Fatigue Damage Evaluation by Diffraction Contrast Tomography Using Ultra-Bright Synchrotron Radiation

A three-dimensional grain mapping technique for polycrystalline materials, called X-ray diffraction contrast tomography (DCT), was developed at SPring-8, which is the brightest synchrotron radiation facility in Japan. The developed technique was applied to an austenitic stainless steel. The shape and location of grains could be determined by DCT using the apparatus in a beam line of SPring-8. To evaluate the dislocation structure in fatigue, the total misorientation of individual grains was measured by DCT. The average value of the total misorientation over one sample was increased with the number of cycles. In a grain, the change of the total misorientation was largest for the primary slip plane. The maximum change of the total misorientation in fatigue was larger for planes with larger Schmid factor, and the first fatigue crack initiation was occurred in a grain, which had the greatest change of the total misorientation.