Due to increasing demands on sustainability exerted by end-costumers and policy makers, heavyvehicle manufacturers are urged to increase the engine efficiency in order to reduce the exhaust gas emission. However, increasing the efficiency is also associated with an elevated fatigue rate of the materials constituting the engine parts, which consequently reduces the engine service life. The aim of the present thesis is therefore to confront the expected increase by studying the fatigue behaviour and damage mechanisms of the materials typically employed in heavy-vehicle diesel engines. With this knowledge, this work seeks to guide the development of new heavy-vehicle engine materials, as well as to develop improved life estimation methods designated to assist the mechanical design of durable heavy-vehicle engines.

In essence, a large set of thermo-mechanical fatigue (TMF) and combined thermomechanical and high-cycle fatigue (TMF-HCF) tests is conducted at engine load conditions on laboratory specimens of lamellar, compacted and spheroidal graphite iron. In this way, the fatigue performance and associated damage mechanisms are investigated. In particular, a new fatigue property is identified, the TMF-HCF threshold, which quantifies how resistant a material is to superimposed high-cycle fatigue.

The damage mechanism at low temperatures (≲500°C) is confirmed to consist of the initiation, propagation and coalescence of numerous microcracks. Based on this, a successful fatigue life estimation model is formulated, allowing accurate estimations of TMF and TMF-HCF tests on smooth specimens, and TMF tests on notched specimens. In the latter case, the microcrack growth behaviour in non-uniform cyclic stress fields and its implications for life estimation are clarified. At elevated temperatures (≳500°C), surface oxidation is shown to govern the fatigue performance of cast iron grades intended for exhaust manifolds. It is observed that oxide intrusions are induced, from which surface fatigue cracks are initiated. Consequently, an optimal material at these conditions should have a low oxide growth rate and few casting defects at the surface, as these factors are found to stimulate the growth of intrusion.