Fatigue and Corrosion

Fatigue is failure under dynamic and fluctuating loads. Typically takes a long time (many
fluctuations) and failure can occur at loads far below static tensile properties.
To reduce fatigue in planes use rounded windows to reduce stresses around corners, use glue
and drilled rivets as punched ones caused damage and initiated fatigue cracks.
Fatigue regimes: high cycle (low plasticity), low cycle (high plasticity).
Fatigue of uncracked components: no cracks pree!ist" initiation controlled. #!amples are
small components like ball races, gear teeth, a!les, crank shafts, drive shafts. $ased on
empirical measurements of lifetime. #asy theory but very time consuming. %nswer limited
to specific situation.
Fatigue of cracked components: cracks pree!ist" propagation controlled. #!amples are
almost any large structure esp. welds, bridges, ships, pressure vessels. $ased on fracture
mechanics. &ood, accurate. 'e(uires measurements of crack geometry ) only in safety
critical.
Criteria for fatigue: sufficiently high ma!imum tensile stress, sufficiently high fluctuation in
stress and sufficiently large number of cycles. These can be idealised to varying degrees.
*easurement: obtaining systematic data for this effect re(uires careful testing and data is
very sensitive to initial conditions and testing methods.
+, treatment: -ncreasing stress amplitude (+) results in fewer cycles to failure (,) )
reduced lifetime. +tressCycles (+,) or +tress.ife curve.
+ome materials do not fatigue below threshold stress amplitude and this threshold is known
as the fatigue limit. This occurs mainly in steels as carbon traps dislocations below critical
stress.
#ndurance limit is the ma!imum stress while still achieving a long lifetime e.g. /012 cycles.
There is a clear link between the endurance limit and tensile strength.
3igh cycle fatigue is reversible elastic strain over loading cycle caused by low amplitude
high fre(uency vibrations which causes only microscale damage. #!amples include all
rotating or vibrating systems like wheels, a!les or bridges loaded by transport.
.ow cycle fatigue: fatigue at stresses above general yield stress hysteresis in stressstrain
cycle so work done on structure causing macroscale damage. #!amples include nuclear
reactor, air frames, turbines, components sub4ect to occasional overload.
Fatigue models of uncracked components: high cycle fatigue, low cycle fatigue.
Fatigue occurs with little macroscopic damage clearly get microscopic damage.
*aterials with high damping ability absorb energy which goes into moving dislocations
backward and forward in soft metals and porous ceramics or moving chains in rubbery
Failure
+tatic
.oad
changi
ng
slowly
.ow temp 50.6Tm
3igh Temp
Fracture
Creep
7ynamic .oad
changing (uickly
compared to
failure process.
Fatigue (oscillating)
Fracture (3igh -mpact)
.ower loads than
static pressure
polymers.
-n uncracked specimens, initiation of a crack can represent ma4ority of fatigue life.
Can initiate from surface damage or form during cyclic loading.
-nitiations can occur by accumulation of dislocations on surface. Form microscopic steps
and stress concentrators ) takes time.
8ropagation (high cycle): small plastic 9one at crack tip like stress concentrator. 8lasticity
stretches out new surface and once created is permanent. :n closure, stress due to folding
pushes crack forward and then the cycle repeats.
8ropagation (low cycle): very large plastic strain 9one at crack tip which causes void
initiation, growth and coalescence. The voids link up during closure of the crack serving to
advance it resulting in small scale plastic fracture.
;ith propagation the applied stress is insufficient to break the specimen outright but there
will be progressive growth of cracks by small increments on each load cycle.
Cyclic damagegrow process results in classic appearance of <waves< with each striation
representing one loadunload cycle.
-ncreasing the mean stress reduces the lifetime i.e. dead loads matter and amplitude alone is
insufficient to describe fatigue process
For e(uivalent lifetimes, at 9ero mean stress the stress amplitude should e(ual that of the
completely reversed case and at 9ero amplitude the failure stress is the same as the tensile
test i.e. tensile strength.
Fatigue cycles consume fraction of lifespan in proportion to lifetime e!pected at given
stress. Fatigue failure occurs when lifetime is consumed.
&oodman<s law, *iner<s rule are appro!imate.
+hown that endurance limit correlates with tensile strength however most design is done
with yield strength not tensile.
#ndurance has poor correlation to yield strength as it increases much faster than endurance.
-deally fatigue life should be increased as much as possible and to do this you can introduce
compressive surface residual stresses which helps close cracks.
*ethods of achieving this include shot peening where a stream of shot is fired at the surface
but the effect of this is modest in comparison to polishing to remove defects.
6= of industrialised nations income is spent on corrosion prevention and replacement of corroded
parts
:!idation ) Formation of scale or film on surface in dry conditions. $ased on reaction of
metal with atmospheric o!ygen. :ccurs in dry environments and is slow at low
temperatures. The process forms a stable film or layer on outer surface and this product
often reduces the rate of further o!idation.
Corrosion ) 7issolution of material in wet conditions. $ased on galvanic (electrochemical)
o!idation of metal with reducing species (water, acid, other metal). :ften (uick even at low
temperatures and occurs in wet or moist environments. :ften forms soluble or permeable
products that don<t change the rate of reaction.
7egradation ) 7eterioration of polymers by solvents >? etc.
#*F a measure of driving force for corrosion and current is a measure of the rate of
corrosion.
+tandard hydrogen electrode used to measure o!idation and reduction rates and has inert
platinum electrode in a solution of 3@ ions with hydrogen gas being bubbled through.
3alf cells chemistry bruv.
Changes in the concentrations of ions in solution can change the corrosion process.
>niform corrosion is generalised corrosion over entirety of a surface and is predictable and
slow.
,onuniform corrosion is sudden acceleration at a specific location and has an unpredictable
initiation and rate.
Combinations include erosion and corrosion and crack growth coupled with corrosion.
&alvanic corrosion is the formation of a galvanic cell by electrically 4oining two metals in
electrolytic environment. The rate depends on relative positions on galvanic series and
nature of electrolyte. -t can be prevented by maintaining dry conditions, by electrically
insulating two components of different metals i.e. with plastic, grease, washers etc., or by
painting or introducing some other protective layer. %lternatively galvanic reactions can be
e!ploited to provide protection such as with a 9inc surface layer over steel. Ainc is less
prone to corrosion in most environments and if the coating is damaged it is not a problem
because the steel acts as the cathode so is not depleted and the 9inc anode is very large so
corrodes slowly. %dditionally, sacrificial anodes can be placed around a structure to prevent
damage to the structure itself. These mechanisms re(uire a power supply.
+ome metals develop thin, protective o!ide layers such as aluminium and subse(uently
becomes <passive<. 3owever, if the film is broken, corrosion rates can increase by orders of
magnitude due to the localised corrosion.
Crevice corrosion ) galvanic caused by differential environments rather than differential
materials. +tep / is normal uniform corrosion (slowly) consumes all o!ygen in crevice. +tep
B is relative inability to undergo cathodic reaction (no o!ygen) makes crevice anodic. +tep C
is a high concentration of metal ions react with water to make 3@ even more corrosive.
+tep D is highly positive environment attracts negative ions e.g. chlorine from salt which are
aggressive o!idising agents ) even worse.
8itting is highly localised corrosion that is common when passive film is damaged.
Considered very dangerous because it can cause very deep holes, rapid removal of material,
si9e of pits is not obvious and the corrosion products mask presence of pits. 8itting is
basically same mechanism as crevice corrosion i.e. difference in o!ygen concentration in pit
and surroundings. The attraction of chlorine prevents reformation of passive film.
-ntergranular corrosion occurs because materials are actually made up of many different
phases and some have very different compositions and chemistries. Formation of carbides
consumes chromium at grain boundaries. Chromium forms passive layer on stainless steel
surface and a lack of chromium E local corrosive attach and the material then falls apart
from the inside.
Combined effects go beyond simple addition of two effects and increases rate of corrosion
beyond simple sum of individual contributions and there are many potential mechanisms.
#rosioncorrosion mechanisms remove passive films via abrasion, turbulent flowF cavitation
etc. and subse(uently allows corrosion mechanisms to attack newly e!posed surface.
Fretting corrosion is a fatigue mechanism that occurs in clamped environments that undergo
small movements under oscillating loads which damages o!ide film causing additional
corrosion.
+tress corrosion cracking is where a brittle o!ide film along a grain boundary allowing
plastic slip which damages the o!ide layer permitting faster o!idation along grain boundary
and process repeats. :ccurs under static or fatigue loads and causes significant increase in
failure rates and the end point is sudden catastrophic failure.
Corrosion of concrete is bad as rust has a larger volume than iron which results in internal
stress helping to break apart reinforced concrete from the inside.
:!idation is 4ust standard corrosion but in a gas environment. :ccurs if energy change on
formation of o!ide is negative (energy is released).