Fracture toughness:

Fracture toughness refers to a property which describes the ability of a material

containing a crack to resist further fracture.Fracture toughness is a quantitative
way of expressing a material's resistance to brittle fracture when a crack is
present. If a material has high fracture toughness, it is more prone to ductile
fracture. Brittle fracture is characteristic of materials with less fracture toughness.

Fatigue fracture surface:

Beach marks are macroscopic progression marks on a fatigue fracture or stresscorrosion cracking (SCC) surface that indicate successive positions of the
advancing crack front. They take the form of crescent-shaped macroscopic
marks on fatigue fractures representing positions of the crack propagation,
radiating outward from one or more origins. Beach marks are also known as

clamshell marks, arrest marks or growth rings.

Cycle Counting
Cycle counting is used to summarize lengthy, irregular load-versus-time histories
by providing the number of times cycles of various amplitudes occur. The
definition of a cycle varies with the method of cycle counting. In fatigue analysis,
a cycle is the load variation from the minimum to the maximum and then to the
minimum load. Cycle counts can be made for time histories of force, stress,
strain, torque, acceleration, deflection or other loading parameters of interest.
Cycle counting yields the amplitude distribution. There is no frequency
information contained in a cycle counting analysis. The result is the given
distribution of amplitude cycles without regard to frequency.
Level Cross Counting
One count is recorded each time the positive sloped portion of the load
exceeds a present level above the reference load, and each time the
negative sloped portion of the load exceeds a present level below the
reference load.
Reference load crossings are counted on the positive sloped portion of the
loading history. Restrictions on the level-crossing counts are often
specified to eliminate small amplitude variations which can give rise to a
large number of counts. To do this, filter small load excursions prior to
cycle counting. Or, make no counts at the reference load and specify that
only one count be made between successive crossings of a secondary
lower level associated with each level above the reference load.
Peak Counting
This method identifies the occurrence of a relative maximum or minimum
load value.
Count the peaks above the reference load level and the valleys below the
reference load level. Use mean-crossing peak counting to eliminate small
amplitude loadings. The most damaging cycle count for fatigue analysis is
derived from the peak count by first constructing the largest possible cycle,
using the highest peak and lowest valley, followed by the second largest
cycle, etc, until all peak counts are used.
Simple-Range Counting

Range is the difference between two successive reversals. The range is

positive when a valley is followed by a peak. The range is negative when a
peak is followed by a valley.
Count positive or negative ranges as one cycle if only one or the other is
counted. Count each as one-half cycle if both are counted. Eliminate
ranges smaller than a chosen number before counting.
Rainflow Counting and Related Methods
The previously mentioned counting methods are called one-parameter
methods. Rainflow and related counting methods are two-parameter
methods. Typically they preserve information about the mean value as well
as the amplitude of each cycle. There are several two-parameter methods.
If the load history begins and ends with its maximum peak, or with its
minimum valley, all of these give identical counts. In other cases, the
counts are similar, but not identical.
The following methods are similar to the rainflow methods:
Range-pair counting
Hayes method
Original rainflow method
Range-pair-range counting
Ordered overall range counting
Racetrack counting
Hysteresis loop counting