Int J Fatigue 11 No 5 (1989) pp 335-340

Effect of carbon content and

microstructure on near threshold
c r a c k propagation
M.T. Yu and T . H . T o p p e r

Near threshold crack propagation rate was measured for SAE1010, SAE8620, SAE1045
and SAE1080 steels in various conditions. The crack propagation rate was lower and
the threshold stress intensity was higher for the steels in the as-received hot rolled
condition than for steels in the cold rolled or quenched and tempered conditions.
Neither the as-received ferrite-pearlite nor the quenched and tempered martensite
showed significant changes in crack propagation rate or threshold stress intensity
with carbon content. Tempering temperature had a pronounced effect on tensile
strength and ductility; however its effect on threshold stress intensity was small.
There is no simple relationship between tensile properties and threshold stress
intensity. The threshold stress intensity of an upper bainite was close to that of the
as received ferrite-pearlite, while that of a lower bainite was close to that of the
quenched and tempered martensite.

Key words: fatigue threshold; crack propagation; microstructure; carbon content;

cold rolling; heat treatment; steel

Many engineering components contain manufacturing flaws
which in fatigue act as cracks and can lead to fatigue fracture
at low stresses. This has led to numerous investigations
concerning near threshold crack propagation and threshold
stress intensity. Under cyclic loading, the crack propagation
life at low stress intensities accounts for a major part of the
total service life of flawed components.
Chemical composition and microstructure are dominating
parameters in controlling the mechanical properties of steels.
Varying microstructure by carbon content and heat treatment,
a wide range of mechanical properties can be obtained
for engineering components. However some mechanical
properties, such as Young's modulus, E, are not sensitive to
carbon content or microstructure. H o w threshold stress
intensity and near threshold crack propagation rate are affected
by carbon content and heat treatment is an important concern
in selecting and processing steels. This is the topic of the
present study.
M a t e r i a l s and t e c h n i q u e s
The materials tested in this study were SAE1010, SAE8620,
SAE1045 and SAE1080 steels. The chemical compositions are
listed in Table 1. Carbon content varied from about 0.1% to
0.8%. The SAE1010 steel is a typical low carbon steel which
is widely used for plastically formed components. In this
study the steel was cold rolled to three levels corresponding
to thickness reductions of 22%, 56% and 76%. The cold rolled
steels are designated as B, C, and D respectively, while the
as-received hot rolled steel is designated as A.
The SAE8620 steel is often used for carburization. This
steel can also be quenched directly and tempered to get
martensite. The combination of high ductility and high
strength of low carbon martensite make it a good material
for many engineering applications. This steel was austenized
at 910C, quenched in brine and tempered at 200, 400 and
600C; designated T200, T400 and T600 respectively. A few
specimens were austempered at 440C to get bainite, designated
B440.
Medium carbon steel SAE1045 is widely used in automo-
tive and machine components which are subjected to cyclic
loading. In this study the steel was austenized at 843C,
quenched in oil and tempered for two and half hours at each
of 316, 482 and 649C (600, 900 and 1200F). These steels
are designated T316, T482 and T649, respectively.
To examine the effect of pearlite fraction and to compare
the near threshold crack propagation behaviour of a high
carbon martensite with that of low and medium carbon
martensites, a high carbon tool steel SAE1080 was also
included in this study. It was austenized at 788C, quenched
in oil and tempered at 316, 427 and 593C (600, 800, and
1100F), designated T316, T427, T593 respectively. A few
specimens, designated B305, were austenized at 788C and
quenched in a 305C salt bath for 15 rain. The steels in the
as-received hot rolled condition were designated AR. The
mechanical properties of the four steels in various conditions
are given in Table 2.
Centre notched crack propagation specimens were manu-
factured parallel to the rolling direction. The geometry and
dimensions are shown in Fig. 1. Specimen surfaces were hand
polished for ease of crack detection. A travelling microscope
with a 0.025 mm resolution was used to measure crack length.
Cracks were initiated under a fully reversed nominal stress
amplitude equal to about 60% of the yield strength. After
crack initiation, a zero-to-maximum sinusoidal cyclic loading
was applied. Loading frequency ranged from 10 to 60 H z
depending on load amplitude. Crack growth data were
recorded after a crack had grown 2 mm out of the saw cut
and had a total length (2a) of approximately 6 mm.

0142-1123/89/030335-06 $3.00 1989 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd

Int J Fatigue September 1989 335
 Table 1. Chemical compositions

Wt% (Fe remainder)

Steel C Mn Si P S Others
SAE1010* 0.10 0.34 0.007 0.02
SAE8620" 0.20 0.80 0.23 0.035 0.040 0.20 Mo, 0.50 Cr, 0.55 Ni
SAE1045"* 0.461 0.081 0.17 0.027 0.023
SAE1080"* 0.81 0.75

* f r o m Ref. 11
* * a n a l y s e d f o r this study

Table 2. Mechanical properties

Designation Yield Ultimate Area True Hardness

strength strength reduction fracture
(MPa) (MPa) (%) In (Ao/Ad

SAEI010
A 228 364 76 1.434 HB 86
B 441 476 66 1.08 HB 122
C 607 525 62 0.977 HB 160
D 717 689 48 0.649 HB 195
SAE8620
As-received 464 657 62.9 0.992 Rb 86
T200 1260 1477 54.8 0.794 Rc 44
T400 1142 1222 62.0 0.973 Rc 40
T600 853 897 70.0 1.21 Rc 30
B440 621 749 70.6 1.223
SAE1045
As-received 391 720 41.5 0.538 Rb 90
T316 1617 1984 11.4 0,103 Rc 52
T482 1049 1180 47,4 0.643 Rc 36
T649 644 794 63.5 1.007 Rc 20
SAE 1080
As-received * * * * Rb 97
T316 * * * * Rc 60
T427 * * * * Rc 50
T593 * * * * Rc 30
B305 * * * * Rc 55

* N o t measured in this study

high-to-low load interaction effect. All tests were performed

in air at room temperature.
Two methods were applied to measure crack closure: a
compliance determination by measuring the displacement of
the crack borders at the centre of the specimen with a clip-
90ozlO gauge extensometer of gauge length 2 ram; and a compliance
determination with a strain gauge bonded on both sides of
\
22. Z3 rnrn the crack. The crack closure level determined by these two
22.86 mm methods was in good agreement. Since the strain gauge
method is more involved and gauges sometimes break during
116.84 mm
a test, the measurements were made mainly using the clip-
gauge extensometer.
Fig. 1 Specimen dimensions (requirements: thickness = 2.54
0.025 mm, concentricity =0.051 mm and roughness at centre
surface = 32-63
Results
Crack propagation rate da/dn is plotted against stress intensity
Except for geometry the ASTM E647 experimental and AK in Fig. 2 for the various conditions of the SAE1010 steel.
data reduction procedures were followed and a K-decreasing The crack propagation rate increases and the threshold stress
procedure suggested by Bucci 1 was used to minimize the intensity decreases as cold rolling (thickness reduction)

336 Int J Fatigue September 1989

 10-8 a (rm)
5C x 7.097
[] Z 420
0 7.763

40

-- 10-9
A3C

2C
Iyr.
I0

io'lC

0 I I I I
0 300 6OO 900 IL~O0 tSOO
Microstroin

Fig. 4 Crack closure behaviour of SAE1010-D at R = 0, measured

! by strain gauge A
I0 50
&K ( MPo mVz)

Fig. 2 Crack propagation rate against stress intensity for

SAE1010
iO-S
I .... Before reachinq threshold,o =3.94rnm
70 r At threshold, o = 4.23rnm

6t (f/
i

t | // o &

Displocement i I0 pm ,
7
Fig. 3 Stress against displacement measured with an exten-
someter for SAE1010-A at R = 0
i0 -I0
ARI
increases. Crack closure was measured for the cold rolled O AR?_
steels and the as-received hot rolled steel. Pronounced crack
AAR3
closure was observed in the near threshold region for the as-
V AR4
received ferrite-pearlite steel as shown in Fig. 3. However,
no significant crack closure was observed for the heavily cold
I I I I 1 I I I I i i ii
rolled steel D as shown in Fig. 4.
I0 I00
Four specimens of as-received hot rolled ferrite-pearlite
&K(MPo m~z )
SAE8620 steel were tested. Crack propagation rate d,z/dn is
plotted against stress intensity AK as shown in Fig. 5. The Fig. 5 Crack p r o p a g a t i o n rate against stress intensity range for
threshold stress intensity is about 8.4 MPa m 1/2. as-received steel

Int J Fatigue September 1989 337

 The tempered low carbon martensites T200, T400 and
T600 show a much lower crack propagation resistance than
the as-received ferrite-pearlite shown in Fig. 6. The threshold
stress intensity of the former is only about half of that of the 10-8
latter. Tempering temperature had only a small effect on crack
propagation rated da/dn and threshold stress intensity in spite
of its great influence on the monotonic yield strength which
varied from 853 to 1260 MPa.
The crack propagation rate in the austempered B440 steel
was much lower than in the martensites. The threshold stress
intensity of the B440 steel is about the same as that of the
as-received ferrite-pearlite steel.
The crack propagation rate for SAE1045 and SAE1080
steels in various conditions is plotted against stress intensity
in Figs 7 and 8, respectively. These tempered medium and '~ 10-9
high carbon martensites, like the tempered low carbon o"
martensite, showed a higher crack growth rate and a lower E
threshold stress intensity than the as-received ferrite-pearlite
of the same chemical composition. Crack closure was measured g
for both SAE1045 and SAE1080 steels. The steels in the as-
received condition exhibited a crack closure equal to about
one half the total stress intensity range in the near threshold
region. Crack closure stresses of both steels quenched and
tempered at a low temperature (T316) were negligible.
The threshold stress intensity is plotted against carbon 0 AR
content in Fig. 9 with open circles for ferrite-pearlite and IO-IO
solid circles for martensite. It clearly shows that the type of [] T649
microstructure strongly influences threshold stress intensity
level. The ferrite-pearlite steels show a significantly higher A T482
threshold stress intensity than the tempered martensites. For
T316
the same type of microstructure, ferrite-pearlite or martensite,

10 50
&K(MPo m 92)

Fig. 7 Crack propagation rate against stress intensity for

SAE1045 steel
10-8

there is no clear trend showing an effect of carbon content

on threshold stress intensity.
Threshold stress intensity of the tempered martensite is
plotted against tempering temperature in Fig. 10 for the steels
tested. The threshold stress intensity of the steels tempered
at high temperature (eg T600) is slightly higher than those
'= tempered at low temperature (eg T200).
"G 10.9 Steels quenched and tempered at medium and high
E temperatures have a high ductility in terms of area reduction
or true fracture strain as shown in Table 2. The ductility of
SAE8620-T400 steel is comparable to that of the as-received
ferrite-pearlite SAE8620-AR steel. The SAE8620-T600 steel
showed a much higher ductility than the SAE8620-AR steel.
Both the SAE1045-T482 and T649 steels showed a higher
ductility than the SAE1045-AR steel. However the threshold
stress intensities of these quenched and tempered martensites
i0 -I0 [] B440 are always lower than those of the as-received ferrite-pearlite,
no matter how great their monotonic ductility. It can be
T600
concluded that there is no simple relationship between
T400 threshold stress intensity and monotonic ductility.
T200
Discussion
T& I I I
I0 I00 It is generally agreed that the threshold decreases as yield
&K ( MPo mI/z) strength increases. 2 The results from the cold rolled steel are
Fig. 6 Crack propagation rate against stress intensity range for in agreement with this trend. Cold work increases strength
SAE8620 steel and decreases ductility. Under cyclic loading the plastic zone

338 Int J Fatigue September 1989

 10-8
6 -

&
no A A
:E 4 - []
[] 0 []
0
<1
A SAE86ZO
2--
[] SAE 1045
0 SAE 1080

0 I I I
b tO-9 -- IOO 500 500 7OO
Temperin temperoture (=C)
E Fig. 10 The effect of t e m p e r i n g t e m p e r a t u r e on t h r e s h o l d stress
intensity

additional crack opening stress intensity required to overcome

closure. Since cold work decreases the crack opening stress
level, the decrease in threshold stress intensity as cold work
increases is as expected. Kao and Byrnez reported a similar
)B trend for a high carbon steel They found that the threshold
IOqo _ stress intensity of a SAE1080 steel (austenized at 1090C for
)5
600 s, isothermally transformed for 17 h at 675C in an argon
~.7 atmosphere and furnace cooled) was 6.3 MPam 1/2. The same
heat treated steel was then cold rolled to a 75% reduction in
;6 thickness and the threshold stress intensity again measured.
A 30% decrease in AK,h was observed.
I Since the yield strength of the hot rolled steel increases
10 50
AK (MPo mI/z)
as carbon content increases, it was expected that the threshold
stress intensity would decrease with increasing carbon content.
Fig. 8 Crack p r o p a g a t i o n rate against stress intensity for The thresholds of the plain carbon steels investigated in this
SAE1080 steel study (not including low carbon low alloy steel SAE8620),
as shown in Figure 9, follow this general trend. However the
I0 effect of carbon content on threshold stress intensity is small.
O Fer rite- peedite When the carbon content increased from 0.1% for SAE1010
Mortensite to 0.81% for SAE1080, the threshold stress intensity decreased
8 zx Mortensite, Ref. 7
O
only 10% (from 7.4 to 6.7 MPamZ/2).
O The yield strength of martensite is strongly dependent
E
no 6 - - on tempering temperature. As shown in Table 2, the yield
strength of SAE1045 steel quenched and tempered at 316C
(T316) is 1617 MPa, which is 2.5 times that of the same steel
I I " quenched and tempered at 649C (T649). In spite of their
great difference in yield strength, the difference in the
A
2 A threshold stress intensity of SAE1045 steel in these two
conditions was less than 10%. The effect of yield strength (or
0 I I I I I I I tempering temperature) on the threshold stress intensity of
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 the quenched and tempered SAE8620 steel was also small.
Carbon content {wt%)
As shown in Fig. 9, carbon content has no significant
Fig. 9 The effect of carbon c o n t e n t on t h r e s h o l d stress intensity effect on the threshold stress intensity of tempered martensites.
When carbon content was varied from about 0.2 to 0.8%, the
threshold stress intensities fell into a scatter band varying
size r v, which is calculated as3 from 3.4 to 4.6 MPam ~/2. Cui and others s studied the influence
of microstructure on fatigue crack growth rate and threshold
rp=~ in high alloy tool steels with carbon contents varying from
0.64 to 1.55%. The steels were austenized and quenched and
will decrease as cold work increases the yield strength. tempered at various temperatures. The threshold stress
Consequently the crack closure induced by plastic defor- intensities for these steels are also plotted in Fig. 9 as open
mation 4,s should also decrease. Beevers6 suggested that ~K,h triangles. The variation of the threshold stress intensity of the
has two major components, AKI, and M(op, ie three high alloy martensites with carbon content is negligible
in spite of the large change in carbon content. From Fig. 9
M~,h = M~i. + AKop it can also be seen that the threshold stress intensity of the
w h e r e AKin is the
intrinsic or basic value of the stress intensity tempered high carbon high alloy martensite is lower than that
range required to produce crack extension, and ~Kov is the of tempered plain martensites.

Int J Fatigue S e p t e m b e r 1989 339

 A common characteristic of all tempered martensites is
uniformly distributed fine carbides. The space between these
carbides is generally very small and cannot be resolved under
an optical microscope. There are large numbers of carbides
in the cyclic plastic zone even at very low stress intensities.
It is assumed 9 that the strain at the tip of a propagating crack
reaches true fracture strain. Large plastic strains at a crack tip
may cause decohesion between these carbides and the matrix
forming microcracks. The growth and coalescence of these
microcracks will accelerate main crack growth, resulting in a
low threshold stress intensity. The volume of carbides will
increase as carbon content increases. The size of the carbides
will increase as tempering temperature increases. It seems that
near the threshold crack growth behaviour is not significantly
affected by either carbide volume or carbide size.
Conversely, a common characteristic of ferrite-pearlite is
a soft and ductile ferrite matrix. For hypoeutectoid steel the
free ferrite grain size is usually greater than the cyclic plastic
zone size at near threshold stress intensities. For eutectoid or
hypereutectoid steels, the interlamellar spacing is dependent
on undercooling, varying from a few micrometers to tens of
micrometers. 1 The cyclic plastic zone size at near threshold
stress intensities is about the same size as the interlamellar
spacing. When a plastic zone is confined to the soft and
ductile ferrite, plastic deformation will blunt the crack tip.
No microcracks will form in the ferrite plastic zone. Both
plasticity and roughness induced crack closure will increase.
Hence the threshold stress intensity is relatively high. When
the ductility is reduced by cold working, the highly deformed
ferrite cannot accomodate plastic deformation at the crack
tip, and the crack grows more rapidly.
Austempered SAE8620-B440 steel showed a much higher
threshold stress intensity than martensites of the same
composition. On the other hand austempered SAE1080-B305
steel did not show any significant improvement in crack
propagation resistance compared to tempered martensites of
the same composition. The different behaviour of the two
austempered steels may be related to their different distribution
of carbides. Austempered B440 steel is an upper bainite that
forms at a temperature just below that of pearlite formation.
The carbides tend to be elongated and form between ferrite
laths, areas to which carbon has been rejected during the
growth of the ferrite. 9 The austempered B305 steel is a lower
bainite which formed at a temperature close to Ms. The lower
bainite is composed of large plates and, analogously to plate
martensite, is often characterized as acicular. The carbides are
uniformly distributed in these plates and are much too fine
to be resolved in an optical microscope. The microstructure
of upper bainite is similar to ferrite-pearlite and lower bainite
is similar to martensite. Therefore it is reasonable that the
threshold stress intensity of B440 steel is close to that of the
as-received ferrite-pearlite and the threshold stress intensity
of B305 steel is close to that of the quenched-tempered
martensite.
Conclusions
The type of microstructure has a strong influence on
crack propagation resistance. Ferrite-pearlite steels show
a lower crack propagation rate and a higher threshold
stress intensity than martensitic steels.
340
In contrast to the tensile strength, which decreases
dramatically with increasing tempering temperature, the
threshold stress intensity of tempered martensite is not
significantly affected by tempering temperature.
For the steels tested in this study, the effect of carbon
content on the near threshold crack propagation rate
and the threshold stress intensity for both ferrite-
pearlite and tempered martensite is small.
Austempered SAE8620-B440 steel has about the same
threshold stress intensity as the ferrite-pearlite steel.
However, austempered SAE1080-B305 steel has a much
lower threshold stress intensity which is about the same
as that of the martensitic steels.
Crack propagation rates increase and threshold stress
intensities decrease as cold rolling increases.
There is no simple relationship between monotonic
properties, such as yield strength or ductility, and
threshold stress intensity.
Acknowledgements
Financial support of this work by G K N Technology Limited
is gratefully acknowledged.
References
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for near threshold fatigue crack growth rate measur-
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Measurement and Data Analysis, Pittsburgh, PA, October
29, 1979
2. Ritchie, R.O. 'Influence of microstructure on near-thres-
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Authors
The authors are with the Department of Civil Engineering,
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontari 0, Canada, N2L
3GI.
Int J Fatigue September 1989