Abstract—Near threshold fatigue crack growth under mixed‐mode loading and elastic plane‐strain conditions has been studied in 316 stainless steel in laboratory air at room temperature. Particular emphasis was placed on the influence of the mode II component. Crack growth from the starter crack, although initially coplanar, branches to be perpendicular to the maximum normal stress. However the threshold for the branched crack growth is controlled not only by mode I displacement, but also by the mode II component. Upper and lower bound curves are obtained for the threshold condition and discussed in terms of crack tip reversed plastic deformation, crack surface rubbing and oxide‐induced closure. A theoretical method for predicting the lower bound curve is proposed and compared with the maximum normal stress and strain energy density criteria. The new theory shows the best agreement with experimental results, giving a safe prediction for design p