure for the AISI-52100. Naturally, the
hardness values increase according to the carbon, manga-
nese and molybdenum values depending on the tempering
conditions for dierent steels studied here.
The microstructure of cast iron with spheroid graphite is
composed of perlite (95%) and ferrite (5%). Graphite is
mainly surrounded by ferrite islands (white).
Finally, aluminium has a typical eutectic structure with
primary dendrite cells (white aluminium matrix) composed
of eutectic silicon (dark) particles and also Fe and/or Mg-
bearing intermetallics (light greys) in the inter-dendritic
regions. The eutectic silicon particles and Fe + Mg-bearing
intermetallics give a small volume fraction (6%).

3.3. Eect of defect types on gigacycle fatigue range

Crack initiation sites from an inclusion or a defect in

gigacycle fatigue are function of dierent parameters, such
as size and number of defect, aspect ratio or shape factor
(dlength/dwidth) of the inclusion in particularly, fatigue life-
number of cycle, Nf. Other factors, such as composition,
initial microstructure of the material, hardness and the
position of inclusions in the specimen have also to be con-
sidered. Naturally, the surface sites have very favourable
conditions for the crack initiation regarding to internal
sites of the material due to geometrical and mechanical
conditions. In experimental study, it is very dicult to
obtain reliable data on non-metallic inclusions and classify
them quantitatively. In literature, a few number models
have been proposed for predicting the eect of non-metallic
inclusions on fatigue strength depending on the size and
distribution of the inclusions. Analysis of cracks initiation
depending on the defect type, such as inclusion, porosity,
and nature of microstructure should be clearer for better
understanding the failure mechanisms of the mechanical
parts in very high cycle range.
Fig. 2. General microstructures and also position of inclusions of the
materials studied here.
3.3.1. Failure mechanism of materials due to inclusion
Figs. 3a3c show the fracture surfaces obtained from the
failed specimens, which failures occurred between 107 and
1010 cycles, in which the fatigue failure initiates basically
from the internal inclusion of specimens. The location
of crack initiation or fatigue strength/life depends on the
position, form, type, size and number of inclusions as a
function of number of cycle, Nf. This aspect must be also
related to the stress gradient around the inclusion.
The observations of the failure surfaces showed that cracks
1594 E. Bayraktar et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 28 (2006) 15901602
Fig. 3a. Fracture surfaces due to non-metallic inclusions in microstructure of 42CrMo4-L (R = 1, 20 kHz).
initiated from under jacket or near the surface gave mainly
at and smooth facets in the given test conditions.
Studies of Murakami et al. [3,4] showed that specimens
have a particular fracture surface morphology around the
non-metallic inclusions at the fracture origin named
ODA (optically dark area), of which the size increases with
increasing fatigue life; larger than twice of the size of the
original inclusion at the fracture origin in the range of
Nf P 108.
They estimated the fatigue limit of specimen, rw, by
defect area and hardness parameters for evaluating the
inuence of inclusions.
The number of cycle was not specied in the prediction
of the fatigue limit in the Murakami equations. They con-
sidered that the lifetime is innite in their formulation. In
fact, there must a relation between these parameters and
the cycles to failure, Nf.
 a
1:56HV 120 1  R
rw p 1
area1=6 2
where rw is the fatigue endurance limit (MPa), R is the
stress ratio and a = 0.226 + Hv 104.
In our study, many of the inclusions were not circles but
mainly of dierent shapes. So, the form of the inclusion
must be taken into account. In case of 42CrMo4-T, the
inclusions are acicular and for the 42CrMo4-L and AISI
52100 the forms of the inclusions are generally globular
or spherical but in deformed shapes. The measured aspect
ratio or shape factors (dlength/dwidth) for dierent specimens
were given in Table 3. As a result, the value found for
42CrMo4-T is higher than that of 42CrMo4-L and AISI
52100. Naturally, these values are the mean values because
they vary from specimen to specimen. Consequently, this
seems to be strong evidence that fatigue strength level
and dispersion in the SN curves of the materials depend
on the aspect ratio.
So, the calculated fatigue limit, rw, values obtained by
p
area parameter model [3] are found to be 530 and
790 MPa for the grades of 42CrMo4-L and AISI 52100,
respectively. They were underestimated and the calculated
values are very dierent regarding to the experimental
results given in Fig. 1 and Table 2. This equation cannot
be used for example for the grade of 42CrMo4-T due to
the shape of the inclusions regarding to 42CrMo4-L
and p52100.
So, the predicted fatigue limit calculated by
the area parameter model, which were proposed for the
internal defects and inclusions, is not always valid. The
other parameters discussed here, such as aspect ratio,
which is an important parameter should be taken into con-
sideration in the fatigue limit prediction equations. The
hardness value used in this equation is not primary
parameter.
Recently, Paris has estimated crack growth life from the
da/dN curve in the gigacycle range with a mathematical
model making evident that the initiation from an inclusion
or other defect itself must be close to the total life [2].
 E. Bayraktar et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 28 (2006) 15901602 1595

Fig. 3b. Fracture surfaces due to non-metallic inclusions in microstructure of 42CrMo4-T (R = 1, 20 kHz).

Paris rstly explained the lifetime in the sh eyes from These equations show that the crack growth is not very
the crack initiation up to brittle fracture by the following signicant with sh eyes internal initiation of gigacycle fati-
equation: gue failure. Because, the cycle related to the crack propaga-
tion Np, in the sh eyes is of the order of 106 whereas the
pE2
N prop.in.fisheye 2 total lifetime, Ntotal is 109 cycles only and only where sh
2Dr2 eyes are observed. It means that the lifetime in the sh eyes
He showed also the crack growth life before the thresh- is too short. The value of Nint the cycle related to the crack
old corner by the following equation: growth before the threshold slope is also too short. Our
observations on the very huge experimental data showed
pE2 that, the time elapsed up to the rst appearance of a small
N int 3
12Dr2 crack only governs the total fatigue life of the specimen in
Or about gigacycle fatigue, about more than 99% of the total fatigue
life. This situation belong to the gigacycle is completely dif-
1 ferent from the conventional fatigue behaviour (shortcycle
N int N prop.in.fisheye 4
6 or megacycle fatigue up to Nf = 106).
1596 E. Bayraktar et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 28 (2006) 15901602
Fig. 3c. Fracture surfaces due to non-metallic inclusions in microstructure of AISI 52100 (R = 1, 20 kHz).
Table 3
Values of aspect ratio found in the dierent specimens
Specimen Aspect ratio (AR = dlength/dwidth)
42CrMo4-T 17
42CrMo4-L 1.42
AISI 52100 1.35
The other factor for crack initiation from an inclusion is
related to the position of inclusions in the materials. They
are generally irregular and randomly distributed. The posi-
tion of the inclusions is well dened as transversal
(42CrMo4-T) with respect to the applied stress and evi-
dently creates easily notch eect due to high stress gradient
around it during the solicitation, which decreases the
toughness of the steel. This is the reason why fatigue
strength values of 42CrMo4-T are lower and more disper-
sive than that of 42CrMo4-L as shown in Fig. 1.
As known, the surface of specimen is a favourable site
for crack initiation due to shape and mechanical threshold,
such as surface concentration, surface roughness and notch
eect, etc. Additionally, there is always a mismatching fac-
tor, which governs the competition between internal and
surface sites for crack initiation during the solicitation in
VHCF range. For example, in case of 42CrMo4-T, the
crack initiation site locates inside of the body sometimes
just under jacket or just the surface depending on the pop-
ulation of the inclusions, which were distributed irregularly
and also their shape are acicular whereas the specimens of
42CrMo4-L and AISI 52100 showed sh-eye inclusions,
which locate also in subsurface or near the surface distrib-
uted irregularly and independent of surface conditions.
Generally, they are not circular shapes and also touch
sometimes the surface and crack initiates from these inclu-
sions. In summary, if the defect density is higher in the
specimens, crack initiation site mostly will be found at
the surface and/or just under the jacket due to overmatch-
ing conditions, which are favourable for the inside of the
specimen. If overmatching conditions are favourable for
the surface site due to bigger size of the inclusion or defect
beyond the critical size inside of the specimen, the crack ini-
tiation site probably will locate at internal inclusions.
3.3.2. Failure mechanism of materials due to porosity
Figs. 46 show fracture surfaces due to casting defects,
such as porosity and void formation during the solidica-
tion between dendrites for two materials, cast aluminium
and nodular cast iron, respectively. However, less casting
defects were observed in the nodular cast iron specimens
compared with the cast aluminium specimens and also
the nodular cast iron has higher mechanical strength So,
fatigue life was found to be longer for the cast iron speci-
mens than that of cast aluminium specimens. This is essen-
tially due to the less porosity defect in the structure of the
nodular cast iron.
Generally, the spherical form of graphite in the cast iron
increases very well the ductility. Fatigue life of casting parts
depends strongly on casting defects, such as porosity, gas
porosity and oxide lms due to hydrogen adsorption and
 E. Bayraktar et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 28 (2006) 15901602 1597

Fig. 4. Fracture surfaces due to porosities in microstructure in cast aluminium (R = 1, 20 kHz).

microstructural characteristics. Additionally, the high Mg
and Fe contents decrease fatigue life because their concen-
tration increases in the inter-dendritic regions, which are
very susceptible for the crack initiation sites [8,9].
In case of aluminium, fatigue life can be improved by
rening the dendrite particularly secondary dendrite arm
spacing and the size of the silicon particles. On the other
hand, certain amount of porosity related to the oxide lms
can be tolerated in casting depending on the application
area. But, gas (spherical) and shrinkage (irregular shape)
porosities are very detrimental to fatigue life. So, the fati-
gue life is related to a critical defect size in casting parts
and the Nf value is limited due to porosity size eect.
In most cases, the fatigue crack initiated from a single
site in the cast iron and cast aluminium specimens tested
in gigacycle range. The crack initiation sites located mainly
internal side and/or just under the surface and also surface
of the specimen depending on the defect density evidently
related the volume of the specimen. However, two crack
initiation sites were exceptionally observed in a few tested
aluminium specimens (Fig. 4) with a high volume fraction
of porosity. For the size of the defect under the critical size
or threshold value, slip facets and eutectic de-bonding from
the matrix were observed in case of cast aluminium
(R = 1, Nf = 9 107). In this case, crack initiation locates
at the eutectic particles and slip bands. These observations
1598 E. Bayraktar et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 28 (2006) 15901602

Fig. 5. Fracture surfaces due to porosities in microstructure of cast iron (R = 1, 20 kHz).

are in agreement with former results, which have been car-
ried out in mega cycle [1,79,13,14].
Some of these crack initiation sites in cast iron were
observed from the ferrite regions around the graphite due
to a competition between harder spherical graphite and
softer ferrite island. When the graphite density is higher
regarding to porosity, overmatching conditions are favour-
able for graphite because their stiness is very high and
they have very well coherency with matrix. Naturally,
crack initiated from one of these ferrite regions around
them. Fig. 5 shows a typical crack initiation from the micro
porosity on a crystallographic plane (5c, Nf = 7 109). The
size of the porosity is considerable and beyond the thresh-
old value. So, crack initiation occurred from this site. Fig. 6
illustrates the role of the high density of the graphite found
in a part of the section of the specimen. Evidently, the
probability of nding a crack initiation around graphite
at the surface is related to the density of the graphite for
a given volume of the specimen [1317].
3.3.3. Failure mechanism of materials due to nature of
microstructure
Fatigue failure analyses were also carried out on the
fracture surfaces of the perlitic and ferrito perlitic steel
 E. Bayraktar et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 28 (2006) 15901602 1599

Fig. 6. Fracture surfaces due to porosities in microstructure of cast iron (R = 1, 20 kHz).

(D38MSV5S) specimens tested in gigacycle range. They
contain very small inclusions, which were dispersed homo-
geneously in the matrix. Figs. 7a, 7b and 7d shows some of
the results of fatigue failures related to the nature of the
microstructure.
Microstructure of perlitic steel contains essentially ne-
dense perlite lamella (small distance between perlite
lamella). Crack initiation sites were found mostly internal
side of the specimen and they were not aected by the sur-
face roughness. It is also seen that the fracture surface is
mainly perpendicular to the perlite lamella. Certainly a
mismatching condition appeared during the solicitation
between the two phases composed by hard Fe3C and soft
ferrite phases, of which the mechanical behaviour will be
evidently dierent under the loading conditions and change
with test conditions, such as applied stress and stress ratio.
The crack initiation sites were then expected to be at the
interfaces of the ne perlite lamella. So, fatigue fracture
was caused by gradual growth of microcrack initiated in
one of the ferrite phases on perlite lamella. Limited cleav-
age patterns on the fracture surface may be observed in
the ferrite side, because undermatching conditions are
favourable for crack initiation on it.
On the other hand, the microstructure of the D38MSV5S
is composed by ferrite (50%) and perlite (50%). Under the
cyclic loading, a mismatching condition should be observed
between two dierent sites of the microstructure: ferrite and
perlite. Fig. 7c illustrates schematically this mismatching

Fig. 7a. Fracture surfaces due to inhomogeneous microstructure of perlitic steel, CX70 (R = 1, 20 kHz,).
1600 E. Bayraktar et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 28 (2006) 15901602

Fig. 7b. Fracture surfaces due to inhomogeneous microstructure of D38MSV5S steel, ferrite (%50), perlite (%50), (R = 1, 20 kHz).

condition. For a given stress level, two dierent deforma-
tion behaviours will be seen on the stressstrain curve dur-
ing the loading. It means, globally the matrix (specimen)
will stay in the elastic range whereas ferrite phase will easily
undergone plastic deformation. As a result, one of the fer-
rite grains will induce to fatigue crack initiation compared
to perlite phase. Evidently, overmatching conditions here
are mainly favourable for the perlite phase and fatigue
fracture is then caused by gradual growth of microcrack
initiated in one of the ferrite phase. Finally, large frac-
ture patterns are observed on the perlitic side. Fig. 7d
shows another example of a deformed ferrite grain, which

Globally: Matrix
x in elastic range

F P F x

Locally: Ferrite grain

F
in plastic domain
P
P
F

Fig. 7c. Deformation behaviour of two dierent phases in the same microstructure due to mismatching.
 E. Bayraktar et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 28 (2006) 15901602
Fig. 7d. Fracture surfaces due to inhomogeneous microstructure of perlitic steel, deformation of ferrite grain, (R = 1, 20 kHz,).
introduced crack initiation. Microstructural observations,
EDS analysis and micro hardness measurements carried
out in this point of the specimen proved the existence of fer-
rite grain, which induced the crack initiation in gigacycle
range.
4. Conclusion
Failure mechanisms related with cracks initiation at 109
cycles depending on the defect type were studied. The fol-
lowing conclusions are summarized as follows. Failure ini-
tiation mechanism due to inclusion: The time elapsed up
to the rst appearance of a small crack only governs
the total fatigue life of the specimen in very high cycle
fatigue. Pariss model to predict the grain growth life in
sh eye works well in case of an internal sh eye evolu-
tion. It means that crack initiation in gigacycle fatigue
is a basic mechanism. Murakamis formulas to predict
the fatigue limit (rw), where sh eye is observed may
work. However, the parameter of aspect ratio should
be included in this formula. This parameter plays an
important role on the failure mechanism and on the S
N curve in gigacycle fatigue. Failure initiation mechanism
due to porosity: Actually, any model and/or formula exist
to predict the lifetime and predict the fatigue limit (rw) in
gigacycle range. Failure initiation mechanism due to nat-
ure of microstructure: Pariss model or Murakamis for-
mulas cannot be applied for this case. Crack initiation
essentially occurs in softer phase, for example, from a fer-
rite grain in case of D38MSV5S or crack initiation sites in
perlitic steel are observed at the interfaces of the ne and
1601
dense perlite lamella certainly in the ferrite side, which is a
favourable site for crack initiation. Inclusions are not the
key parameters in this case.
Acknowledgements
This project was carried out in Bathias research labora-
tory (ITMA) in Paris under the grant of Predict-I. The
authors are grateful to the research managers of RENA-
ULT-FRANCE, ASCOMETAL, and A2M-FRANCE
for valuable help during this project.
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