THE PLASTIC-DEFORMATION OF FRACTURE SURFACE CONTACTS IN FATIGUE

Based on the model of Beevers and Carlson, the stresses on the fractur e surface contacts in fatigue experiments are investigated. It will be shown that these stresses are often in the order of magnitude of the yield stress. Hence, for the consideration of contact shielding the si ze (area) of the contacts should be taken into account. Some experimen tal observations are presented, which illustrate that these stresses c an produce a plastic deformation of fracture surface contacts which ca uses a partial loss of contact shielding.