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Fatigue crack growth in an aluminum alloy: Avalanches and coarse graining to growth laws

Ivan V. Lomakin1, Tero Mäkinen1,2,*, Kim Widell3, Juha Savolainen1, Sebastian Coffeng1, Juha Koivisto1, and Mikko J. Alava1,2

  • 1Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, P.O. Box 11000, 00076 Aalto, Espoo, Finland
  • 2NOMATEN Centre of Excellence, National Centre for Nuclear Research, A. Soltana 7, 05-400 Otwock-Świerk, Poland
  • 3Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aalto University, P.O. Box 11000, 00076 Aalto, Espoo, Finland

  • *Corresponding author: tero.j.makinen@aalto.fi
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Phys. Rev. Research 3, L042029 – Published 19 November, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.L042029

Abstract

In fatigue fracture the crack growth is slow and in many materials exhibits apparent self-similarity as expressed by the dependence of the growth velocity on a stress intensity factor that grows with the crack size. We study the intermittency of fatigue crack dynamics in aluminium alloys by optical tracking. A power-law distribution of crack tip jumps is found with an exponent close to two and a cutoff which increases with time or crack propagation. The cutoff is related to the crack velocity. We show how such a distribution evolves or coarse grains with the scale of observation or time window. The correlations of the crack propagation imply short-range memory effects in the underlying dynamics. Our results show universal features of fatigue cracks and how these lead to the crack growth and failure in material samples.

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Information

Phys. Rev. Research 3, L042029– Published 19 November, 2021
  • Received 30 March 2021
  • Revised 7 September 2021
  • Accepted 21 October 2021
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