Fatigue crack initiation and growth behavior in a notch with periodic overloads in the low‐cycle fatigue regime of FV566 ex‐service steam turbine blade material

The effect of periodic overloads on crack initiation, growth rate, and fatigue life, within a notch stress field representative of a turbine blade root fixing, has been investigated. Bend bars made from FV566 martensitic stainless steel were extracted from the root of ex‐service power plant turbine blades and representative notches introduced. These notched plain bend bars were loaded plastically in the low‐cycle fatigue regime and were tested...