TY - JOUR A1 - Zerbst, Uwe A1 - Klinger, Christian T1 - Material defects as cause for the fatigue failure of metallic components N2 - The paper provides an overview on material defects which may serve as fatigue crack initiation sites and can cause final fatigue failure of a component. These comprise nonmetallic inclusions in Steel and aluminum alloys, cavities such as pores, micro-shrinkages and un-welded regions in cast, sinter and additively manufactured alloys, graphite nodules, shrinkages and other items in modular cast iron, regions of defective microstructure, microcracks and secondary notches such as undercuts and surface roughness. Besides their origin, the effect and mechanisms on fatigue crack initiation and propagation are discussed. The considerations are proceeded and accompanied by a Brief discussion of some Basic aspects such as the stages of crack propagation along their length scale, the overcoming of crack arrest and the question when a secondary notch can be treated as a crack. KW - Material defects KW - Fatigue strength and life KW - Non-metallic inclusions KW - Pores KW - Shrinkages KW - Graphite modules KW - Surface roughness PY - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2019.06.024 SN - 0142-1123 SN - 1879-3452 VL - 127 SP - 312 EP - 323 PB - Elsevier AN - OPUS4-49127 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -