Fatigue Crack Behavior of Stainless Steel 304 by the Addition of Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

Fatigue is the main source of almost half of whole mechanical failures. This research investigated the effect on cyclic fatigue behavior of stainless steel 304 (SS304) when including carbon nanotubes (CNTs) at the crack tip. The cyclic fatigue tests were conducted on compact tension (CT) specimens to establish the relationship between crack growth and the number of cycles (a-N). It is found that the incorporation of a small amount of CNTs increased the fatigue life of the SS304/metal. Micrographs showed that the enhancement in fatigue life is caused by CNTs dense arrangement around the crack tip, entangled with each other, and finer grain size. Smooth bonding at the interface of the CNTs and SS304 grains is also observed.