Effect of Geometrical and Loading Parameters on Fatigue Crack Growth of Stainless Steel 316L

For their high mechanical characteristic (capacity resistance, hardness and impact resistance), the stainless steels remain not easily replaceable materials. This material can be used in significant fields such as the nuclear power, the storage of the chemical products. This work presents fatigue crack growth of austenitic stainless steel 316L at constant amplitude loading. The double through crack at hole specimen is used where the influence of dimension of hole, maximum amplitude loading and stress ratio are studied. The Nasgro model was used to prevent the fatigue crack growth. The effect of the stress ratio is highlighted, where one notices a shift of the curves of crack growth. The increasing of dimension of hole and the maximum amplitude loading decrease the fatigue life. Different situations permit to select the optimized hole.