Crack closure

Crack closure is a phenomenon in fatigue loading, during which the crack remains in a closed position even though some external tensile force is acting on the material. During this process the crack opens only at stress above a particular stress. This is due to factors such as plastic deformation or phase transformation during crack propagation, corrosion of crack surfaces, presence of fluids in the crack, or roughness at cracked surfaces. This provides a longer life for fatigued material than expected, by slowing the crack growth rate.