In this work a method to estimate the high cyclic fatigue propagation life of steel specimens under constant loading is presented. This method is based in experimental evidence that the fatigue limit represents the threshold stress for the propagation of nucleated cracks, so that both the fatigue limit and the fatigue resistance depend on the effective resistance of the microstructural barriers that have to be overcome by the nucleated cracks. It is proposed also, that in those cases where the number of cycles that is necessary for the nucleation of the cracks can be neglected, the fatigue crack propagation life can be taken as an estimation of the total fatigue life. The high cycle fatigue propagation life of a structural steel of the type JIS 10C is estimated.
high cycle fatigue; microstructural barriers; microstructural threshold; mechanical threshold
