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International Journal of Fatigue 30 (2008) 13981408

International Journalof Fatigue

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfatigue

Analysis of fatigue resistance improvements via surface severe plastic deformation

K. Dai a, L. Shaw
b

b,*

a Quality Engineering & Software Technology, East Hartford, CT 06108, United States Department of Chemical, Materials and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, United States

Received 7 August 2007; received in revised form 9 October 2007; accepted 21 October 2007 Available online 4 November 2007

Abstract Numerical simulations have been performed to analyze the individual contributions of the nanocrystalline surface layer, residual compressive stresses, and a work-hardened surface region to the improved fatigue limit of a nickel alloy subjected to the surface nanocrystallization and hardening (SNH) treatment. The contributions of the nanocrystalline surface layer and work-hardened surface region have been separated from that of residual compressive stresses. The study suggests that the nanocrystalline surface layer and work-hardened surface region play a signicant role in enhancing the fatigue limit of the SNH-processed nickel alloy. In contrast, less contribution is provided by residual compressive stresses. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Fatigue limit; Surface severe plastic deformation; Nanomaterials; Residual stresses; Work hardening

1. Introduction Shot peening (SP) has been widely used in industry to improve the fatigue resistance of metallic components [17]. Recently, a new group of surface treatment techniques based on surface severe plastic deformation (S2PD) has been developed to further improve the fatigue resistance of metallic components [8,9]. There are several variants of S2PD; however, S2PD with high-energy ball impacts has received most of the attention because of their exibility in processing complex-shaped objects [8,9]. An example of this group of S2PD processes is the surface nanocrystallization and hardening (SNH) process [1012], which has been shown to be capable of enhancing the fatigue limit of a single-phase, face-centered-cubic (FCC), Ni-based HASTELLOY C-2000 alloy1 by 50% when
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 860 486 2592; fax: +1 860 486 4745. E-mail address: leon.shaw@uconn.edu (L. Shaw). 1 HASTELLOY and C-2000 are registered trademarks of Haynes International, Inc. The C-2000 alloy has a nominal chemical composition (in weight percent) of 23Cr, 16Mo, 1.6Cu, 0.01C, 0.08Si, and balance Ni. 0142-1123/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2007.10.010
*

compared with the counterpart without the SNH treatment [13]. SNH is similar to SP in that both processes entail repeated impacts of the workpiece surface by high velocity balls or shots. However, the impacting balls used in SNH (typically in the range of 510 mm in diameter) are much larger than shots in SP (normally $0.2 mm). As a result, SNH has a higher kinetic energy than SP [14], thereby producing a thicker work-hardened surface layer and a deeper surface region with larger residual compressive stresses than SP [14]. SNH can also generate a nanocrystalline (nc) surface layer if the processing time is long enough [15]. For the C-2000 alloy, a nc surface layer as thick as 50 lm has been observed when the SNH processing time is 180 min, whereas this nc surface layer decreases to below 5 lm if the SNH processing time is reduced to 30 min [13]. The ecacy of S2PD in enhancing fatigue properties has been independently conrmed by another research team recently [16], working on a 316L stainless steel. In this study, it is demonstrated that fatigue strengths in both high-cycle and low-cycle fatigue regimes can be improved by S2PD. Furthermore, additional improvements can be obtained by an annealing treatment after S2PD processing

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[16]. The observed improvement after S2PD processing has been attributed to the presence of a nanocrystalline surface layer and high dislocation densities in the work-hardened region, both of which increase the resistance to fatigue crack initiation [16]. It is well known that SP generates compressive residual stresses on the surface region of the workpiece [35,7,17 21]. This is also true for S2PD which also produces a thin nc surface layer, as mentioned above [15,22]. Furthermore, both SP and S2PD induce work hardening at the surface region [13,2325]. The fatigue resistance improvement induced by SP is generally attributed to the presence of residual compressive stresses at the surface region [35,7]. However, recent studies, conducted by Nikitin et al. [23] and Nalla et al. [24] by annealing the shot peened samples at a suitable temperature to relax residual compressive stresses completely while maintaining the work-hardened region, reveal that the fatigue resistance is also improved at the presence of the work-hardened region alone. Additional studies presented in [25] also unambiguously show that both the residual compressive stress and work-hardened region contribute to the observed improvement in the fatigue resistance of shot peened samples. In contrast, detailed studies on the mechanism of fatigue property improvements by S2PD are scarce. In fact, no quantitative studies have ever been conducted on the individual contributions of the nc surface layer, residual stresses, and work-hardened region generated in S2PD-processed samples. The work presented in this study is the rst attempt to separate the individual contributions of the nc surface layer, residual stresses, and work-hardened region to the observed improvement in the fatigue limit of SNH-processed samples. Finite element modeling has been performed to achieve this goal. It is hoped that through this study a better understanding of the individual contribution of each factor can be attained and a guideline can be provided for selecting the processing condition of SNH in order to achieve the best fatigue resistance. 2. Experimental work The as-received C-2000 alloy plates studied in this work were prepared by cold-rolling to the nal thickness of 3.2 mm and, subsequently, annealing at 1120 C for a complete recrystallization. Discs 49 mm in diameter were cut out from the as-received plates and cleaned with acetone and then ethanol. After cleaning, discs underwent the SNH process using a Spex 8000 mill. The disc was clamped in place via mechanical locking at one end of the cylindrical steel container of the Spex mill and ve WC/Co balls (with a composition of 94 wt.%WC6 wt.%Co) 7.9 mm in diameter were used to provide the desired impact on the surface of the C-2000 plate. The SNH treatment was conducted under an argon atmosphere and lasted for 30 min. The nc surface of the SNH-processed sample, as shown in Fig. 1, has been characterized in detail earlier [13]. AddiFig. 1. (a) A TEM dark-eld image from the very impacted surface of the C-2000 plate with 30-min of SNH processing, along with the corresponding selected area diraction (SAD) patterns taken from the entire region shown in the corresponding dark-eld image. Note that FCC polycrystalline rings are present in the SAD pattern, indicating that these nanograins are polycrystalline in nature with high angle grain boundaries between themselves [13], and (b) the microstructure of the C-2000 plate before SNH processing with the average grain size of $ 30 lm.

tionally, all other experimental details have been reported earlier [13,26]. Hence, it suces to be brief here. The TEM analysis has revealed that a nano-grained surface layer (less than 5 lm thick) has been formed with 30 min of SNH processing. The average grain size of the sample has been reduced dramatically by the SNH process from 30 lm (Fig. 1b) to 20 nm at the very impacted surface

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SNH-processed, nano-indent II SNH-processed, nano-indent I SNH-processed, HV

Hardness (GPa)

6.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 0 200 400

As-received, HV
600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600

Distance from the surface (m)

Fig. 2. Vickers hardness (HV) and nano-indentation hardness of the C2000 alloy SNH-processed for 30 min as a function of the location measured from the SNH-processed surface. The Vickers hardness of the as-received sample is also included for comparison. Nano-indent I has an indent size of about 13 lm along one of the Berkovich triangle edges, whereas the corresponding value for nano-indent II is 2 lm [13]. The higher hardness values of nano-indentation over the Vickers hardness are due to the well-known indentation size eect [27,28].

Fig. 3. The residual in-plane stress prole of the C-2000 with SNH processing for 30 min as a function of the position measured from the impacted surface [26]. Although not measured, a tensile stress eld should be present after the compressive stress eld so that the sum of all the stresses would be zero.

(Fig. 1a). The micro- and nano-hardness proles after SNH processing (Fig. 2) are consistent with the expectation, i.e., the highest hardness value is located at the impacted surface with a gradual decrease in the hardness as the position moves away from the surface. Note that the depth of the plastic deformation zone is about 800 lm, as indicated by the thickness of the work-hardened layer. Furthermore, there seems no sudden jump in the hardness at the boundary between the nano-grained surface layer and the workhardened region. Indeed, a more detailed study with a thicker nano-grained surface layer ($50 lm thick) [29] has conrmed that the hardness of the nano-grained surface layer is a simple extension from the hardness of the work-hardened region. The distribution of macroscopic residual stresses on the plane parallel to the impacted surface, determined by Xray diraction (XRD) via repeated alteration between material removal through electro-polishing and the XRD data collection, is shown in Fig. 3 [26]. Note that the residual stress distribution as a function of the position is very similar to that generated from shot peening with the peak residual compressive stress appearing at a subsurface region [3,1721]. Such a similarity is not a surprise because both SP and SNH rely on repeated impacts of shots and balls. The dierence between SP and SNH is that SNH has higher kinetic energies and thus can produce a deeper work-hardened region, larger residual compressive stresses, and a thicker nano-grained surface layer than SP [14]. In addition to the formation of a nc surface layer and introduction of residual compressive stresses and a workhardened region, SNH processing has changed the surface roughness, increasing the arithmetic-mean (Ra) value from 0.41 lm for the annealed sample to 5.50 lm for the 30 min processed sample [13]. Fig. 4 shows the applied stress ver-

700 650

30 min of SNH processing

Maximum stress (MPa)

600 550 500 450 400 350

As-received

105

106

107

Number of cycles to failure

Fig. 4. Four-point-bend fatigue tests of the C-2000 alloy (SN curve), showing improvements in the fatigue endurance limit by 50% after the SNH treatment [13].

sus fatigue-cycle-life (SN) curves for samples with and without 30-min of SNH processing [13]. As shown, the SNH process has improved the fatigue endurance limit by as much as 50%. The cross-sectional SEM images of fatigue-fractured specimens are shown in Fig. 5 [30]. It can be seen that all the crack initiation sites are located at some defects. For the as-received sample, this defect is an inclusion inside the specimen; while for the treated sample, the defect is WC debris at the surface due to the material transfer from the WC balls used for the SNH treatment to the C-2000 alloy [30]. The presence of these second phase inclusions can induce strain localization during plastic deformation, which in turn can promote crack initiation during cyclic loading [31].

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Fig. 5. Crack-initiation-site comparison of (a) the as-received sample failed under the maximum stress of 500 MPa, and (b) the sample with 30min of SNH treatment failed under the maximum stress of 700 MPa [30].

3. Model description The approach chosen for investigating the contributions of the nc surface layer, residual stresses, and work-hardened region is to perform a nite element modeling (FEM) study of each individual contribution to the stress and strain values at the specimen surface as well as the stress and strain proles within the specimen. To compare with the data from the four-point-bend fatigue tests, the computations are performed with a four-point-bend setup (Fig. 6). Only monotonic bending is simulated. However, it is well known that the strain localization eect usually increases dramatically under conditions of cyclic loading [31]. Therefore, it can be assumed that, on the basis of
10 mm 0 X Y 20 mm P/2 25 mm P/2 3.2 mm

P/2

P/2

Fig. 6. Schematic of bend loading in the simulation, which is identical to the four-point-bend fatigue setup [13]. Note that the origin of the coordinates is set at the top surface of the mid-section of the sample.

the results obtained from the strain localization in the case of bending, conclusions regarding the crack initiation under cyclic bend loading can be inferred. Such a strategy has been successfully applied previously to investigate the fatigue crack initiation near surface and subsurface cavities [32]. Therefore, a strategy like this can be justied here to investigate the trend of the fatigue limit because the fatigue limit is typically controlled by the number of fatigue cycles to initiate a dominant crack which could account for $90% of the total fatigue life [33]. Two assumptions have been made to simplify the analysis, which are (i) the increased surface roughness due to SNH processing has little or no eect on the fatigue limit, and (ii) the stress-strain behavior of nano-grains is similar to that of micro-grains except that nano-grains have higher ow stresses. Assumption (i) is supported by many experimental studies [34], showing that surface irregularities (e.g., scratches, etc.) up to a depth of about 10 lm have no eect on the fatigue limit of low strength materials like the C2000 alloy used in this study. The improved fatigue limit of the SNH-processed sample (Fig. 4) also suggests that the surface roughness with an arithmetic-mean (Ra) value of 5.5 lm for the SNH-processed sample is not a dominant factor in controlling the fatigue limit. Assumption (ii) is stimulated by the hardness measurement (Fig. 2) and a more detailed study [29], showing that the hardness of the nano-grained surface layer is a simple extension from the hardness of the work-hardened region. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the stress-strain behavior of nano-grains is similar to that of micro-grains. However, this assumption excludes the possibility of less ductility of nano-grains in comparison with micro-grains. Nevertheless, a better assumption cannot be made at this stage because of the lack of the ductility data for nano-grains. Clearly, this is one of the areas that need improvements in the future. The modeling eorts in this study are divided into two general steps. The rst step is to create C-2000 specimens numerically with and without the nc surface layer, workhardened surface region, and residual stresses. The second step is to subject these specimens to four-point-bend loading. In order to quantify the individual contributions of the nc surface layer, work-hardened surface region, and residual stresses, two hypothetical cases, as summarized in Table 1, have been investigated and compared with the cases of C-2000 with and without SNH processing. Specifically, Case I represents C-2000 without SNH processing (i.e., at the annealed condition), whereas Case II stands for C-2000 with SNH processing which contains residual compressive stresses, a work-hardened surface region, and a nc surface layer (that is a simple extension of the work-hardened region). Case III is C-2000 containing only a work-hardened surface region and a nc surface layer, while Case IV is C-2000 having residual stresses only. Note that Case III can also be interpreted as C-2000 containing a work-hardened surface region only because, as discussed previously, the contribution of the nc surface layer is

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Table 1 Summary of all the cases investigated in this study Case ID Case I Case II Case III Case IV Condition C-2000 without the residual stress, work-hardened surface region, and nc surface layer C-2000 with the residual stress, work-hardened surface region, and nc surface layer C-2000 with only a work-hardened surface region and a nc surface layer C-2000 with residual stresses only Plastic strain at the tensile side of the sample under the maximum bending load of 1311 N 0.025 0.000 0.00045 0.0142

assumed to be equivalent to that of a highly work-hardened layer. In principle, it is possible to numerically generate the proles of residual stresses and yield strengths within C2000 processed with SNH via simulation of multi-random impacts of the specimen surface by balls [12]. However, this approach is computationally intensive. Therefore, a thermomechanical simulation approach has been devised in this study to generate the residual stress and yield strength proles of the C-2000 specimen with SNH processing. Two sets of experimental data have been utilized in the thermomechanical simulation in order to generate the residual stress and yield strength proles. First, as shown before, the work-hardened surface region of the C-2000 alloy after SNH processing for 30 min is about 800 lm thick (Fig. 2). Second, it is found that if a plate of C-2000 is processed with SNH on one side only, the plate would bend, a phenomenon similar to that found in shot peened specimens [21]. The direction of bending indicates the sign of macroscopic residual stresses, while the radius of bending curvature reects the magnitude of residual stresses. For the C-2000 plate 3.2 mm in thickness with 30-min of SNH processing, the radius of bending curvature is found to be 126 mm. Fig. 7a shows the 2D mesh of a cross-section of the C2000 plate before SNH processing, while Fig. 7b shows the corresponding mesh after introduction of the residual stress, nc surface layer, and work-hardened surface region to one side of the C-2000 plate. Note that the C-2000 plate in Fig. 7b is bent after SNH processing and the radius of

curvature is 126 mm, equal to that measured in the experiment for the sample SNH-processed for 30 min. The bending in Fig. 7b is generated via the thermomechanical approach in which the top surface (i.e., the surface to be SNH-processed) and all the elements at the top portion 1000 lm thick in the mesh of Fig. 7a are rst xed at a temperature lower than room temperature, while all the other elements (i.e., the elements at the bottom portion with a total thickness of 2200 lm) are kept at room temperature. The surrounding temperature outside the plate is set at room temperature. Subsequently, the temperature constraint at the top portion of the mesh is eliminated to allow the entire plate to reach the ambient temperature. As the temperature of the top portion increases to room temperature, the top portion expands, causing plastic deformation in dierent regions of the plate and the generation of residual stresses as well as work hardening in the plastically deformed region. The thermal expansion coecient used in the thermomechanical model was 1.4 105 1/K, whereas the mechanical properties used were those at room temperature as described later in this section. Note that the selection of these properties was only for generating proper residual stress and work-hardened proles that were close to the measured values (Figs. 2 and 3). Thus, these properties provided the starting state for, but would not interfere with, the subsequent fatigue modeling. The thermomechanical simulation approach described above, which can generate the bending curvature identical to that measured experimentally, has been utilized to produce residual stress and work-hardened proles in the C-

Fig. 7. (a) Two-dimensional mesh of a cross-section of the C-2000 plate before SNH processing, and (b) the corresponding mesh after SNH processing on the top surface of the plate for 30 min. The resulting radius of curvature after SNH processing is 126 mm.

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X-Stress (MPa)

2000 sample with SNH processing on both sides of the plate. Specically, the elements on both top and bottom portions with a thickness of 1000 lm are set below room temperature, while the elements at the central region of the plate are kept at room temperature which is the same as the environmental temperature. The temperature constraint on the top and bottom portions is subsequently eliminated to allow the entire sample to reach the ambient temperature. The so-generated residual stresses, the value of plastic strain, and the yield strength prole within the C-2000 sample with SNH processing on both sides of the plate for 30 min are shown in Fig. 8. A comparison of the modeling result with the experimental data (Figs. 2 and 3) reveals that the general trends of the modeled work-hardened layer and residual stresses are similar to the experimental although details are dierent. This is not a surprise at all because it has been shown previously that dierent residual stress proles can correspond to the same bending curvature [35]. Nevertheless, the trends obtained are consistent with the expectation, that is, the SNH-processed surface region has compressive residual stresses and a higher degree of work hardening (Figs. 2 and 3). Furthermore, the thickness of the substantially work-hardened surface region is about 800 lm for both modeling and experiments. Therefore, the simulation based on these modeled residual stress and work-hardened proles should provide valid trends regarding the individual contributions of residual stresses, a work-hardened surface region, and a nc surfaced layer to the improved fatigue limit. The samples with and without SNH processing created via the thermomechanical modeling are subsequently subjected to four-point-bend loading. The four-point-bending setup simulated in this study (Fig. 6) is identical to the four-point-bending fatigue setup used in the experiment on the SNH-processed C-2000 [13]. In the previous fatigue experiment [13] the maximum stress on the surface, rmax, was calculated using the following equation: rmax 3Pl 4bd 2 1

0.014 0.013

Plastic X-Strain

0.012 0.011 0.010 0.009 0.008 0.007 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

Distance from the top surface, Y (mm)

560

Yield Strength (MPa)

520

480

440

400 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

Distance from the top surface, Y (mm)

600 400 200 0 0 -200 -400 -600 -800 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

where l is the distance of the outer span, b the width of the plate, d the thickness of the plate, and P/2 the maximum load on each loading pin (see Fig. 6). Eq. (1) denes that in the case of no residual stresses and a uniform yield strength within the plate, rmax = 600 MPa when P = 1311 N for the given specimen dimensions and fatigue setup shown in Fig. 6. Note that this maximum stress is obtained with the assumption of elastic deformation throughout the sample during cyclic bending [13]. Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 4, the fatigue limit for the C-2000 alloy without SNH processing is 400 MPa which is improved to 600 MPa after SNH processing for 30 min [13]. Thus, the maximum bend stresses of 400 and 600 MPa are of special interest and will be investigated closely in this study. The modeling is carried out using the ANSYS commercial nite element package ANSYS. Plane stress element (PLANE42) is used for structural analysis, and 2D element

Distance from the top surface, Y (mm)

Fig. 8. Proles of (a) plastic strain, (b) yield strengths, and (c) residual Xstresses of at the mid-section (i.e., X = 0) for the C-2000 alloy with SNH processing on both sides of the plate, generated using the thermomechanical simulation approach (see Fig. 6 for the coordinate system).

(PLANE55) for thermal analysis. The input properties for the C-2000 alloy are determined experimentally from tensile tests and summarized below. The Youngs modulus and Poissons ratio are 200 GPa and 0.3, respectively. The initial yield strength is 400 MPa, and the plastic true stressstrain behavior is divided into two segments,

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depending on the range of strains, as shown in Eqs. (2) and (3). r 2015e 396 r 1826e
0:47

MPa for 0:002 < e < 0:08 for e P 0:08

2 3

MPa

4. Model application and discussion 4.1. C-2000 samples at the annealed condition Fig. 9 shows the X-stress and plastic X-strain proles of the C-2000 sample without any residual stresses and workhardened surface layer (i.e., Case I in Table 1) under the four-point bend loading of 1311 N (which leads to rmax = 600 MPa if calculated using Eq. (1) with the assumption of elastic deformation throughout the sample during bending). As expected, the stress and strain proles are antisymmetric with respect to the mid-plane (i.e., at Y = 1.6 mm). The top surface has compressive stresses, whereas the bottom surface has tensile stresses. Furthermore, it is noted that the entire sample except the midplane has undergone plastic deformation. The plastic

500 400 300

X-Stress (MPa)

200 100 0 -100 -200 -300 -400 -500 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

X-strains are 0.025 and 0.025 at the top and bottom surfaces, respectively. In contrast, if the bend load is 874 N (not shown here), the maximum stress on the tensile surface is 400 MPa and the entire specimen has only undergone elastic deformation. Note that the yield strength of C2000 at the annealed condition is 400 MPa and its fatigue limit is also 400 MPa (Fig. 4). These phenomena lead to two conclusions. First, it is well known that the fatigue ratio, dened as the ratio of the fatigue limit to the yield strength, rfat/ry, is less than 1 for most engineering alloys, but pure metals with few defects including commercially pure nickel normally have a fatigue ratio of 1 [33,3638]. Thus, the fatigue ratio of 1 exhibited by C-2000 samples at the annealed condition indicates that C-2000 samples, a single-phase FCC alloy, contain few defects. Second, no macroscopic plastic deformation has occurred in C-2000 samples at the annealed condition when the maximum bending stress is 400 MPa. However, when the maximum bending stress is increased to 600 MPa, as computed using Eq. (1), macroscopic plastic deformation has taken place in the sample (Fig. 9). Because the strain localization will increase dramatically under cyclic loading [31], it is expected that under the maximum cyclic stress of 600 MPa the C-2000 specimen will undergo more severe cyclic strain localization than the C2000 specimen subjected to the maximum cyclic stress of 400 MPa. Since cyclic strain localization is the most common and general cause of fatigue crack initiation in ductile materials [31], it is expected that fatigue crack initiation would be much easier for the specimen under the maximum cyclic stress of 600 MPa than the specimen under the maximum cyclic stress of 400 MPa. In fact, this is indeed the case observed experimentally because the number of cycles to failure for C-2000 samples at the annealed condition is reduced from more than 5 106 cycles for the maximum cyclic stress of 400 MPa to 9 105 cycles for the maximum cyclic stress of 600 MPa (Fig. 4) [13]. 4.2. C-2000 samples with SNH processing Fig. 10 shows the accumulated plastic X-strain and Xstress as a function of the position in the C-2000 sample with SNH processing for 30 min (i.e., the Case II sample in Table 1) under the four-point bend loading of 1311 N. Several phenomena are noted. First, no plastic deformation occurs at the tensile side of the specimen because the plastic X-strain at the bottom surface of the specimen (i.e., at the position of Y = 3.2 mm) is 0.0136 which is the same as that before loading. The plastic strain of 0.0136 before loading is generated from the thermomechanical loading (i.e., due to the SNH process, see Fig. 8). Although the deformation at the tensile side is still in the elastic stage, plastic deformation is about to occur because the tensile stress at the surface (Fig. 10b) is nearly identical to the yield strength at the surface (Fig. 8b). Second, substantial plastic deformation has occurred on the compressive side of the specimen, that is, the plastic strain at the top surface

Distance from the top surface, Y (mm)

0.02 0.015 0.01

Plastic X-Strain

0.005 0 0 -0.005 -0.01 -0.015 -0.02 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

Distance from the top surface (mm) (Y)

Fig. 9. (a) The X-stress distribution at the mid-section of the Case I sample as a function of the position, Y, under the bend loading of 1311 N, and (b) the corresponding X-plastic strain.

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0.014 0.012

1405

0.010 0.008 0.006 0.004 0.002 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

condition will also give rise to the fatigue limit of the C2000 alloy with SNH processing for 30 min. This is indeed the case, i.e., the fatigue limit of the C-2000 alloy with SNH processing for 30 min is 600 MPa (Fig. 4). Based on this analysis, it can be concluded that the improvement in the fatigue limit of the C-2000 alloy by SNH processing is due to the suppression of plastic deformation, which is made possible because of the presence of the nc surface layer, residual stresses, and work-hardened region induced by SNH processing. 4.3. C-2000 samples with only residual stresses or a workhardened surface layer In order to quantify the individual contribution of the nc surface layer, residual stresses, and work-hardened region to the improved fatigue limit, two hypothetical cases (i.e., Cases III and IV in Table 1) have been investigated. Case III is C-2000 containing only a work-hardened surface region and a nc surface layer, while Case IV is C2000 having residual stresses only. The fatigue properties of these hypothetical samples are inferred from the strain condition at the tensile side of the plate under the bend loading, as we have done with the C-2000 alloy at the annealed and SNH processed conditions. Fig. 11 shows the assumed work-hardened prole for the Case III sample before bend loading. The Case III sample has a work-hardened prole similar to that in the Case II sample (Fig. 8b), but without residual stresses. Shown in Fig. 12 are the X-stress and plastic X-strain proles of the Case III sample under the four-point bend loading of 1311 N. As expected, both the X-stress and plastic X-strain proles are antisymmetric with respect to the mid-plane of Y = 1.6 mm. The most important thing to note is the occurrence of macroscopic plastic deformation at both the top and bottom surfaces of the sample. The plastic

Plastic X-Strain

Distance from the top surface, Y (mm)

600

400

X-Stress (MPa)

200

0 0 -200 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

-400

-600

Distance from the top surface, Y (mm)

Fig. 10. (a) The plastic X-strain distribution at the mid-section of the Case II sample as a function of the position, Y, under the bend loading of 1311 N, and (b) the corresponding X-stress.

(i.e., at the position of Y = 0) has changed from 0.0136 to 0.004 under the bend loading of 1311 N, reecting a compressive strain of 0.0096 induced by the bend loading of 1311 N. Furthermore, the entire region from Y = 0 to less than 1 mm exhibits plastic deformation due to the superposition of the residual compressive stress and the external compressive loading. Third, the bend loading of 1311 N has altered the X-stress prole within the specimen substantially (Fig. 10b vs Fig. 8c). Such a change is necessary in order to counter-balance the external bending moment induced by the four-point bend loading of 1311 N. The analysis above reveals that the situation at the tensile side of the C-2000 plate with SNH processing for 30 min under the bend loading of 1311 N (i.e., rmax = 600 MPa if calculated using Eq. (1)) is similar to that of the C-2000 sample at the annealed condition under the bend loading of 874 N (i.e., rmax = 400 MPa if computed using Eq. (1)). Both of them only have elastic deformation, but are all about to have macroscopic plastic deformation. As discussed previously, such a strain condition leads to the fatigue limit of the C-2000 alloy at the annealed condition. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that such a strain

560 540

Yield Strength (MPa)

520 500 480 460 440 420 400 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

Distance from the top surface, Y (mm)

Fig. 11. The yield strength prole for the Case III sample with a nc surface layer and work-hardened region before bend loading. The yield strength of the nc surface layer is a simple extension from the yield strength of the work hardened region.

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K. Dai, L. Shaw / International Journal of Fatigue 30 (2008) 13981408

200

400

100

X-Stress (MPa)

X-Stress (MPa)

200

0 0 -100 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

0 0 -200 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

-200

-400

-300

-600

-400

Distance from the top surface, Y (mm)

0.0005 0.0004 0.0003

Distance from the top surface, Y (mm)

Fig. 13. Residual stress prole before bend loading for the Case IV sample with residual stresses only.

Plastic X-Strain

0.0002 0.0001 0.0000

500 400 300

-0.0002 -0.0003 -0.0004 -0.0005

X-Stress (MPa)

-0.0001

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

200 100 0 -100 -200 -300 -400 -500

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

Distance from the top surface, Y (mm)

Fig. 12. (a) The X-stress distribution at the mid-section of the Case III sample as a function of the position, Y, under the bend loading of 1311 N, and (b) the corresponding X-plastic strain.

Distance from the top surface, Y (mm)

X-strains are 0.00045 and 0.00045 for the top and bottom surfaces, respectively. Fig. 13 shows the assumed residual stress distribution within the Case IV sample that contains residual stresses, but with no pre-existing work hardened region and nc surface layer. The yield strength is assumed to be 400 MPa and uniform within the sample. In comparison with the residual stresses in the Case II sample (Fig. 8c), the value and prole of the residual stresses are slightly dierent because there is no prior plastic deformation and work hardening in the Case IV sample. However, the trend of the residual stress prole is captured. Thus, the fatigue response of the Case IV sample can be compared with that of Cases I, II and III samples, and should provide a valid trend in the individual contribution of the residual stress. Shown in Fig. 14 are the X-stress and plastic X-strain proles of the Case IV sample under the four-point bend loading of 1311 N. As expected, there is no symmetry in both X-stresses and plastic X-strains because of the presence of residual stresses before loading. The X-stresses are 440 MPa and 427 MPa at the top and bottom surfaces, respectively. Both these stress values are higher than

0.020 0.015 0.010

Plastic X-Strain

0.005 0.000
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

-0.005 -0.010 -0.015 -0.020 -0.025

Distance from the top surface, Y (mm)

Fig. 14. (a) The X-stress distribution at the mid-section of the Case IV sample as a function of the position, Y, under the bend loading of 1311 N, and (b) the corresponding X-plastic strain.

the starting yield strength of the sample (400 MPa), indicating the occurrence of plastic deformation on the both surfaces. In fact, the plastic X-strain prole (Fig. 14b)

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shows that nearly the entire cross section of the sample has yielded with the top surface having a compressive plastic strain of 0.0198 and the bottom surface a tensile plastic strain of 0.0142. Table 1 compares the plastic strains at the tensile sides of all the samples investigated under the maximum bend loading of 1311 N (i.e., rmax = 600 MPa if computed using Eq. (1)). It can be seen that C-2000 at the annealed condition (Case I) has the largest plastic strain, followed by C2000 with residual stresses only (Case IV) and then C2000 with a nc surface layer and a work-hardened region (Case III). C-2000 with SNH processing (Case II), which has the nc surface layer, residual stresses, and work-hardened region, has the smallest plastic strain. Since the strain localization will increase dramatically under cyclic loading [31], it can be inferred that the Case I sample would have the most severe cyclic strain localization because of its largest plastic strain under bend loading, and thus the smallest number of cycles to initiate the dominant fatigue crack. Since the fatigue limit is predominantly controlled by the fatigue crack initiation [33], it can thus be concluded that the Case I sample would have the lowest fatigue limit. Based on the same reasoning, it can be concluded that the Case II sample (i.e., C-2000 with SNH processing) would have the highest fatigue limit, whereas the fatigue limits of the Case III and IV samples would fall between the Case I and II samples. Three additional conclusions can be drawn from the analysis above. First, the nc surface layer, residual compressive stresses, and work-hardened surface region can all improve the fatigue limit. The positive contribution of the nc surface layer is consistent with the previous studies [39,40], showing that nano-grains can improve the total fatigue life. The improvement induced by residual compressive stresses and a work-hardened surface region is also in good agreement with other investigations [2325], revealing that the residual compressive stress and work-hardened region can individually contribute to the improvement in the fatigue strength. Second, under the specic condition investigated here, the nc surface layer and work-hardened surface region are more eective than residual compressive stresses in improving the fatigue limit. Third, based on the two conclusions above, it can be stated that the improvement in the fatigue limit of SNH-processed samples is due to the combined eects of the nc surface layer, residual compressive stresses, and work-hardened surface region. 5. Concluding remarks Finite element analysis has been performed to analyze the individual contributions of the nc surface layer, residual compressive stresses, and a work-hardened surface region to the improved fatigue limit of SNH-processed samples. By analyzing the strain condition at the tensile side of the sample under bending, it is concluded that the improved fatigue limit of SNH-processed samples is due to the combined eects of the nc surface layer, residual

compressive stresses, and work-hardened region. Furthermore, the present study indicates that the nc surface layer and work-hardened region can play a more signicant role in enhancing the fatigue limit of SNH-processed samples than residual compressive stresses at the surface region. Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the nancial support by National Science Foundation through Grant No. DMR0207729. The insightful discussion with Professor Arthur McEvily at the University of Connecticut and Professor Peter Liaw at the University of Tennessee is greatly appreciated. References
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