Influence of Strain Gradient on Fatigue Life of Carbon Steel for Pressure Vessels in Low-Cycle and High-Cycle Fatigue Regimes

This paper discusses how the strain gradient influences the fatigue life of carbon steel in the low-cycle and high-cycle fatigue regimes. To obtain fatigue data under different strain distributions, cyclic alternating bending tests using specimens with different thicknesses and cyclic tension–compression tests were conducted on carbon steel for pressure vessels (SPV235). The crack initiation life and total failure life were evaluated via the strain-based approach. The experimental results showed that the crack initiation life became short with decreasing strain gradient from 102 to 106 cycles in fatigue life. On the other hand, the influence of the strain gradient on the total failure life was different from that on the crack initiation life: although the total failure life of the specimen subjected to cyclic tension–compression was also the shortest, the strain gradient did not affect the total failure life of the specimen subjected to cyclic bending from 102 to 106 cycles in fatigue life. This was because the crack propagation life became longer in a thicker specimen. Hence, these experimental results implied that the fatigue crack initiation life could be characterized by not only strain but also the strain gradient in the low-cycle and high-cycle fatigue regimes.