International Journal of Fatigue 87 (2016) 235–244

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International Journal of Fatigue

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfatigue

Fatigue life prediction model for laser clad AISI 4340 specimens
with multiple surface cracks
Youxiang Chew a,b, John Hock Lye Pang a,⇑
a
Nanyang Technological University, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore
b
Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, 71 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 638075, Singapore

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Fatigue test on laser clad AISI 4340 steel specimens show that multiple surface cracks initiate from the
Received 22 August 2015 clad-toe region due to clad bead overlap features deposited in a raster scan pattern. A fatigue crack
Received in revised form 22 January 2016 growth modeling algorithm capturing the observed fatigue behavior of periodic multiple co-planar
Accepted 25 January 2016
semi-elliptical cracks initiating from these features was developed based on crack closure concepts for
Available online 02 February 2016
small cracks to predict the fatigue S–N curve of laser clad AISI 4340 steel specimens. New solutions for
stress intensity factor and clad-toe magnification factor (Mk-factor) are presented for surface cracks prop-
Keywords:
agating from the laser clad-toe region. The fatigue life prediction model is able to start from multiple
Crack growth
Coalescing cracks
clad-toe surface cracks propagating from the clad-toe region which coalesce into a dominant surface
Fatigue test crack or edge crack before final failure. The fatigue life prediction result was compared to the experiment
Clad-toe S–N curve test data and gave good agreement.
Laser cladding Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Laser assisted welding processes are used in place of conven-
tional welding due to its high quality metallurgical fusion process,
narrow HAZ and low distortion [1]. Fatigue crack growth analysis
of a surface crack propagating from the weld-toe region requires
specimen specific magnification factor (Mk) solution approach
[2–5] to account for the welded joint magnification effects on the
stress intensity factor solution of a semi-elliptical surface crack
(SESC) propagating from the weld-toe region. Laser cladding in
laser assisted manufacturing applications is increasingly used for
repair and remanufacturing of high value engineering components.
Therefore, more research efforts related to fatigue performance
behavior of laser clad steel specimens are required. In this study,
laser clad AISI 4340 steel specimens were designed, fabricated
and tested in fatigue to characterize the S–N curve for as-clad test
specimens. The laser cladding process deposits additive material
with overlapping clad beads to form a layer over the clad surface
area. The clad-toe region of the laser clad specimens are suscepti-
ble to multiple surface crack initiations due to the localized stress
concentration effects of the periodic clad bead features generated
by the laser cladding process. The clad bead overlapping features
acts as potential crack initiation sites, resulting in fatigue propaga-
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mhlpang@ntu.edu.sg (J.H.L. Pang).
tion of multiple periodic surface cracks. Stress intensity factor and
Mk-factor solutions for clad-toe surface cracks are required for fati-
gue crack growth analysis of SESCs propagating from the clad toe
region. Therefore new Mk-factor solutions have been developed
for the laser clad specimen tested for fatigue life prediction
application.
In this work, fatigue failure behavior of laser clad AISI 4340 steel
specimens were conducted in the as-clad condition to obtain the
S–N curve for laser clad specimens with an area clad fabricated
over the substrate steel specimen. The fatigue fracture surface of
laser clad specimens showed that multiple surface cracks were
observed to initiate and propagate from the clad bead overlap
region. A new fatigue crack growth algorithm was developed for
predicting the S–N curve for laser clad specimens modeling the
periodic clad-toe surface cracks observed from beach-marks on
the tested specimens.
The multiple surfaces cracks propagating from the clad toe
region spend a significant part of their fatigue lives as small surface
cracks especially at applied stress range near the fatigue limit.
Fatigue crack growth modeling of such small periodic surface
cracks is required to predict the total fatigue life of laser clad steel
specimens. The initial crack size for fracture mechanics analysis
can be determined using the equivalent initial crack size approach
to account for fatigue life spent during the early crack growth
phase for estimating the total fatigue life. The equivalent initial
flaw concept [6,7] can be used for calculating initial flaw size using

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2016.01.025
0142-1123/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
236 Y. Chew, J.H.L. Pang / International Journal of Fatigue 87 (2016) 235–244
threshold stress intensity factor and the fatigue limit strength to
predict the fatigue S–N curve result.
2. Fabrication of laser clad specimens for fatigue testing
Laser cladding is performed with the Ytterbium Laser System
6000 by IPG Laser system. The robotic arm was attached with
the laser optics system and coaxial powder nozzles as shown in
Fig. 1(a) below. The clad beads were deposited in the mid-section
of the metal plate as the laser beam moved in a raster scan pattern
with 50% overlapping shown in Fig. 1(b). The AISI 4340 steel sub-
strate used in the experiments were previously oil quenched from
860 °C and heat-treated at 610 °C for 160 min. The clad material
used is the 4340 steel powder with particle diameter size in the
range of 45–100 lm. The 840 W laser has a spot size with diameter
of 2 mm, laser velocity of 10 mm/s and powder feeding rate of
6.82 g/min. After the cladding process, the cross-sectioned speci-
men was polished and etched using 2% Nital solution and viewed
under the optical microscope. The macro-graph given in Fig. 1(c)
showed that the selected laser cladding parameters had good met-
allurgical fusion and no observable large defects.
Longitudinal cladding was investigated for laser cladding oper-
ations on long structural elements. Thus, it was necessary to study
the effect of this specific clad profile as cladding the long structural
elements in a transverse pattern would require inconvenient ‘ras-
ter scan’ turns when cladding a narrow width specimens. The clad-
ding process was performed on both the top and bottom surfaces
of the substrate steel to form an approximately 1 mm thick clad
layer. Thereafter, the clad specimens were machined using wire
cutting electrical discharge into the dimensions in accordance with
ASTM E466-07 [8] showed in Fig. 2. The specimen was designed
such that the clad layer resides within the parallel gauge section
allowing investigation of the fatigue failure at the clad toe region.
The experimental laser clad specimen and clad bead overlapping
features are showed in Fig. 3.
The laser clad specimens were subjected to axial cyclic loading
with load ratio of R = 0 at 15 Hz using the Shimadzu EHF-E series
hydraulic servopulser. The fatigue testing was performed in the
as-clad condition without further clad toe treatment. The experi-
mental fatigue S–N curve results of the laser clad specimen with
applied nominal stress ranging from 290 MPa to 650 MPa is shown
in Fig. 4.
From the examination of the fracture surfaces, multiple surface
cracks were found to initiate along the clad toe region and coa-
lesced into a larger crack before propagation to failure. Ratchet
Fig. 1. (a) Laser clad experiment set-up. (b) Laser cladding deposition pattern forming the clad layer and (c) cross-section macro-graph of overlapping laser clad beads and
substrate.
Fig. 2. Schematics for top and side view of the laser clad fatigue specimen.
Fig. 3. Experimental laser clad specimen and clad-toe bead features.
marks formed by the coalescence of adjacent co-planar cracks were
observed. Fig. 5(a) shows the fractured surface of the clad speci-
men loaded with stress range of 400 MPa. In Fig. 5(a), 5 surface
cracks initiated beneath the bottom clad layer and propagated to
coalesce into a single crack ahead of the fast fracture zone. The
schematic representation of the fatigue crack propagation features
were showed in Fig. 5(b).
Closer inspection of the failed specimens revealed that the posi-
tion of the ratchet marks were periodic. The schematic of the clad
toe regions and actual clad specimen are given in Fig. 6(a) and (b)
respectively. The close-up view of the fatigue failure occurring at
the clad-toe region is shown in Fig. 6(c). The number of ratchet
marks corresponded with the number of times the laser beam
reversed direction at the clad toe region as it covered the clad area
in a raster scan manner. When the laser reached the end of the clad
length, it shifts slightly to the sideward direction while turning
around to clad the next bead. In the process, slightly more powder
particles were deposited on the turn, creating a bended bead fea-
ture. These bead features influenced the fatigue crack initiations
leading to small multiple surface crack growth behavior and coa-
lescence at a more regular interval.
The experimental investigation provides insights to the fatigue
crack propagation behavior of laser clad specimens with clad-toe
failure. Therefore the methodology for fatigue life prediction will
require the development of Mk-factor solutions to account for
stress concentration effects of the clad toe and consideration of
multiple crack propagation and crack coalescence. In addition, an
 Y. Chew, J.H.L. Pang / International Journal of Fatigue 87 (2016) 235–244
Fig. 4. Experimental fatigue S–N curve for laser clad specimen with clad-toe failure.
initial flaw size and subsequent small crack growth model will be
implemented to predict the total fatigue life of laser clad compo-
nent. The experimental result of the run-out specimen with fatigue
life exceeding 107 cycles will be useful to determined calibrate and
calculate the initial crack size for crack growth analysis.
3. Mk factor solution for laser clad specimen
The stress intensity magnification factor (Mk) solutions have to
be considered due to the presence of the additional clad layer for
modeling fatigue crack growth. In this work, new clad-toe stress
intensity Magnification Factor solutions were developed and pre-
sented for semi-elliptical and edge cracks in the substrate plate
with a single clad layer. The three dimensional clad layer wavy fea-
tures resulting from laser cladding is highly dependent on the pro-
cess parameters and it is difficult to model these complex features
in the finite element model. Hence, in this study the clad to sub-
strate profile modelled is a step transition from clad layer to sub-
strate surface shown in Fig. 7. The stress intensity factor (SIF)
solutions for semi-elliptical surface cracks (SESC) and edge cracks
(EC) were computed using the extended finite element method
(XFEM) in ABAQUS. The capabilities of the XFEM in ABAQUS for
evaluating SIF solutions for various crack configurations had been
investigated and were recently reported in [4,9]. The XFEM consid-
ers the crack-tip singularity by enriching elements containing the
crack with additional degrees of freedom. This allows meshing
and partitioning of the FE model to be performed independently
of the crack tip as compared to conventional finite element
method. This convenient feature will be useful since a considerable
number of finite element analyses are required for the parametric
studies to develop Mk factor solutions. However, the XFEM will
also require refined meshing around the crack tip for accurate SIF
results.
The detailed steps to perform stationary crack analysis can be
found in ABAQUS analysis users’ manual [10]. The schematic
Fig. 5. (a) Fractured surface of clad specimen and (b) schematic representation of the fractured surface tested at stress range of 400 MPa.
237
geometry of the three-dimensional finite element model with a
semi-elliptical crack and for the case of an edge crack (EC) were
illustrated in Fig. 7(a) and (b) respectively. For each finite element
model, the stress intensity factor of one SESC or edge crack is eval-
uated. Stress intensity factors are obtained for the different cases of
a/c and a/T ratios for both the semi-elliptical and edge cracks. The
geometry of the three-dimensional finite element model used was
given in Fig. 7 below. The dimensions for the substrate section are
L = 75 mm, B = 12.5 mm, T = 5 mm, and the clad section is
W = 20 mm, bc = B and t = 1 mm. The nominal stress for all the FE
models was calculated from the applied displacement using isotro-
pic stress-strain relation for the substrate plate without crack.
Fixed end boundary condition and displacement load was applied
on opposite ends of the plate for axial tensile loading. Symmetry
boundary condition was used at the mid-width plane to reduce
computational time.
The deformed shaped of the FE model with the applied dis-
placement loading was illustrated in Fig. 8 for the case of semi-
elliptical surface crack under the clad toe. The deformation factor
was increased deliberately to show the crack location.
The extended finite element method restricts the use of hexag-
onal element type to only the linear first order and the C3D8R
hexagonal element with reduced integration was selected in the
analysis. The mode I stress intensity factor KI is calculated using
the contour integral value evaluated from elements which form a
ring contour around the crack tip. The first few contours are usu-
ally inaccurate due to linear elastic approximations. In this work,
the KI values were calculated by averaging results from the 4th
to 8th contours. Contour integrals were computed at points where
the crack tips and element boundaries intersect. The finite element
model was partitioned and meshed following the shape of the
semi-elliptical crack tip to obtain contour integrals at regular inter-
vals as shown in Fig. 9. This partitioning and meshing technique
yielded greater accuracy and consistency in the KI SIF solutions
obtained. This meshing method was also demonstrated to give
more reliable results by Leven and Daniel [11].
To develop Mk factor equations, the crack depth (a) to substrate
thickness (T) ratio a/T and crack aspect ratio a/c were varied in the
parametric study. The details of the cases investigated for semi-
elliptical surface cracks were: a/c = 0.3, 0.5, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 and
a/T = 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.5. The FE model for plain sub-
strate with and without clad attachments were analyzed for each
of the 30 semi-elliptical crack configurations studied. A fixed clad
length of 20 mm and clad to substrate thickness ratio of t/T = 0.2
were specified in all cases. The 6 cases analyzed for the edge crack
configurations were a/T = 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The KI SIF
values were divided by nominal stress rn and crack depth a, to
obtain the non-dimensionalized KI referred to as Y.
KI
Y¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffi ð1Þ
rn pa
238 Y. Chew, J.H.L. Pang / International Journal of Fatigue 87 (2016) 235–244

Fig. 6. (a) Top view schematics of the rounded clad bead overlap features, (b) experimental fatigue specimen in the as-clad condition, and (c) closed-up view of the clad-toe
fatigue failure.

Fig. 7. (a) FE model (half model with symmetry) for semi-elliptical crack in substrate plate with clad layer. (b) FE model (half model with symmetry) for edge crack in
substrate plate with clad layer.

The nominal stress rn without the crack is related to the applied Y SESC ¼ fM 1 þ M 2 ða=TÞ2 þ M3 ða=TÞ4 gf ; g ; f w =Q
displacement d loading in the model as:
rn ¼ Ed=2L ð2Þ M1 ¼ 1:13  0:09ða=cÞ

where E is the Young’s modulus and L is the model half-length. In M2 ¼ 0:54 þ 0:89=ð0:2 þ a=cÞ
this study, the mode I SIF solutions for semi-elliptical cracks in plate
without clad were within 6.5% of the benchmark solution by New- 1
M3 ¼ 0:5  þ 14ð1  a=cÞ24
man and Raju [12] given in Eq. (3). The dimensional variables used ð0:65 þ a=cÞ
in the SIF solution for SESC were illustrated in Fig. 10.
pffiffiffiffiffiffi g ; ¼ 1 þ f0:1 þ 0:35ða=TÞ2 gð1  sin ;Þ
2
K I ¼ Y SESC r pa ð3Þ
 Y. Chew, J.H.L. Pang / International Journal of Fatigue 87 (2016) 235–244 239

Fig. 11. Schematics of long edge surface crack.

K 0I Y ;with clad
Mk ¼ ¼ ð5Þ
Fig. 8. FE model to compute SIF for semi-elliptical crack at the clad toe. K I Y ;without clad
For crack growth modeling of the semi-elliptical crack at two
locations, the Mk factor solution at the deepest crack depth
(; = 90°) and crack tip surface (; = 0°) are termed Mka and Mkc
respectively will be required. Fig. 12 illustrates the evaluation of
Mka and Mkc which accounts for the stress concentration magnifi-
cation effect of the clad layer. The developed stress Magnification
Factor (Mk) from the finite element analysis will be applied to
the crack propagation model to grow the fatigue crack from the ini-
tial crack size to the final crack size for fatigue life prediction.
The Mka and Mkc solutions were regressed using data points
from the cases studied to yield an expression in terms of a/c and
a/T which can be utilized in fracture mechanics crack propagation
calculations. The curve fitting constants for both Mka and Mkc were
presented in the following regression expression in Eqs. (6a) and
(6b).
Mka ¼ A1 exp½0:2906ða=TÞ þ A2 ½expð52:13ða=TÞÞ
Fig. 9. Meshing and partitioning near the semi-elliptical crack tip region. þ 0:09942ða=cÞ ð6aÞ

A1 ¼ 0:09868ða=cÞ2  0:2494ða=cÞ þ 1:12

A2 ¼ 0:09495ða=cÞ3 þ 1:432

Mkc ¼ A3 exp½47:56ða=TÞ þ A4 ½expð0:8276ða=TÞÞ

þ 0:3834ða=cÞ ð6bÞ

A3 ¼ 2:128ða=cÞ2 þ 2:918ða=cÞ þ 2:07

Fig. 10. Schematics of semi-elliptical surface crack.

A4 ¼ 0:4332ða=cÞ3 þ 1:647
1
2
f ; ¼ fsin ; þ ða=cÞ2 cos2 ;g4 The Mk factor results for the edge crack was curve fitted to a
power law equation and given as
h npc pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffioi12 c a 1:203
f w ¼ sec ða=TÞ for 6 0:5 Mkedge ¼ 0:008544 þ 1:006 ð7Þ
2B B T
The edge crack in plain substrate SIF solutions were validated The R-square values for the fitted equations of Mka and Mkc in
with benchmark solutions reported in BS 7910:2013 [13]. Numer- Eqs. (6a) and (6b) are 0.991 and 0.983 respectively. The fitted curve
ical results showed an agreement of 2–5% for crack sizes up till a/ and the corresponding Mka and Mkc values at for all a/c and a/T
T = 0.4 and 12% for a/T = 0.5. Schematic of the edge cracks is shown cases investigated in the parametric study is plotted in Fig. 13
in Fig. 11 and stress intensity factor solution for edge crack in plate (a) and (b).
is presented below. The developed Mk factor solutions in Eqs. (6) and (7) for semi-
Y EC ¼ Mfw Mm ð4Þ elliptical surface crack and edge crack will be multiplied with the
benchmark solutions in Eqs. (3) and (4) for cracks in plain plate
For a=T 6 0:6; M ¼ 1; f w ¼ 1 and without clad attachment. The resulting mode I SIF values will then
be used to compute crack growth rates for advancing the crack tip.
Nonetheless, the complete result of the Mk factor solutions along
M m ¼ 1:12  0:23ða=TÞ þ 10:6ða=TÞ2  21:7ða=TÞ3 þ 30:4ða=TÞ4
the semi-elliptical crack tip location parameter ; (in rad) for all
The stress intensity magnification factor (Mk) is defined as K 0I a/c and a/T cases is also given in Eq. (8) and Table 1 below.
value with clad layer divided by the KI values without the clad
Mk ¼ C 1 expðC 2 ;Þ þ C 3 expðC 4 ;Þ ð8Þ
layer attachment.
240 Y. Chew, J.H.L. Pang / International Journal of Fatigue 87 (2016) 235–244

Fig. 12. Schematic representation of Mka and Mkc for clad toe semi-elliptical crack.

where the values for the constants C1, C2, C3 and C4 for each of the
cases were presented in Table 1 below.

4. Fatigue life prediction methodology for clad-toe surface

cracks

In this section, the fatigue crack growth algorithm based on a

crack closure model was used to predict fatigue life of specimen
with multiple cracks arising from the clad toe using the new mag-
nification factor (Mk) solutions.

4.1. Fatigue crack propagation from small cracks

The fatigue life of the laser clad specimen was considered to

consist of crack propagation from an initial to final crack size using
substrate half-thickness as the failure criterion. This will require
modeling of short cracks ranging from 10 lm to 1 mm to predict
fatigue lives especially at lower applied stress range near the
threshold region. The plasticity induced crack closure method
developed by Newman et al. [14] for propagation of small cracks
in AISI 4340 steel was employed in this paper. The crack closure
model was previously employed for predicting fatigue life for AISI
4340 single notch tension specimen and compared well with
experimental crack growth data from Swain et al. [15]. This crack
closure method will be employed in this study. The crack growth
rate of small cracks can be modeled by considering the
plasticity-induced crack closure. Residual plastic deformations
behind and plastic zones ahead of the advancing crack tip prevent Fig. 13. (a) Finite element results plotted against a/c and curve fit equation for Mka
the crack from being fully open and an effective stress intensity and (b) Mkc.
range will be a more accurate representation of the crack driving
parameter. For small cracks, the effects of plasticity will be smaller The constraint factor a is an empirical parameter which accounts
or negligible so the crack will experience less closure effects result- for the three-dimensional constraint effects of the crack. This
ing in higher crack growth rates compared to large cracks. The parameter was determined via trial and error to fit crack growth
plasticity-induced crack closure was modeled using effective stress rate data with the effective stress intensity factor DKeff for different
intensity factor proposed by Elber [16] is given as R ratios. The values of the constraint factor suggested in [14] were
pffiffiffiffiffiffi 2.5 for crack growth rate below 5e7 m/cycle, 1.2 for rates above
DK eff ¼ ðSmax  S00 ÞF pa ð9Þ 2.5e5 m/cycle. For crack growth rates in between, the constraint
factor was linearly interpolated from the logarithm of the growth
S00
where Smax the max stress, is the crack-opening stress and F is the
rates. To account for plastic zone size correction, the cyclic-plastic
geometry correction factor. The crack opening stress S00 reported by zone length (w) was included to the crack length a. The estimate
Newman [17] for the case of R = 0 is given as for the plastic zone size with crack closure is
S00 =Smax ¼ ð0:825  0:34a þ 0:05a2 Þ½cosðpSmax =2r0 Þ1=a ð10Þ pffiffiffiffiffiffi
ðDK p Þeff ¼ ðSmax  S00 ÞF pd ð11Þ
where r0 is the flow stress and taken to be the average of the
ultimate tensile stress and yield stress. The ultimate tensile stress where d = a + x/4, F is the cyclic–plastic-zone corrected geometry
and yield stress for the 4340 steel used in the experiments and correction factor and Smax is the maximum stress. The cyclic plastic
modeling in this paper is 1021 MPa and 961 MPa respectively. zone x is given by:
 Y. Chew, J.H.L. Pang / International Journal of Fatigue 87 (2016) 235–244 241

Table 1
Curve fit constants for clad toe SESC Mk solutions along ; (in rad).

a/T Const. a/c = 1.0 a/c = 0.8 a/c = 0.6 a/c = 0.5 a/c = 0.3
0.01 C1 1.27 1.238 1.313 1.454 1.644
C2 4.962 4.946 4.44 5.546 2.12
C3 2.293 2.275 2.248 2.342 1.827
C4 0.1193 0.1162 0.1091 0.1326 0.02634
0.02 C1 0.8139 0.9181 1.176 1.091 1.405
C2 3.215 4.697 6.937 6.409 1.825
C3 1.645 1.8 1.894 1.857 1.234
C4 0.08415 0.09998 0.1279 0.1342 0.1232
0.05 C1 0.6111 0.6861 0.6888 0.6922 0.8092
C2 4.463 6.039 5.562 5.6 1.631
C3 1.323 1.393 1.39 1.392 1.042
C4 0.06111 0.09077 0.08832 0.1161 0.05995
0.1 C1 0.4426 0.5457 0.4976 0.5618 0.568
C2 4.195 7.701 5.454 6.485 3.075
C3 1.113 1.191 1.168 1.189 1.105
C4 0.03416 0.08568 0.06256 0.0841 0.02881
0.2 C1 0.3326 0.3547 0.3489 0.4296 0.4501
C2 5.702 5.441 4.336 6.973 3.932
C3 1.011 1.028 1.02 1.045 1.023
C4 0.02394 0.02854 0.02155 0.051 0.02355
0.5 C1 0.2555 0.316 0.3141 0.3714 0.2738
C2 8.518 10.34 8.823 11.47 5.048
C3 0.9196 0.9475 0.954 0.9566 0.9688
C4 0.01196 0.0008904 0.004523 0.01187 0.009794

x ¼ ð1  Reff Þ2 q=4
where Reff ¼ S00 =Smax and the plastic-zone size q based on Dugdale’s
model [18] is given by
q ¼ a½secðpSmax =2ar0 ÞÞ  1
The experimental crack growth rate data for 4340 steel was fit-
ted with the effective stress intensity factor DKeff using the con-
straint factor a and presented in a table form. The table gave the
crack propagation rate data in segments on the logarithmic scale.
The tabulated baseline DKeff with corresponding crack grow rates
for AISI 4340 plate specimens reported by Newman et al. [14] is
given in Table 2.
The experimental fatigue crack growth rates data in Table 2 was
used to determine the fatigue crack propagation equation
employed in this work. The terms in the crack growth equation
were based on the equation reported in [19] and given as below.
da=dN ¼ ci ðDK eff Þni G=H
h  3 i
G ¼ 1  ðDK eff Þth =DK eff
H ¼ ½1  ðK max =c5 Þ3 
where (DKeff)th refers to the effective threshold stress intensity fac-
tor, Kmax is the maximum stress intensity factor. Kmax is equal to
DKeff for load ratio R = 0. The ci and ni given in Table 3 are curve-
fitted constants for each of the linear segments in logarithmic scale
corresponding to the experimental data points given in Table 2. The
pffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffiffiffi
(DKeff)th employed was 3:2 MPa m and c5 ¼ 170 MPa m is the
fracture toughness under cyclic loading. The crack growth rate is
0 when K eff 6 ðDK eff Þth .
ð12Þ one side of the clad layer and coalescing to form the dominant
crack which continues to grow until the failure criteria was met.
The simplified case of five initial co-planar semi-elliptical surface
cracks (SESC) present along the clad toe was utilized to estimate
ð13Þ the fatigue lives of the clad specimens. The initial configuration
for the 5 SESC were estimated based on the fractured surface of
the laser clad specimen and shown in Fig. 14 where ai,s and ci,s were
the initial crack depth and width of the semi-elliptical cracks
respectively.
The crack tips interaction and evolving complexity of the merg-
ing co-planar crack fronts were simplified in the crack propagation
algorithm. Individual cracks were considered to propagate indepen-
dently using SIF solutions at the crack surface and deepest crack tip
locations until their plastic zones were in contact. Upon contact, the
adjacent cracks were re-characterized into a single crack. The re-
characterization rule for the new crack dimension was illustrated
in Fig. 15. The newly coalesced crack length is the sum of the crack
ð14Þ lengths and the new crack depth is the deepest crack depth of the
coalescing cracks at the point of re-characterization.
The developed stress intensity magnification factor term Mk for
semi-elliptical surface crack and edge crack are compounded with
the effective stress intensity factor in Eq. (14) to account for stress
concentration effects of the clad layer where DKeff,c = MkDKeff. For
completeness, the modified crack propagation equation is given as
n
da=dN ¼ ci ðMkDK eff Þ i G=H ð15Þ
Table 2
Effective stress intensity factor and crack growth rate constants for 4340 steel [14].
pffiffiffiffiffi
DKeff (MPa m) da/dN (m/cycle)

3.2 1.0e11
4.2. Fatigue life prediction model for multiple clad-toe surface cracks 3.75 5.0e10
5.2 2.0e9
7.3 7.0e9
The fatigue crack propagation of the clad specimen was 14.0 5.0e8
modeled by considering that the multiple cracks from the top 50.0 6.5e7
and bottom clad toe region propagated independently. The fatigue 108.0 1.0e4
life can then be estimated from fatigue cracks propagating beneath
242 Y. Chew, J.H.L. Pang / International Journal of Fatigue 87 (2016) 235–244

Table 3
Constants for the fatigue crack propagation equation.
pffiffiffiffiffi
DKeff (MPa m) ci in Eq. (14) ni in Eq. (14)

3.2  
3.75 3.47e24 24.67
5.2 1.839e12 4.241
7.3 4.537e12 3.693
14.0 1.732e11 3.019
50.0 2.452e10 2.015
108.0 5.045e18 6.539

h  3 i Fig. 15. Re-characterization rule for coalescing semi-elliptical surface cracks.

G ¼ 1  ðDK eff Þth =MkDK eff
h i
H ¼ 1  ðK max =c5 Þ3
The values of the constants in Eq. (15) can be found in Table 3.
The crack growth algorithm advances the semi-elliptical crack tip
at the intersection with the surface (; = 0°) and at the deepest crack
depth location (; = 90°) using clad toe Mka and Mkc solutions given
in the Eqs. (6a) and (6b) respectively. After the surface cracks are
considered to transit into an edge crack, the Mk factor solution
for edge crack in Eq. (7) was used.
The fatigue crack growth algorithm propagates the crack tips
incrementally in each step from the initial crack size until the crack
depth is half the substrate thickness. The initial crack size of the
semi-elliptical crack was calculated using the expression suggested
by El Haddad et al. [20]. As the applied nominal stress approaches
the fatigue limit, the crack size approaches the initial non-
propagating crack size at the threshold stress intensity range. A
similar conclusion for the length of the initial non-propagating
short crack was arrived by Yates and Brown [21] using the Kita-
gawa–Takahashi diagram. The equation for the initial crack size
expressed in terms of the effective stress intensity factor and
including the magnification factor is given as
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ðDK eff Þth ¼ UMka Smax F pai;s
 2
1 ðDK eff Þth
ai;s ¼
p UMka Smax F
where U = (1  Reff) is the crack closure, ai,s is the initial crack depth
of the SESC, F is the geometry correction factor depending on the
crack configuration and (DKeff)th is the fatigue threshold stress
intensity factor for short cracks. Eq. (16b) is obtained from rearrang-
ing Eq. (16a) which relates the threshold stress intensity factor to
the initial crack size. For stress ratio R = 0, the maximum stress Smax
in Eq. (16b) is equal to the fatigue limit of the laser clad specimen,
defined as the fatigue strength with fatigue life greater than 107 -
cycle. The closure term is included in Eq. (16b) since the effective
stress intensity factor is used for all fatigue crack growth analysis
except in the first cycle where the crack is fully open. The initial
crack size was calculated using the laser clad specimen fatigue limit
at 320 MPa from experimental fatigue S–N curve results. The semi-
elliptical cracks initiating along the clad toe region were assumed to
be shallower due to higher stress magnification factor near the sur-
face. For instance, El Haddad et al. [22] observed initial a/c = 0.2 for
weld toe cracks of fillet and butt welds specimens and assumed a
constant crack shape throughout the crack growth. Beier et al.
[23] reported aspect ratio a/c = 0.3 for semi-elliptical cracks in their
welded joints specimens. In this study an initial a/c ratio of 0.3 was
used to determine the initial crack size of the SESC as ai,s = 10.6 lm
for crack growth analysis.
The flow chart of the multiple fatigue cracks propagation algo-
rithm is illustrated in Fig. 16. At the beginning of each propagation
step, the crack tips spacing between all the cracks were assessed to
determine which cracks will coalesce as crack growth steps pro-
gress. When the crack tip spacing meets the coplanar crack coales-
cence criteria it will be re-characterized into a single surface crack.
A crack was selected as the reference crack and is allowed to prop-
ð16aÞ
agate in the crack depth direction by daref = 0.01aref. The increase in
the number of fatigue cycles, dNref and the surface crack length
ð16bÞ increment, dcref were calculated using the crack growth equation.
The dNref value was used as input data to propagate the other
cracks independently. Each propagation step ends with updating
of all the crack dimensions, crack tip spacing, deepest crack depth
amax for checking failure criterion and cumulative fatigue cycle
count. The iterations will continue until the failure criterion
denoted by the final crack depth af is reached.

Fig. 14. Schematics of initial conditions for modeling fatigue crack growth of clad specimens.
 Y. Chew, J.H.L. Pang / International Journal of Fatigue 87 (2016) 235–244 243

4.3. Fatigue life prediction results

The fatigue life prediction results can be presented to show the

change in crack aspect ratio a/c against the normalized crack depth
a/T in Fig. 17 for the case where the applied stress is 400 MPa and 5
clad-toe surface cracks were modeled. The 5 surface cracks propa-
gate independently from their initial position before the crack tips
plastic zone for crack 3 and crack 4 comes into contact and the re-
characterization rule is applied to coalesce cracks 3–4, resulting in
a sudden drop in the transition of the a/c ratio after coalescence.
Subsequently, the merged cracks 3–4 will coalesce with crack 2
to form cracks 2–3–4. When crack 5 reaches the edge, the sum of
all the surface crack width is close to 0.9 times the specimen width
(0.9 W). Thereafter, cracks 1 and 5 will coalesce with cracks 2–3–4
and transit to an edge crack. The crack growth algorithm is able to
model the five initial surface cracks and its subsequent coalescence
and propagation to an edge crack which will reach fatigue failure
when the final crack depth, af (half substrate-thickness) is attained.
The predicted S–N curve from the fatigue model is compared
with experimental S–N curve results in Fig. 18. The numerical
result agreed fairly well with experimental data using the pro-
posed Mk factor solutions and simplified re-characterization rule
for coalesced cracks.
The predicted fatigue lives were conservative toward the higher
applied stresses range compared to the experimental results. One
possible reason is the conservative re-characterization model
employed for surface cracks and the transition criteria to an edge
crack. The re-characterization approach is also known as the no
interaction and immediate transition (NIIT) simplified method.
Lin and Smith [24] compared the crack growth for 5 coplanar
semi-elliptical cracks using the NIIT method with a step by step
automatic mesh regeneration of the propagating crack front for
each step using finite element analysis. They demonstrated that
interaction between adjacent cracks tips at close proximities is
limited to 5–7% and propagated almost independently before coa-
lescence. The simplified re-characterization criterion used is
expected to give conservative results since the transitional cycles
required for crack fronts to evolve from touching till until a single
coalesced crack emerged was not considered. However, this sim-
plified approach is considered to be prudent since most of the fati-
gue life will be spent prior to coalescence of the crack and
transition to an edge crack. Hence, at higher stresses, total fatigue
life is shorter and thus the predictions are conservative without
Fig. 16. Flow chart for multiple surface fatigue crack growth algorithm.
considering the fatigue life spent in the transitional cycles. The

Fig. 17. Plot of a/c against a/T and coalescence sequence of the semi-elliptical surface cracks.
244 Y. Chew, J.H.L. Pang / International Journal of Fatigue 87 (2016) 235–244
Fig. 18. Fatigue life prediction and experimental fatigue life for clad specimen.
experimental fatigue limits for clad specimen provided an initial
crack size using Eq. (16b) which gave reasonable estimates of the
fatigue lives at all applied stress range. Thus, the presented fatigue
crack growth algorithm based on fracture mechanics approach
using the Mk factor solutions for clad-toe surface cracks and edge
cracks was useful in predicting the fatigue life starting from multi-
ple surface cracks and transiting to an edge crack before final
failure.
Residual stresses effects were not considered in the fatigue
model. However, it may be possible to consider residual stress
effects on the fatigue test specimen using residual stress measure-
ments made after the wire-cutting process. Residual stresses
effects on short crack growth behavior is expected to increase
the short crack growth rate due to a higher mean stress effect dur-
ing fatigue crack propagation process. This will require detailed
experimental residual stress measurement work which is not
within the scope of this study.
5. Conclusion
A fatigue crack growth algorithm and model was developed for
multiple fatigue cracks propagating from the clad toe region of
laser clad 4340 steel specimens. The laser clad fabrication process
led to the initiation of multiple surface cracks arising from
untreated clad toe overlapping features. Fatigue crack growth pre-
diction studies require new stress intensity factor and clad-toe
magnification factor (Mk) solutions. Finite element model solutions
clad-toe surface cracks were developed for a range of crack depth
(a/T) and crack shape (a/c) ratios. The transition from surface crack
to edge crack requires clad-toe magnification factors (Mk) and this
is reported as well. The Mk factor solutions were applied to deter-
mine the effective stress intensity factor in a plastic-induced crack
closure model to propagate fatigue cracks from an initial crack size,
(calculated from the S–N curve fatigue limit stress) till failure
when the crack depth reaches half the thickness of the specimen.
The predicted fatigue lives for the laser clad specimens agreed
fairly well with the experimental S–N curve results. The proposed
model provided a useful approach toward predicting an estimate of
the total fatigue life of laser clad component which fail by multiple
surface cracks initiated from the overlapped clad bead features.
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