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Many mechanical components under RCF exhibit a complex mechanism of failure due to the nature of the experienced fatigue loadings experienced. According to scientific literature the crack fracture morphology is very complex and the crack front is really tortuous resembling of a “factory roof type”. Crack propagation under RCF often occur in mode III or in mixed mode. In this paper the influence of friction and of crack surface roughness during contact loadings have been investigated both experimentally both theoretically. Fracture surfaces have been metallurgically analyzed after etching and an analytical friction model have been applied to estimate the local crack tip stress field as well as the estimate the effective crack driving force.
KEYWORDS. Friction; Rough crack; RCF loadings; Crack propagation.