The Effect of Specimen Geometry on Fatigue Crack Growth Behavior in Metal Matrix Composite

An elastic-plastic two-dimensional finite element model was utilized to simulate the effect of the specimen geometry, i.e. type of specimen and the presence of the notch, on the crack tip deformation, CTD, and stresses and strains distributions around the crack tip in both the plane stress and the plane strain conditions. It was found that, the values of T-stresses and strains near the crack tip were significantly affected by the specimen type and the presence of the notch in both plane stress and plane strain conditions, i.e. thin and thick specimens. However, the analyses show that the presence of notch has a little effect on plastic zone size and shape and crack tip opening displacement, CTOD. The present results were employed to explain the main parameters controlling the fatigue crack growth, FCG, behavior in metal matrix composites, MMCs.