Abstract: The crack initiation behaviour under cyclic compression foy the notched specimen was investigated. It has been found that the cycles for crack initiation increase with the increase of compressive mean stress, and the decrease of stress amplitude. The stress amplitude plays a more important role than the mean stress does. Photoelastic coating and finite element methods were employed to measure and calculate the stress field in the notched part. The resul ts show that the crack initiation under compression is attributed to the tensile stress which may exist during unloadtng. If the true stress state in the notch is compressive, no crack initiates.

Key words: crack initiation, compression, stress field