D. K. Rehbein,1 R. B. Thompson,1 and O.
Buck I
Fatigue Crack Characterization by Ultrasonic Inspection
REFERENCE: Rehbein, D. K., Thompson, R. B., and Buck, O.,
"Fatigue Crack Characterization by Ultrasonic Inspection," Journal
of Testing and Evaluation, JTEVA, Vol. 18, No. 6, Nov. 1990,
pp. 421-429.
ABSTRACT: The ultrasonic interrogation of components for the
detection and sizing of defects has advantages over other techniques
in that surface as well as subsurface defects can be probed. However,
the phenomenon of crack closure or crack surface contact can reduce
the detectability of a crack and lead to erroneous crack sizing. The
significance of crack closure is twofold: (1) It is important for the
interpretation of fatigue data, in particular as affected by the stress
ratio, by spike overloads/underloads, and by threshold effects. (2) It
affects the detection probability of fatigue cracks, which influences
strongly the capability for accurate life prediction. In the present
paper, the interaction of ultrasound with fatigue cracks will be dis-
cussed with primary emphasis on the first objective.
The experimental configuration of our ultrasonic measurements is
such that a fatigue crack is illuminated by a longitudinal wave incident
perpendicular to the crack face and focussed in the plane of the crack.
The longitudinal wave is partially transmitted by the closure zone
and picked up by another focussed receiver transducer. By changing
the angular orientation of this receiver, longitudinal or transverse
polarized waves diffracted in the closure zone can be detected. By
spectral analysis, translation of the sample with respect to the detec-
tion system and rotation of the receiver, one can monitor the fre-
quency, spatial, and angular dependence of the crack transmissivity.
These data are composed with a "spring" model, which replaces the
topological description of the closure region, providing the spatial
distribution of the average diameter, d, and average separation, C,
of the contacts.
From this contact topology and the "flow pressure" (three times
the ultimate tensile strength) of the material we deduced the residual
stress field in the wake of the crack. These results agree well with
X-ray diffraction measurements. Furthermore, we estimated the
"shielding" stress intensity factor using these results for a number of
fatigue cracks grown under a variety of loading conditions. If shielding
is taken into account, the effects of load excursions on fatigue crack
propagation can be estimated with reasonable accuracy.
KEY WORDS: fatigue, ultrasonic, crack closure, shielding
The growth of a fatigue crack is generally m o d e l e d in terms
of empirical rules such as the Paris law [•]:
daMN = A(AK) m (I)
where a is the crack length, N is the n u m b e r of fatigue cycles at
a particular stress intensity range AK, and A and m are material
constants. As originally formulated [2,3], the effective driving
1Ames Laboratory and Materials Science and Engineering Depart-
ment, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011.
© 1990 by the American Society for Testing and Materials
421
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force for propagation of a fatigue crack d e p e n d e d entirely on
the m a x i m u m and m i n i m u m tensile loads applied to the crack:
AKeff = Klmax --Klmin (2)
This is equivalent to a simple calculation of the m a x i m u m stress
intensity range applied to the crack. Since this is the m a x i m u m
possible driving force that could be applied to a crack, any de-
viation from this simple calculation due to deviations from an
ideal crack behavior will reduce the driving force and thus reduce
the crack propagation rate. A n ideal crack is defined here as a
crack that is fully open (i.e., there is no contact b e t w e e n the
crack surfaces for stress intensities equal to or above K~i,).
Recently, evidence has accumulated that the full excursion of
the applied load or the full stress intensity range does not drive
the crack tip forward due to a variety of p h e n o m e n a referred as
crack tip shielding. This shielding arises as a consequence of the
formation of contacting asperities b e t w e e n the surfaces of the
fatigue crack. A schematic showing these asperities and including
a sketch of the average static stress across the crack is given in
Fig. 1. Since these asperities bear a portion of the load when the
crack closes, they modify the stress intensity at the tip, thereby
altering the propagation rate.
The effect of the contacting asperities and changes therein on
the crack propagation has been labeled under the general term
crack closure. Originally this term described a nonlinearity in the
crack opening displacement as a specimen, containing a crack,
is cyclically loaded [2]. This nonlinearity is shown at point A in
Fig. 2, which shows stress intensity as a function of external load
Q for a fatigue crack. The nonlinearity occurs at a point where
I
1
CRACK . . . . .
1 1 " L- \o"
11 -o-,,1 I / o
I -~I-; 1
I .,J L.. REVERSED
I I PLASTIC ZONE
I
--'1 I--FORWARD
I PLASTIC ZONE
FIG. 1--Sketch of contacting asperities near the tip of a fatigue crack
and the stress fields around the tip.
0090-3973/90/0011-0421 $02.50
422 JOURNALOF TESTING AND EVALUATION

Klmax

_ _ __..~_K

Klel, Klop

Kith
J

Klmin
QM~r~ qMA×

EXTERNAL LOAD Q
FIG. 2--Stress intensity factor as function of external load.

the last contact opens upon loading, K, op, or the first contact
closes upon unloading, K~c,. For simplicity, these are shown in
Fig. 2 at the same stress intensity and load values, although
experimental determinations of K,c, and K~opdo not always occur
at the same point.
To date, the generally accepted calculation of AKe, depends
on these closing and opening values in the forms
AK;. = K,~ - Kk,
or
AK"of, = K~...... - K~op
It has since been suggested [4] and is shown in Fig. 2 that a more
appropriate measure of the effective driving force on the crack
tip may be
AKo,, = K, .... - K~s.
where K,~his the "shielding" stress intensity factor due to all the
contacts in the closure region which can extend over several
millimeters. Most likely, Klsh is smaller than either K~opor KI~.
It is the purpose of this paper to show that considerable insight
into K,shcan be gained by acoustic measurements and that there-
fore acoustics can provide information on the state of the crack.
Ultrasonic Measurements
It has been pointed out [5] that the ultrasonic interrogation of
components for the detection and sizing of defects has advantages
over other techniques in that both surface and subsurface defects
can be evaluated. Interrogation of a component with ultrasonic
waves involves injection of the waves into the material and ob-
servation of waves that are (1) reflected from a defect or outside
surface, (2) transmitted through a defect, or (3) diffracted from
points with abrupt change from contact to non-contact. In all
cases, the various types of ultrasonic response of a defect will
obey the laws of conservation of energy (i.e., the energy leaving
(3) the defect in the various forms--reflection, transmission, and
diffraction--must equal the energy that was originally incident
on the defect).
Detection and particularly sizing of a defect are normally ac-
(4) complished by measuring the ultrasonic energy occurring in one
of the aforementioned three processes. It has become clear, how-
ever, that erroneous results can be obtained due to the phenom-
enon of crack closure explained earlier. Contact of the asperities
in a crack face will contribute a larger amount to the wave trans-
mitted through the crack and thereby reduce the reflected en-
(5) ergy. These changes will reduce the detectability and lead to
crack size estimates that are too small [3].
This paper is concerned with transmission and diffraction mea-
surements of ultrasonic waves produced from a longitudinally
polarized wave normally incident on the faces of a fatigue crack.
The experimental apparatus is shown in Fig. 3. A fatigue crack
in a compact tension specimen is illuminated by a longitudinal
wave incident normal to the crack and focussed in the plane of
the crack. The longitudinal wave transmitted through the crack
is detected by a receiver placed coaxially on the opposite side of
the sample.
Diffraction measurements are obtained by tilting the receiving
transducer at the appropriate angle and shifting it the appropriate

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 REHBEIN ET AL. ON FATIGUE CRACK CHARACTERIZATION 423

CRACK
TRANSMIT ?riP,...., :: : ..:...--:..-:..-..:,.- :...:......,:. :.+..:.:...:.,:.

~: :: :.-.+::i.'+,+.++..++..:+2-+ +...:++.:.....:+:.:.:~.'.:.:-:
I.... Im
DISTANCE

K
O 0
FIG. 4--Sketch relating distance investigated to crack position.

1.2-

©
F- 4MHZ
n,
ILl 1.0 ~ ~ ¢ x ~, 6MHZ
,-r ~\ ,~, ---- 8MHZ
IlL
gl 0.8
o

z 0.6
o
RECEIVE REcEWE ;IP U)
I)tl;t;RAC~EO ¢$) 0.4
THROUGH
=8
TRANSMISSION o0
Z
< 0.2
FIG. 3--Arrangement o f experimental apparatus for ultrasonic obser-
vation o f a fatigue crack. 0.0 , , ~ , ,
6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

DISTANCE, MM
distance to receive the diffracted signal to be observed. Since
0.020 [ , 4MHZ
signals are diffracted at all angles in the solid by the contact
points, a study of the diffracted signals, both longitudinal and LU
rt
[ -f~
- - - 6MHZ

transverse, can be made. :~ 0.015 '/~ ' .... 8MHZ

A series of signals as a function of position is acquired from .~ ' ~ 12MHZ

a digitizing oscilloscope after the desired orientation has been - :' ."ii"
set. The frequency spectra of these signals are compared with a 0.010 ,/
that observed in a reference experiment where the beam is trans-
mitted through the uncracked ligament of the sample. This com-
'" ,','?",)5,t,,: i 'i ",
0 ,',' ' \,''~/'~+/ , ' ",''++" , '
parison removes most of the effects of the measurement system <
=
,,~ \// \ .\/ , . ,
and the grain boundary attenuation in the sample. The infor- tl. 0.005 ~f~'~/'*+
mation obtained by this deconvolution is then directly charac-
teristic of the crack topology at each position.
The experimental results at a given frequency are in actuality 0.000-
8 10 12 14 16 18 20
an average of the data in a 2 M t l z wide band of frequencies
centered on the specified frequency. In general, the data are DISTANCE, MM
taken as shown in the sketch in Fig. 4, where the zero distance FIG. 5--Ultrasonic response o f a fatigue crack grown with constant
position is in the uncracked ligament of the sample and distance ~K. Through-transmission (top) and mode-converted waves diffracted at
increases as the experiment proceeds deeper into the cracked 135 ° as measured from the transducer (bottom).
section with the crack tip approximately in the center of the
distance investigated. The actual length of the sample depends
on the transducer orientation. faces together. The enhanced diffraction in the vicinity of the
"Typical" results obtained from through-transmission and dif- crack tip can be used in conjunction with the residual stress
fraction experiments are shown in Fig. 5. The fatigue crack was determined from through-transmission to evaluate the number
grown using a constant AK of 14 MPa m 1~ in 2024-T651 alumi- density of the contacting asperities on the crack faces.
num, As shown in Fig. 4, the effect of the crack is present in Figure 6 shows plots corresponding to those in Fig. 5 except
the data on the right-hand half of each part of Fig. 5, leading to that the crack contained a block overload of 21 cycles duration.
reduced transmission in the through-transmission graph (top) The crack was again grown in 2024-T651 aluminum with a con-
and enhanced diffraction through the length of the crack (bot- stant AK of 14 MPa m u2. The crack was subjected to an overload
tom) but particularly in the region of the crack tip (10 to 14 mm). block of 21 cycles during which AK was doubled when the crack
In this case, the diffracted signals were measured at 135 ° as tip was at a position corresponding to a distance of 15 mm on
measured in a clockwise direction from the transmitting trans- the figure. The remainder of the fatigue cycling during retar-
ducer (Fig. 3). dation and subsequent growth was accomplished at AK = 14
As will be discussed later, the through-transmission curves can MPa ml~L It is apparent from the through-transmission figure
be used to obtain values for the residual stress holding the crack (top) that the overload has caused an increased amount of re-

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424 JOURNALOF TESTING AND EVALUATION

1.2 The model is based on the electromechanical reciprocity theory

Z 4 MHZ of Auld [7], which states that the change induced by a flaw in
_w 1.o ~ , --- 6..z the signal transmitted through the flaw, ~F, is given by
E "- ~-Z~- ~ .... 8MHZ
ILl 0.8 ----- 12MHZ
o \, (6)
0 ,, \
Z 0.6 \ ', \

where u2 and ~r~are the displacement and stress fields that would
be produced if the receiving transducer irradiated a flaw free
material, uT and T[ are the displacement and stress fields that
are produced when the transmitting transducer illuminates the
flaw, P is the electrical power in the transmitting transducer, and
0.0 to is the frequency. Integration is performed over the surface A
which has a normal nt.
DISTANCE, MM
For the present experimental setup as shown in Fig. 3, the
flaw signal produced by the crack has been approximated by [8]
I 4MHZ
6MHZ
ILl
a

I--
| - - -- -
0.05 •/ . . . .
/
/ --- --
0MHZ

12MHZ ,"
5F = ~ ],of ~(2u~- Au~),r~n(dA (7)

°il
0,04 t ,' / ; ,' '
¢~ X , '
where u~ is the displacement field of the incident illumination,
Au~ is the crack-opening displacement in the noncontacting areas
.i
of the crack due to the illuminating field, and n7 is normal to
U
< the crack surface. Thus three fields must be known to compute
the scattering due to the crack: %, u~ and AuT. In essence, from
previous work [8], the quantities ~ and u~ are well characterized
for a set of transmitting and receiving transducers. The major
0,00
V problem, and the thrust of the distributed spring model, is in
0 8 10 1'2 14 1; 1'!1 20 selecting an appropriate description for AuT.
DISTANCE, MM
In the distributed spring model, the partially contacting inter-
face, in the z = 0 plane, is represented by the modified boundary
FIG. 6--Ultrasonk response o f a fatigue crack containing a tensile conditions
overload applied at x ~ 15 mm. Through-transmission (top) and mode-
converted waves diffracted at 135" as measured from the transducer (bot-
tom).

sidual closure in the crack as evidenced by the increased trans-

mission at the position where the overload was applied. K~(u[ - u[) = ~; (9)
The diffraction results (bottom) exhibit a double peak in the
diffracted magnitude, The first peak (left-hand side) corresponds where the superscripts " + " and " - " refer to the two sides of
to the position of the crack tip. The second peak, deeper into the interface. The model is only valid where the wavelength of
the crack, is approximately at the position of the crack tip when the ultrasonic scattering being calculated is long compared with
the overload was applied but does not align perfectly with the the separation distance of the contacting asperities. The matrix
peak in the top figure. This may indicate that the magnitude of Kijrepresents a set of distributed, massless springs connecting the
the diffracted waves is sensitive to the direction of change of the two sides of the interface. For simple topologies, this matrix is
residual stress at a particular angle. Further studies are needed diagonal with Kxl and K22being contact-induced resistance to shear
to resolve this problem. and K3~representing resistance to compression.
Baik and Thompson [6] have developed a quasi-static model
relating K33 (hereafter abbreviated as K) to solutions of static
Quasi-Static Spring Model deformation problems for a variety of crack topologies, with K
A quasi-static spring model as developed by Baik and being basically a function of contact geometry. If one assumes
Thompson [6] is currently being used to reproduce the results normal illumination of the interface by a plane wave with dis-
obtained ultrasonically on fatigue cracks similar to those shown placement amplitude u~, then for a slowly varying K, the crack
earlier and from the model predictions to obtain values of critical opening displacement is
parameters for future growth, such as the shielding stress inten-
sity on the crack and the number density of contacting asperities. h u t -- ]toZ/2K u~ (10)
The quasi-static spring model replaces the crack surfaces with 1 + ]toZ/2K
planes connected by a distributed spring. The experimental re-
sponse of one of the crack faces to ultrasonic energy incident on where Z is the acoustic impedance pV.
the other face can then be modeled by adjusting the spring con- In through-transmission the acoustic signal produced by the
stant of the distributed spring. crack is given by

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 REHBEIN ET AL, ON FATIGUE CRACK CHARACTERIZATION 425

jo~f stresses. The model predictions were calculated using values of

1" = ~-~ A+ [1 + ja]-' u~'rR33dA
where c~ = o~Z/2K and [1 + ]c~]-' is the plane wave transmission
coefficient. After normalization with a reference signal generated
by transmission through an uncracked ligament, the resulting
ultrasonic signal is given by
FN S ~ 1 e-(~-xl)a/~.2
e J~(~--~O~i,o
where S is a normalization constant, w is concerned with beam
spot sizes, and 0 is the angle of the receiver with respect to the
transmitter axis, 0 ° for through-transmission. Equation 12 will
predict longitudinal through-transmission as well as diffracted
longitudinal and mode-converted transverse waves, depending
on the proper choice of c~.
As given earlier, (x = o)Z/2K with K being the only adjustable
parameter. For the data shown in Fig. 6 (top), excellent fits of
Eq 12 to experiment have been obtained [9] when K is repre-
sented by
K(X) = K0e ~ + K1
1 + [2 (x - ~)./-114
where the first term represents the decay in K at the crack tip
and the second models the residual peak due to the overload.
is the distance from the crack tip to the position where the
overload was applied, and ,/is the width of the overload region,
taken as the width at half amplitude of the peak in the trans-
mission coefficient. Equation 13 can also be used to model cracks
grown under constant AK conditions by setting K1 equal to 0.
A comparison of the model and experiment for the 6 MHz
results shown in Fig. 6 (top) is given in Fig. 7. As can be seen,
the model does an excellent job of reproducing the experimental
results, thus providing K values for use later in calculating residual
(11) 3,9 × 108 and 1.58 × 108 MPaX/-m for ~0 and K1, respectively,
740 m 1for [3, and a crack tip position of 10.33 mm. These values
were obtained by estimation from the experimental results.
Extension of the model to include the effect of discrete contacts
was found necessary to accurately model the ultrasonic response
of the contacting asperities on diffracted mode-converted trans-
verse waves. The continuous K model as presented in Eq 12
seriously underestimated the magnitude of such waves. Inclusion
(12) of discrete contacts was accomplished by modification of the
plane wave transmission term in the following manner [I0]:
+1 ~ +1 _ -E~l ~ N'rrC2) J
- - v~)~pCV~'(x-x~) l (14)
x ~-~1 z j 4 ( 1 E ( 1 - N ~ C 2) J
where V is the ultrasonic velocity of the diffracted wave, v is
Poisson's ratio, E is the elastic modulus, N is the area density
of the contacts, and C is the contact diameter of an individual
asperity calculated according to C = 8K(1 -- v)Z/NTrE.
(13) The results [10] of this modification are shown in Fig. 8. The
uppermost line (solid) is the experimental data obtained from
observation of transverse waves diffracted at 135 ° as a function
of position near the crack tip. The diffracted angle is measured
in a clockwise direction from the transmitting transducer. The
remaining curves are predictions of the model after modification
at various values of Contact separation. It is evident that as con-
tact separation increases, the model calculation approaches the
experimental results, allowing an estimate to be made of the
actual contact separation in the crack.
The values for K and 13developed earlier and the determination
of the number density of contacting asperities from the model
extension provide sufficient information to characterize the crack
contact topology. Furthermore, estimates of residual stress val-

1.2
P-
Z 6 MHz Results
UJ
1.0
O
II
II
UJ 0.8
O
O
Z 0.6
0
(/)
(/) 0.4

U)
Z
<[ 0.2
rr
I-
0.0 I I I !
i,ii
I r

6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

DISTANCE, MM

FIG. 7--Experimental results and model predictions at 6 M H z for a fatigue crack grown
with a tensile overload at x -~ 15 ram.

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426 JOURNAL OF TESTING AND EVALUATION

I I I j ---'T---
EXPERIMENT

lO-Z

/ "-
tl.l
c~ 10-3
D
I--- _/ - - x,\ -

< / N
"-. \

uJ 10-4
I--
Z
n"
LL
U- FIG. 9--Shielding stress of a single contact at a distance C from the
crack tip carrying a load Ps.
10-5

__ /7 0 ~\ --
\
/ \ which is identical to the results of Beevers et al. [11] for a strip
/ \ -
/ \ contact parallel to the crack front.
10-6 ] l L t \ t Based on the work of Haynes [12] and T h o m p s o n et al. [13],
I 2 3 4 5 further d e v e l o p m e n t has shown [14] that E q 16 can be integrated
DIST&NCE,mm using the first term of Eq 13 to obtain the total contribution of
the closure region:
FIG. B--Experimental response and model prediction of diffracted
mode-converted waves from a fatigue crack. Model prediction plotted at [ Ko l2 pM
various contact separation distances.
K,~. = rr [ k * E J N[3 ''2 (17)

where k* is a constant approximately equal 2 and PM is the "flow

pressure" of the material (taken as three times the ultimate ten-
ues and future crack propagation rates can be obtained, as dis- sile strength). In like manner, the average static stress can be
cussed below. shown as [15]

Results and Analysis ~o = ~ PM (18)

Crack Tip Shielding and Residual Stress

Consider a fatigue crack loaded so that it is in a completely
open state. As the load is decreased, the stress intensity factor
takes on the value of Kid as shown in Fig. 2 as the first row of
asperities parallel to the crack front comes into contact. As un-
loading continues, additional rows of asperities c o m e into contact
and the diameter of those already in contact increases due to the
increasing toad, P , that each contact carries. A n individual con-
tact of such a set is shown in Fig. 9. Each such contact produces
a stress intensity factor K~ given by
For a crack in 7075-T651 aluminum, with a yield stress of 500
MPa, the following values have been obtained [4]: K,s, = 6.8
MPa m 'j2 from E q 17 and Gro..... = 340 MPa from Eq 18. The
estimated residual stress is of the magnitude expected, since it
should be approximately equal to the yield stress of the material.
Using X-ray diffraction, Welsch et al. [16] determined the plane
stress residual stress distribution in 4t40 steel near the tip of a
crack. The m a x i m u m stress value obtained in their work was
about 60% of the yield stress, which is comparatively good agree-
ment with this calculation.

21/2 1
Kt- (wC),~ P~I + (z/C) 2 (15) Effect o f Overload Application
The application of a tensile overload on a fatigue crack is
where z is the coordinate parallel to the crack front. Assuming illustrated in Fig. 10 in its effect on the ultrasonic response. T h e
that the distance between neighboring contacts is C in both the crack in this case was grown at a constant AK of 12 MPa m in
x and z directions, superposition of the stress intensity factors with a 10 cycle overload being applied at twice the AK value.
of a series of such contacts yields the contribution to the shielding Two of the curves shown, one before and one after the overload,
stress intensity factor: were taken under unloaded conditions. The other two were ob-
tained at a static stress intensity of 80% of the Km,x value used
21/2Ap during the majority of the growth. A t the present time, it is
dKsh - IrBCln (16) assumed that this condition is sufficient to open the crack fully.

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1.2
I-- 1.0 L~'.'--..~---'.r-~.
Z
I/J -~.\ "-~.,~,.~
(J
0
(J
Z 0.6-
~ o.4-
z \
<
IlC
~.. 0.2 - .\,,,
0.0 , i
10 12 14
DISTANCE,
FIG. lO--Lffect of overload application on the ultrasonic response o f a fatigue crack in the unloaded
state and with a static load o f 80% o f the maximum K used during the majority o f the growth.
The response before application of the overload shows an
"apparent" lengthening of the crack by application of a static
stress intensity. This "apparent" lengthening is due to removal
of the closure near the tip of the crack. The actual crack tip
position corresponds to a transmission coefficient of 0.5 for the
statically loaded response curve before the overload was applied.
This curve as well as the two taken after the overload resemble
very closely the response of an "ideal" crack (i.e., a crack that
has no closure region and is fully open along the entire length).
The shift in the response in the curves taken after the overload
is due to the opening of a tightly closed portion of the crack by
the static stress intensity. This tight crack, whose length is the
distance between the two curves at a transmission coefficient of
0.5 (~1.3 ram), is essentially invisible to the ultrasonic wave in
the unloaded state. Examination of the fracture surfaces of this
crack confirmed the presence and approximate length of this
tight crack caused by application of the cyclic overload block.
The response of an overloaded crack during the retardation
period is shown in Fig. 11. This crack was grown with an overload
block of 5 cycle duration at twice the normal AK. All data were
taken after 67 000 cycles of fatigue had been applied during the
retardation period. The shift in the curves is again due to the
opening by the static stress intensity of a tightly closed crack
formed during the application of the overload. The overlaying
solid lines are data taken from an E D M slot to simulate an ideal
crack. Apparently, the fatigue crack data taken at K = 0 and
K = 33% Kma~retain a small closure region near the tip of the
open portion of the crack, since their agreement with the ideal
crack curves is not so good as that for K = 80% K ~ .
The interesting observation can be made that the opening of
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REHBEIN ET AL. ON FATIGUE CRACK CHARACTERIZATION 427
W/O OVERLOAD
.... WlO OVERLOAD K = 8 0 % K ~
. . . . . OVERLOAD
.... OVERLOAD K=80% K.~
, ,, ~ ,
, J
16 18 20
MM
this tight crack does not occur linearly with the magnitude of the
static stress intensity, at least according to the limited amount
of data shown here. Apparently, complete opening of the full
length of the newly produced crack occurs at some critical value
less than the maximum shown here. This type of behavior agrees
in concept with the sketch shown in Fig. 2, although this new
crack appears to be compressively loaded much more heavily
than a fatigue crack growth under constant AK conditions.
Figure 12 presents results from another crack after having been
exposed to a 10 cycle overload block. These results were taken
at a static stress intensity of 0.80 K~.~xat various times during the
retardation period. The transmission coefficient data as shown
in the top half of the figure are very similar in appearance with
only slight differences as a function of the number of fatigue
cycles after the overload. Data taken under conditions of zero
static stress intensity for the same number of fatigue cycles show
even less difference and are not presented here. The slight dif-
ferences noted in Fig. 12 (top) can be seen much more clearly
in the bottom half of the figure. The bottom graph has been
obtained by comparing each transmission coefficient curve on
top with the response from an ideal crack. If any of the actual
crack responses truly represented a crack in the ideal condition
(fully open), then that response in the comparison would be a
horizontal line in the bottom figure with zero deviation from the
ideal one. The magnitude of change from 0 is then an indication
of the amount of closure remaining near the tip of the crack. As
can be seen, the data taken 27 100 cycles after application of the
overload most closely approximate this condition and thus exhibit
the least closure. Thus comparison of the deviation of the re-
sponse after the four conditions shown from the response of an
428 JOURNAL OF TESTING AND EVALUATION

1.2 .

IDEAL CRACK
K = 0
!'- 1.0- K = 3 3 % K~x
Z
U,I K = 8 2 % K,,,x
t,3
I,k, 0.8
I1.
ILl
0
(3
Z 0.6
O
U)
U)
m

5 04

z
<
nc
I.- 0.2

v - -

0.0 ! 1 ~ ~
14 16 18 20 22

DISTANCE, MM

FIG. l l--Ultrasonic response of a fatigue crack during retardation showing the effect of application
of various static loads.

ideal crack shows that the amount of residual closure at the crack
tip is significant immediately after the overload was applied, goes
through a minimum after approximately 20 000 to 30 000 cycles
for this crack, and then increases as cycling is continued at the
original AK.
It is speculated that this behavior is due to equilibration of the
stress field around the crack tip. Application of the tensile over-
load changes the stress distribution around the crack tip, but the
duration of the overload may not be sufficiently long to allow
the new stress distribution to come to equilibrium. After re-
turning to the original AK, the stress field created by the overload
must come to equilibrium under the conditions then present.
Evidently, this occurs after approximately 25 000 cycles, result-
ing in a fully open crack under a static load of 0.80 K ..... Closure
again reappears at the tip of the crack upon further cycling as
the remaining retardation period becomes shorter. The delayed
retardation reported by various authors [17-19] may have its
cause in this equilibration of the stress fields around the crack
tip.
As was stated earlier, deviations from constant AK growth
change the contact topology considerably. Calculations from Eq
17 on a crack grown at a constant AK of 14 MPa m 1~2yielded a
value for KL~hof 6.8 MPa m ~j2` When this crack then underwent
a 21 cycle overload block at 2AK and subsequent cycling at AK,
the ultrasonic response showed behavior similar to that shown
in Fig. 6 (top). By assuming a strip-like contact at the location
of the peak in the ultrasonic response curve, the contribution of
this peak to the shielding can be estimated [20]. We have cal-
culated that the overload contributes 1.2 MPa m 1'2to the shielding
for a total/(is, of 8.0 MPa m l/2. Assuming that crack propagation
is controlled by the modified Paris law and using the shielding
values calculated after the application of the overload, it is es-
timated that the growth rate should be approximately 70% slower
after the overload. From crack length versus fatigue cycle data
taken during growth, the actual rate slowed by about 50%, which
is considered satisfactory agreement.
Condusions
Observation using ultrasonic methods of fatigue cracks before
and after application of a tensile overload has led to a number
of interesting conclusions. During the retardation period, acous-
tic interrogation of the crack in the unloaded condition reveals
the apparent removal of the closure region and transformation
of the crack into the fully open condition. In effect, the original
crack tip appears to have become blunted with the ultrasonic
response approximating that of an ideal crack. In actuality, how-
ever, static loading of the crack during retardation reveals the
presence of a new segment in advance of the original crack tip.
The presence of this new segment is corroborated by examination
of the fracture surfaces of the crack after destruction.
This new segment of crack created during application of the
overload is tightly closed, which makes detection in the unloaded
condition very difficult. Application of an external static load is
necessary for determination of the length of the new segment
and characterization of its topology. When compared with actual
ideal crack behavior, this new segment of crack appears to
undergo subtle changes during subsequent cycling that may allow
prediction of the remaining time in the retarded condition. These
changes can only be observed during application of external loads
sufficient to force opening of the new crack.
As shown previously, a residual peak in the transmission re-
sponse of a crack that has undergone a tensile overload occurs
at the position of the original crack tip when the overload was
applied.
Calculation of the shielding stress intensity factor before and

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 REHBEIN ET AL. ON FATIGUE CRACK CHARACTERIZATION 429

References
l-
z 1.2] . . . . . AFTER OVERLOAD
w [1] Paris, P. C. and Erdogan, F. J., Journal of Basic Engineering,
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[3] Buck, O. and Tittman, B. R. in Advances in Crack Length Mea-
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<
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o.2- "~-~..--~ [5] Silk, M. G. in Research Techniques in Non-Destructive Testing,
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12 13 14 15 16 17
[7] Auld, B. A., Wave Motion, Vol. 1, 1979, p. 3.
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,,J
[9] Buck, O., Rehbein, D. K., and Thompson, R. B. in Effects of Load
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a_
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[10] Rehbein, D. K., Thompson, R. B., and Buck O. in Review of
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< AFTER OVERLOAD
27,100 CYCLES [12] Haines, N. F., "The Theory of Sound Transmission and Reflection
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l',l -0.04- ---- 49,100 CYCLES Berkeley Nuclear Laboratories, Central Electricity Generating
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-0.06 [13] Thompson, R. B., Skillings, B. J., Zachary, L. W+, Schmerr, L.
12 13 14 15 16 17 W., and Buck, O. in Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondes-
tructive Evaluation, Vol. 2A, D. O. Thompson and D+ E. Chimenti,
DISTANCE, MM Eds., Plenum Press, New York and London, 1983, p. 325+
[14] Buck, O., Thompson, R. B., and Rehbein, D. K., Materials Science
FIG. 12--Effect of additional fatigue on response of crack with tensile and Engineering, Vol. A107, 1988, p. 37.
overload during retardation. Through-transmission results (top). Devia- [15] Buck, O., Thompson, R. B., and Rehbein, D. K., Journal of Non-
tion from ideal crack behavior (bottom). destructive Evaluation, Vol. 4, 1984, p. 203.
[16] Welsch, E+, Eifler, D., Scholtes, B., and Macherauch, E. in Resid-
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on future crack propagation rate provided satisfactory agreement tional Conference on Fracture, Vol. VI, Munich, Germany, April
1973.
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ASTM STP 436, American Society for Testing and Materials, Phil-
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and Palmer, D. D. in Advances in Fracture Research, Proceedings
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82. This work was supported by the Office of Basic Energy Press, New York, 1989, p. 3121.
Sciences.

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