ABSTRACT Cladded steels are a subset of layered metal composites in which a thin functional layer is bonded to a dissimilar substrate, thereby integrating the benefits of both constituent materials. However, the resulting heterogeneous properties of such layered metal composites collectively complicate deformation and fatigue behavior, making reliable prediction challenging. The present study demonstrates that the local fatigue strength concept can be applied to layered metal composites as a complementary method that can support fatigue analysis. The concept was used to analyze both as‐received and predeformed material, with the latter exhibiting reduced fatigue strength. For the as‐received condition, predicted crack initiation sites agree well with experimental observations. For a predeformed condition, predictions are less accurate, which was attributed to the model underestimating the influence of surface residual stress and surface topography. These findings indicate that existing fatigue frameworks can be readily applied to layered metal composites with only limited modifications.
Krochmal et al. (Thu,) studied this question.