Fatigue behaviour of rope eutectoid steel wires

The fatigue behaviour of high strength eutectoid steel wires is dependent on the surface roughness and microcrack growth conditions. In this paper, Wohler diagram, fatigue thresholds and crack growth rate of rope wires are obtained by means of experiments. Assuming that surface defects are induced by cold drawing and already exist when cyclic loads are applied, it is possible to predict the fatigue limit and σ-N diagram of the examined wires in accordance with a Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) model. The values predicted are close to the experimental results