Eufinger, JensJensEufingerBruder, ThomasThomasBruderHeinrietz, AndreAndreHeinrietzHanselka, HolgerHolgerHanselka2022-03-112022-03-112011https://publica.fraunhofer.de/handle/publica/373206Nowadays cast iron components are widely used in highly stressed structures. Component lifetime is strongly influenced by inhomogeneities caused by the material's microstructure and the manufacturing process (graphite particles, (micro-)shrinkage pores, inclusions). Inhomogeneities often act as a fatigue crack starter. Lifetime until failure may be divided into stages for crack initiation, short and long crack growth. Initiation of a crack of technical size (a ? 1mm) is often dominated by the growth of short cracks. The paper presents an approach to analyze the mechanically short fatigue crack growth based on elastic-plastic fracture mechanics. The application of the approach is successfully demonstrated for cast iron material EN-GJS-400-18-LT using data from fatigue tests, microstructure and fracture surface analyses to assess the fatigue life.enfatigue analysiselastic-plastic fracture mechanicmaterial fatigue620conference paper