I conducted fatigue experiments with max stress/strain beyond yield stress/strain i.e. elastic-plastic mode. On studying the fracture surface morphology of 3 different amplitudes, I got "shiny flat" regions in all 3 tested samples along with apparent quasi-brittle features. Can someone help me identify / define this "shiny flat" and its role in elastic-plastic fatigue phenomena and fracture mechanisms.
3 fractograph images are enclosed here (SEM_X1,SEM_X2,SEM_X3).
Max Strain %, X1 = 0.4
Max Strain %, X2 = 0.5
Max Strain %, X3 = 0.8
Thanks
Vivek