A brief note on monotonic and fatigue fracture events investigation of thin-walled tubular austenitic steel specimens via fracture surface topography analysis (FRASTA)

The main objective of this short communication is to show the fracture progression in each loading case and complement knowledge about fracture mechanisms underpinning the tensile and fatigue performance of thin-walled tubes. For this purpose, the fracture surface topography analysis (FRASTA) method was used in the thin-walled tubular austenitic stainless-steel specimens. Two cases were analyzed: monotonic tension, and uniaxial fully-reversed fatigue. Furthermore, the fractures topographies were quantified through the profiles over their entire surfaces with the support of an optical confocal measurement system. The results showed the usefulness of the FRASTA method in identifying characteristic zones in the cracking process for the analyzed cases and motivates its development for other materials and complex loading cases.