High-cycle fatigue criterion for shape memory alloys based on shakedown theory

Based on a recently developed shakedown theory for non-smooth nonlinear materials, we derive a criterion for high-cycle fatigue in shape memory alloys (SMAs). The fatigue criterion takes into account phase transformation as well as reorientation of martensite variants as the source of fatigue damage. The mathematical derivation of the criterion is based on the requirement of elastic shakedown for a given structure to achieve unlimited fatigue endurance. Elastic shakedown is defined as an asymptotic state in which damage due to time-varying load becomes confined at the mesoscopic scale, or the scale of the grain, with no discernable inelasticity at the macroscopic scale. From an energy standpoint, elastic shakedown corresponds to a situation where energy dissipation becomes bounded and the response elastic after a certain number of loading cycles. A sufficient condition to achieve this state was established by Melan (1936) [1] and Koiter (1960) [2] for elastoplastic materials and later generalized to hardening plasticity by Nguyen (2003) and to non-smooth nonlinear materials by Peigney (2014). The latter formulation is applicable to SMAs obeying the ZM constitutive model (Zaki & Moumni, 2007) and is shown here to allow the derivation of a high-cycle fatigue criterion analogous to the one proposed by Dang Van (1973) for elastoplastic materials. The criterion allows establishing a safe domain in stress deviator space at the mesoscopic scale consisting of a hypercylinder with axis parallel to the direction of martensite orientation. The hypercylinder is delimited along its axis by two transverse hyperplanes representing bounds on admissible stress states consistent with the loading conditions for phase transformation. Safety with regard to high-cycle fatigue, upon elastic shakedown, is conditioned by the persistence of the macroscopic stress path, as the load varies and at every material point, strictly within the hypercylinder. The size of the hypercylinder is shown to strongly depend on the relative amount of martensite present in the SMA.