Micronotches for studying growth of small cracks
Author(s) -
Wessel W.,
Mildner J.,
Pitz P.,
BruecknerFoit A.,
Wollenhaupt M.,
Baumert T.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
fatigue and fracture of engineering materials and structures
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.887
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1460-2695
pISSN - 8756-758X
DOI - 10.1111/ffe.12275
Subject(s) - materials science , intermetallic , microstructure , ellipsoid , superalloy , alloy , composite material , structural engineering , metallurgy , geology , engineering , geodesy
Abstract Well‐defined starter cracks at preselected sites in the microstructures are needed for systematic investigation of the characteristic features of microstructure controlled growth of small cracks. A kinked ellipsoidal micronotch with very high notch factor at the trailing kink is proposed, which triggers controlled crack initiation along the notch contour. These micronotches can be machined by femtosecond laser ablation with virtually no heat‐affected zone at the edges. Crack growth results obtained for an intermetallic γ ‐TiAl alloy are presented as an illustrative example.