Author(s)

A. Hadrboletz, B. Weiss & R. Stickler

Abstract

The significance of the fatigue threshold for metallic materials A. Hadrboletz, B. Weiss, R. Stickler Introduction and Basic Considerations The fatigue threshold may be defined as the critical limit below which cracks cease to propagate under cyclic loading. As the fatigue threshold represents an important parameter in design and failure analysis much research effort has been devoted during the last decades to reveal underlying principles. The first case of a fatigue threshold referred to in the literature is the fatigue limit or endurance limit deduced from conventional S-N curves. This fatigue limit is currently still used as an essential parameter in design activities based on the so-called "total life approach". The high-cycle fatigue limit of polycrystalline metals and alloys has been defined as the threshold stress for propagation of small cracks which may have nucleated but did not grow further during subsequent cyclic loading at this particula

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