A multi‐axial low‐cycle fatigue life prediction model considering effects of additional hardening

It is generally accepted that the additional hardening of materials could largely shorten multi‐axis fatigue life of engineering components. To consider the effects of additional hardening under multi‐axial loading, this paper summarizes a new multi‐axial low‐cycle fatigue life prediction model based on the critical plane approach. In the new model, while critical plane is adopted to calculate principal equivalent strain, a new plane, subcritical plane, is also defined to calculate a correction parameter due to the effects of additional hardening. The proposed fatigue damage parameter of the new model combines the material properties and the angle of the loading orientation with respect to the principal axis and can be established with Coffin‐Manson equation directly. According to experimental verification and comparison with other traditional models, it is clear that the new model has satisfactory reliability and accuracy in multi‐axial fatigue life prediction.