Self-organized criticality as a precursor of fatigue: application to shape memory alloys

Abstract

Fatigue failure can be thought by studying the collective motions of defects inside materials instead of focusing on the growth of a pre-existing micro-crack. An experimental study of the statistical distribution of acoustic emissions avalanches along cycling is presented. The evolutions of critical exponents through cyclic driving are estimated to track changes in the dissipation modes and consequently identify fatigue failure precursors. We also use critical rupture models developed for earthquakes and stock market crashes predictions to forecast the time to failure with good reliability.