Micromechanical model of stage I to stage II crack growth transition for aluminium alloys

Stage I to Stage II crack growth transition is a kinetic process that is particularly studied in this work. Crack growth transition is modelled to occur when small fatigue crack growth is deterred by an effective barrier that reduces the crack growth rate to a minimum. Effective blockage of small crack growth due to barriers is characterised by pile-up of dislocations. Crack tip pile-up sliding displacement is formulated by adopting a continuous configuration of dislocation pile-up. Transition condition is quantitatively determined when a crack tip sliding displacement of Stage I cracks just meets a crack tip opening displacement of Stage II cracks. As a result, a dislocation-based micromechanical model is systematically developed that enables kinetic predictions of crack growth transition and growth rates of small fatigue cracks. Moreover, the concept of microstructurally-affected-zone is further interpreted in terms of local microstructure and load levels, leading to good explanations for scatters of small crack growth. All model-based growth rate predictions show a good coincidence with experimental results.