Key role of surface defects in the multiaxial fatigue life of additively manufactured unmachined 18Ni300 maraging steel

The study aims to estimate the role of surface defects in the fatigue life of age-hardened and unmachined additively manufactured 18Ni300 maraging steel and to verify the effectiveness of stress-based life prediction models. Axial-torsional cyclic loading paths involving in-phase and out-of-phase cases are applied. Scanning electron microscopy and micro-computed tomography are performed to detect the fatigue crack initiation sites and paths. The effectiveness of the classic models and a physics-constrained Gaussian process for regression in fatigue life prediction is estimated. Results show that the intrinsic orientation of the surface defects affects the fatigue mechanism by increasing the material sensitivity to axial stress. Additionally, the steel is insensitive to the phase shift between the axial and torsional loading components. The hydrostatic stress and the integrated shear stress amplitudes over the critical plane are pointed as the most effective load-related quantities for life prediction.