X-ray microtomography of fatigue crack closure as a function of applied load in Al-Li 2090 T8E41 samples

Crack closure is held to be responsible for very low fatigue crack growth rates in many alloys such as Al-Li 2090 T8E41, and early crack face contact during unloading or prolonged contact during loading seems to reduce the driving force for crack extension. High resolution x-ray computed tomography (i.e., microtomography) allows one to image the entire volumes of samples and to quantify opening as a function of applied load over the entire crack surface. Crack closure results are reported for a fatigue crack grown under load ratio R = 0.1 in a compact tension sample of Al-Li 2090 T8E41; the crack was free to choose its path unconstrained by side-grooves which are normally used to suppress crack deflection. The inter-relationship between crack path, crack face contact and applied load level are discussed.

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