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Plastic dissipation at the crack tip under cyclic loading is responsible for the creation of an
heterogeneous temperature field around the crack tip. A thermomechanical model is proposed in this paper for
the theoretical problem of an infinite plate with a semi-infinite through crack under mode I cyclic loading both
in plane stress or in plane strain condition. It is assumed that the heat source is located in the reverse cyclic
plastic zone. The analytical solution of the thermomechanical problem shows that the crack tip is under
compression due to thermal stresses coming from the heterogeneous stress field around the crack tip. The
effect of this stress field on the stress intensity factor (its maximum and its range) is calculated for the infinite
plate. The heat flux within the reverse cyclic plastic zone is the key parameter to quantify the effect of
dissipation at the crack tip on the stress intensity factor.