CORRECTING FOR RESIDUAL STRESS EFFECTS ON FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH RATES OF ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED TYPE 304L STAINLESS STEEL

Additively manufactured (AM) metal builds contain residual stress that can influence measured fatigue crack growth rates (FCGRs), which may then bias the interpretation of the performance of AM materials. In the present work, the on-line crack compliance (OLCC) method was used to determine the residual stress intensity factor, Kres, while simultaneously collecting fatigue crack growth rate data in edge crack compact (C(T)) specimens of both AM and wrought materials. Measured near-threshold FCGR data in AM 304L C(T) specimens appear elevated in comparison with data from wrought specimens over a range of applied ∆K. By quantitatively accounting for residual stress, the results for materials processed by the different methods are brought into good agreement, demonstrating the importance of accounting for residual stress when interpreting fatigue crack growth data in AM materials.
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