The investigation of crack growth in specimens with rectangular cross-sections under out-of-phase bending and torsional loading

Abstract The paper presents the fatigue test results of rectangular cross-section specimens made of 10HNAP (S355J2G1W) steel. The specimen height to width ratio was 1.5. The tests under bending with torsion were performed for the following ratios of bending to torsional moments MaB/MaT = 0.47, 0.94, 1.87 and the loading frequency 26.5 Hz. Nominal stresses were chosen for the equivalent stress according to the Huber-Mises hypothesis equal to 360 MPa. The tests were performed in the high cycle fatigue regime for the stress ratio R = −1 and phase shift between bending and torsion loading equal to ϕ = 0 and 90°. Crack initiation and propagation phases were observed on the specimen surface using the optical microscope (magnification 20×) with an integrated digital camera. The test results for the fatigue crack growth rate versus the stress intensity factor range for mode I and mode III have been described with the Paris equation.