Notch Effect in Low-Cycle Fatigue at Elevated Temperatures—Life Prediction From Crack Initiation and Propagation Considerations

This paper describes the notch effect in low-cycle fatigue of an austenitic stainless steel SUS 304 at 873 K in air. Total strain range-controlled tests were carried out using a round unnotched and three round notched specimens. A prediction method for low-cycle fatigue lives of notched specimens was developed by predicting the crack initiation and propagation periods separately. To predict the former Neuber’s rule was applied and a nominal stress/strain criterion was developed to predict the latter. Failure lives, obtained by adding the two prediction lives, closely agree with observed failure lives.