The effect of cyclic prestraining on the fatigue life and the microstructural evolution of fatigued copper polycrystals

Almost all engineering materials undergo a mechanical pre-treatment during forming process. For this reason, the effect of prestraining on fatigue life and microstructure evolution was investigated at different stages of cycling up to failure. In this context, several specimens were tested under various plastic strain amplitudes in air and vacuum environments. The obtained results showed that the fatigue life is not affected by prestraining. In addition, microscopic analysis revealed that the characteristic dislocation microstructure of a virgin specimen fatigued at constant plastic strain amplitude is never observed after prestraining. Furthermore, the equiaxed dislocation cell structure tended to form very quickly with cumulative plastic deformation.