The opening and closure behaviour of surface, corner and through-thickness cracks in thin notched plates of FeE460 (K,=2.5) and A15086 (K,=3.4) was experimentally studied. The cracks were initiated and examined under uniaxial fully reversed constant amplitude and two-step loading. Crack opening load values were measured during crack growth in notch sections with a nonuniform stress distribution using small strain gauges glued to the specimen surface, very close to the crack tip. The results represent a comprehensive set of experimental data for crack opening load values in dependence on crack lengths a, c and load level including the influence of overloads and covering all types of cracks.The results indicate uniform relationships between crack opening load levels and all crack types. Crack opening and closure occur at nearly the same strain level, which depends on the applied load level. The crack opening load values measured at large notched specimens differ from those measured at similar smaller specimens because of the different local stress gradients. NOMENCLATURE a = crack depth b = fatigue strength exponent c = fatigue ductility exponent, crack length of corner cracks 2c = crack length of surface cracks rn = exponent in crack growth law n = number of cycles n' = cyclic hardening exponent t = specimen thickness c = local stress E = strain p = notch root radius B = specimen width C = constant in crack growth law CA = constant amplitude E = Young's modulus K' = cyclic hardening coefficient K , = stress concentration factor N = number of cycles to failure R = nominal stress ratio R,,,,= yield stress 0.2% offset A, = elongation at fracture R, = ultimate tensile strength S = nominal stress A J = cyclic J-integral Indices a = amplitude cl = closure e = elastic eff = effective 1343 1344 i = initiation op = opening ov = overload p = plastic un = underload G. SAVAIDIS and T. SEEGER