• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.15-22
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• 2003

The fatigue crack growth model is derived and the retardation model is proposed. The fatigue crack growth model considers the residual plastic stretch on the crack surface which results from the plastic deformation at the tip of fatigue crack. The fatigue crack growth rate is calculated by using the cumulative fatigue damage and plastic strain energy in the material elements at the crack tip. This model gives the crack growth rate in reasonable agreement with test data for aluminum alloy AL6061-T651 and 17-4PH casting steel. The fatigue crack growth retardation model is based on the residual plastic stretch produced from a tensile overload which reduced the plastic strain range of the following load cycles. A strip-yield model of a crack tip plasticity is used for the calculation of a plastic zone size. The proposed retardation model characterized the observed features and delayed retardation of the fatigue crack growth under tensile overload.