Micro-mechanism associated with very high cycle fatigue crack initiation of advanced DQ&P processed steel

In the present study, very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) characteristics and properties of a direct quenched and partitioned (DQ&P) medium carbon (0.4 wt.% C) steel having ultrahigh-strength (UTS > 2 GPa) was investigated using an ultrasonic-fatigue testing technique (∼19 kHz frequency) up to ∼1010 cycles at the load ratio (R) of −1 (fully reversed tension-compression). The occurrence of crack initiation in the VHCF regime was observed at interior non-metallic inclusions. The microstructural changes following VHCF failure underneath the fracture surfaces near the crack initiation sites were further investigated through transmission electron microscopy. Formation of a clear nanograined subsurface layer adjacent to the crack initiating site at the interior inclusion was noticeably evident. The variation of average grain size (60 − 140 nm) and thickness (300 − 1200 nm) of nanograined layers at different number of cycles to failure were measured in detail. Apparently, localized plastic deformation caused the fragmentation of martensitic laths and hence, the formation of aforesaid ultrafine-grained layers in the microstructures.