Fatigue crack propagation rate model based on a dislocation mechanism

It has been noted that the crack propagation exponent p for most metals usually varies between values of 2 and 4, and that the motion of dislocations plays an important part in determining the exponent p. Attention is presently given to the significance of the exponent p in terms of the motion of dislocations, in view of the theory of thermally activated plastic flow and the cumulative plastic strain concept for a failure criterion.