Single-crystal indicators of fatigue and plastic deformation damage

Specially prepared thin single-crystal plates rigidly fastened to the sample surface area are shown to be effective as sensor elements (indicators and detectors) of the deformation damage of multi-phase commercial alloys under fatigue and static loading. It is proposed to estimate the lifetime and the strain of basic material by monitoring the geometric characteristics of band patterns on the detector surface. It is shown that density, direction of deformation bands and fractal dimension of band patterns on surfaces of indicators correlate with the number of cycles, maximum applied stress (fatigue loading) and plastic strain, temperature (static loading).