High resolution X-ray tomography of short fatigue crack nucleation in austempered ductile cast iron

High-resolution X-ray tomography with synchrotron radiation has been used to obtain observations of the early stages of fatigue crack nucleation in an austempered ductile cast iron. The stable short cracks nucleated in the stress concentration of a pore and arrested due to microstructure barriers. These observations demonstrate the potential for future applications of high-resolution tomography to fracture mechanisms research.