Quantitative Analysis of a Network of Thermal-Fatigue Cracks on the Surface of a Material

According to the data of the automated analysis of images of the surfaces with thermal-fatigue cracks, we study the specific features of the deformation and fracture processes in 25Kh1М1F heat-resistant steel. We reveal and quantitatively describe the regularities and characteristic stages of its deformation with transformations of the block structure of cracking on the surface as a result of merging of separate thermal-fatigue cracks into a network, which is determined by the ability of the metal to be deformed within the framework of islets of the intact material surrounded with cracks. We also estimate the measure of interaction of each crack with the set of cracks by the intensity of shear and rotation processes inside the blocks of the material that are not damaged by thermal-fatigue cracks and by the changes in their orientation relative to the direction of the applied load.