Application of J-Integral to High-Temperature Crack Propagation: Part II—Fatigue Crack Propagation

On the basis of the successful results of our previous study on a J-integral approach to the creep crack propagation of steels, the applicability of the creep J-integral to the time dependent fatigue crack propagation in creep range was studied. A satisfactory correlation was obtained between crack propagation rate and creep J-integral, and the same correlation was found in creep crack propagation under constant load as well as two-step loading. It was also found that the cycle dependent fatigue crack propagation rate could be successfully correlated by the cyclic J-integral. The high crack propagation rate in large scale yielding fatigue may be in agreement with the straight line extrapolation on log-log plots of the linear elastic fatigue crack propagation rate versus cyclic J-integral data.