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Numerical simulation of fatigue fracture in gradient high-strength steel: effects of carbides and gradient structure on stress–strain response and crack propagation behavior

  • Metals & corrosion
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Abstract

Focusing on the joint effect of gradient structure and carbides, this work explores the stress–strain response of gradient high-strength steels under cyclic loading and their fatigue crack propagation behavior. We utilize the finite element method with a ductile damage model and the Hall–Petch effect to establish models for stress–strain calculation and fatigue crack propagation of gradient structure subjected to cyclic loading. The effect of gradient structure on the uniformity of stress–strain distribution and crack propagation is examined in detail. Differences between the models for crack propagation with and without carbides have also been compared. The results demonstrate that cracks initiate at the source and propagate perpendicular to the principal normal stress direction. Moreover, the presence of gradient structure significantly retards fatigue crack propagation, but the presence of carbides accelerates crack propagation. In addition, fine-grained gradient is found to be more effective than coarse-grained one in slowing down crack propagation, but they do not fully counteract the accelerating effect of carbide phase. The present simulation results are consistent with the relevant experimental phenomena. The joint effect of gradient structure and carbides depends on which has a greater impact on the rate of crack propagation. Numerical simulations of fatigue fracture in high-strength steels containing gradient structure and carbide phase in this study can be used to guide how to improve the service performance of high-strength steels.

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Data availability

The data will be available upon request to the corresponding author. The raw code required to reproduce these findings cannot be shared at this time as the code also forms part of an ongoing study.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China grant (Nos. 52031017, 52331002 and 51771234). Yi Kong and Yong Du are grateful for the backing of the State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy from the Central South University of China. The authors would like to acknowledge the High-Performance Computing Center of Central South University and the Hefei Advanced Computing Center for assistance with computations. Special thanks are due to Professor Alexander Hartmaier in Germany for his guidance on the simulation and analysis of results related to gradient structure.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Meichen Pan, Xiaoyu Zheng, Yi Kong & Yong Du

  2. Material Digital R&D Center, China Iron & Steel Research Institute Group, Beijing, 100081, China

    Li Yang

  3. College of Mechanical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang, 414006, China

    Hong Mao

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  1. Meichen Pan
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Contributions

MCP was involved in simulations, data analysis, visualization, and original draft writing. LY was involved in conceptualization and methodology. XYZ was involved in data curation, formal analysis, and original draft writing. HM was involved in methodology and review. YK and YD were involved in conceptualization, methodology, funding acquisition, writing review, and editing.

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Correspondence to Yi Kong or Yong Du.

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Pan, M., Yang, L., Zheng, X. et al. Numerical simulation of fatigue fracture in gradient high-strength steel: effects of carbides and gradient structure on stress–strain response and crack propagation behavior. J Mater Sci 59, 12757–12780 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-024-09907-8

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