For the β=1 specimen with constant thickness, Crack growth rate is smoothly increasing in the a-N curve. On the other hand for β=2 specimen with various thickness, the inflection point is observed in crack growth rate near the thickness interface.
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For the β=1 specimen with constant thickness, Crack growth rate is smoothly increasing in the a-N curve. On the other hand for β=2 specimen with various thickness, the inflection point is observed in crack growth rate near the thickness interface.
da/dN before the inflection point is increased and da/dN after the point is decreased, compared to the β=1 specimen. da/dN near the thickness interface is approached zero. The descending point was observed earlier as β increased.
Considering the relation between da/dN and λ, the crack propagation rates for the case of β=1 incrased almost linearly, however, the crack propagation rates for β=2, 3 decreased more rapidly near the thickness interface. Additionally, the decreased point in da/dN for β =3 is farther from the thickness interface than the case for β=2.