The onset of plasticity in a single crystal C₆₀ fullerite was investigated by nanoindentation on the (111) crystallographic plane. The transition from elastic to plastic deformation in a contact was observed as pop-in events on loading curves. The respective resolved shear stresses were computed for the octahedral slip systems $$\langle{01}\overline{1}\rangle\left\{ {{111}} \right\}$$⟨ 01 1 ¯ ⟩ 111 , supposing that their activation resulted in the onset of plasticity. A finite element analysis was applied, which reproduced the elastic loading until the first pop-in, using a realistic geometry of the Berkovich indenter blunt tip. The obtained estimate of the C₆₀ theoretical shear strength was about $${1}/{11}$$1 / 11 of the shear modulus on {111} planes. Graphical abstract

The issue of service life prediction of hot metallic components subjected to cyclic loadings is addressed. Two classes of lifetime models are considered, namely, the incremental lifetime rules and the parametric models governed by the fracture mechanics concept. Examples of application to an austenitic cast iron are presented. In addition, computational techniques to accelerate the time integration of the incremental models throughout the fatigue loading history are discussed. They efficiently solve problems where a stabilized response of a component is not observed, for example due to the plastic strain which is no longer completely reversed and accumulates throughout the fatigue history. The performance of such an accelerated integration technique is demonstrated for a finite element simulation of a viscoplastic solid under repeating loading–unloading cycles.