Crack Propagation in Metals and Alloys

1 Introduction2 Basic Concepts of Metal Fatigue and Fracture in the Engineering Design ProcessHistorical BackgroundMetal Fatigue, Crack Propagation, and Life Prediction - A Brief IntroductionBasic Concepts of Technical Fracture Mechanics3 Experimental Approaches to FatigueMechanical Materials TestingCrack-Propagation MeasurementsMicrostructural Analysis - Quantitative Analysis of Grain and Phase BoundariesReproducibility of Experimental StudiesSystematic Failure Analysis4 Physical Metallurgy of the Deformation Behavior of Metals and AlloysElastic DeformationPlastic Deformation by Dislocation MovementActivation of Slip Planes in Single- and Polycrystalline MaterialsCyclic Deformation of Metallic Materials5 Initiation of MicrocracksCrack Initiation - Definition and SignificanceMicrostructural Aspects of Crack InitiationCrack Initiation by Elastic AnisotropyInter- and Transcrystalline Crack InitiationMicrocracks and the Existence of a Fatigue LimitCrack Initiation in Inhomogeneous Materials - Metallic Foams6 Microstructural Features of Crack PropagationThe Abnormal Behavior of Microstructurally Short CracksTranscrystalline Crack PropagationSignificance of Crack-Closure EffectsShort- and Long Cracks: The Transition from Mode II to Mode I Crack PropagationIntercrystalline Crack Propagation at Elevated Temperatures - The Mechanism of Dynamic Embrittlement7 Crack Modeling and Life-Prediction Concepts Accounting for the Material's MicrostructureOverview: Short-Fatigue-Crack ModelsThe Model of Navarro and de los RiosNumerical Modeling of Short Crack Propagation by Means of the Boundary-Element MethodModeling Concepts for the Diffusion-Controlled Intercrystalline Crack Propagation at High Temperatures8 Implications and Potential of Microstructure-Based Material Concepts

Ulrich Krupp is Senior Engineer at the Institute of Materials Technology of Siegen University, Germany, and responsible for the research files fatigue and high-temperature corrosion of metals and alloys. He completed his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering there, and also obtained his lecturing qualification (habilitation) in 2004. He spent one year at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, in 2002 as a Feodor Lynen fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation. Hitherto, he has published over 110 scientific contributions in peer-reviewed scientific journals and conference proceedings. In 2005 his work was awarded by the Masing award of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Materialkunde.