Slip transfer and crack initiation at grain and twin boundaries during strain-controlled fatigue of solution-hardened Ni-based alloys

Slip transfer/blocking at grain and twin boundaries as well as preferential fatigue crack nucleation locations were studied in two solution-hardened Ni-based alloys (Inconel 600 and Hastelloy C276) deformed under strain-controlled, fully-reversed cyclic deformation in the low-cycle fatigue regime. Electron backscatter diffraction-based slip trace analysis was used to identify the active slip systems after interrupted fatigue tests. It was found that the Luster-Morris parameter m ′ = 0 . 6 was an accurate geometrical criteria to discriminate between slip transfer and blocking at grain and twin boundaries. Moreover, it was found that fatigue cracks initiation was always intergranular and cracks were nucleated at grain and twin boundaries when the slip transfer across was blocked. The probability of crack nucleation increased with the misorientation angle and was independent of the grain size. This behavior was associated with the development of stress concentrations at grain and twin boundaries as well as triple junctions in which slip was blocked and is different from previous reports on fatigue crack nucleation in Ni-based superalloys deformed, in which the slip system parallel to the TB in the parent grain was suitably oriented for slip. This contrast in the fatigue crack nucleation sites between both types of Ni alloys were attributed to the differences in the degree of strain localization and show how this factor controls damage nucleation in polycrystals.