Fatigue Crack Growth in Ultrafine-Grained Copper Obtained by ECAP

Abstract

The propagation of long fatigue cracks in ultra fine-grained (UFG) copper obtained by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) is investigated in the mid ΔK range and in the near threshold regime. The crack growth rates in UFG copper are substantially faster than in coarse-grained (CG) copper. A huge influence of environment is observed, with growth rates faster of more than two orders of magnitude in air compared to vacuum. The crack growth mechanisms are discussed on the basis of microfractographic observations and the deformation texture.