Crack growth under thermal cyclic loading in a 304L stainless steel – Experimental investigation and numerical prediction

A thermal fatigue device has been built in order to submit a notched parallelepipedic coupon to cyclic temperature gradient in the thickness. It has been used to study the growth of this sharp notch during tests on an AISI 304L stainless steel. In particular, quantification of the crack growth has been carried out throughout tests. In addition, three-dimensional FEM analysis was performed: the calculation of the stress intensity factor, coupled with the use of the Paris law of the material has led to predictions of growth in good agreement with the experimental observations.