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High cycle fatigue and very high cycle fatigue tests with pulsating tension for three surface‐carburized steels were performed to investigate interior failure behavior and life prediction method. As a result, all cracks with fine granular area and fisheye characteristics are induced from inclusions in matrix or in carburized layer. However, the later cracking morphology is smoother, which is due to the difference of plastic deformation and microstructure of the two regions. Based on estimation of threshold values for small and long crack growth, fatigue design curves are established. The maximum inclusion sizes of three carburizing steels were estimated by four statistical analysis methods. Combined with material microstructure characteristics and the critical plane theory, a failure‐based life prediction model is proposed by using fatigue indicator parameter, whose validity is verified based on good agreement between predicted and experimental ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]