Font Size: 

This  work  deals  with  crack  initiation  and  propagation  on  AISI  304 stainless steel undergoing rotating bending  fatigue  tests and  loading stresses close  the elastic limit of material.  Simulation results are obtained by Visual Nastran software in order to determine the numerical stresses and strains distributions inside the specimen; then,  this  information  is  used  for  the  experimental  set  up.  A  general  description concerning the experimental test machine and experimental conditions are developed in further sections. Later, experimental results are presented and discussed according the observed crack origin related to high stress zones. Finally, a simple model is proposed involving  the plastic strain at  fracture,  the crack propagation and  the total  fatigue  life for this steel loaded close to its elastic limit.