Aerospace Materials

Week-10

Fatigue of Aerospace Materials

Fatigue
Deterioration to the structural properties of a material owing to
damage caused by cyclic or fluctuating stresses
Damage and loss in strength caused by cyclic stresses that are
below the yield strength
Material does not show a visible sign of damage before it fails
Fatigue is the most common cause of damage to aircraft
structures and engine components. It is estimated that fatigue
causes over one-half of all metal component failures, and is
responsible for more damage than the combined effects of
corrosion, creep, wear, overloading and all the other failure
sources on aircraft
Fatigue resistance is the ability of structural materials to
maintain an acceptable level of strength under fluctuating stress
conditions
10.12.2015

UCK 353E-Aersopace Materials-Week9

Fatigue Types
Cyclic stress fatigue: repeated application of loads to the material
Corrosion fatigue: combined effects of corrosion and cyclic stress
loading, affects metallic materials
Fretting fatigue: progressive deterioration of materials by small
scale rubbing movements that cause abrasion of mating
components
Acoustic fatigue: high frequency fluctuations in stress caused by
noise. The pressure waves of the noise impinge on the material
thus inducing fatigue effects
Thermal fatigue: fluctuating stresses induced by the thermal
expansion and contraction of materials owing to thermal cycling
10.12.2015

UCK 353E-Aersopace Materials-Week9

Fatigue stress cyclic loading

Important parameters that
can affect the fatigue
properties:
Maximum fatigue stress,
Mean fatigue stress,
= ( + ) 2
Fatigue stress ratio,
=
Stress frequency f, the
number of load cycles per
second

Fatigue stress profiles for (a) fully reversed

and (b) repeated stress cycling
10.12.2015

UCK 353E-Aersopace Materials-Week9

Fatigue life (S-N) curves

Curve A: Materials fail
in fatigue with a
sufficient number of
load cycles.
Undesirable because
failure may eventually
occur at low fatigue
stress levels

An SN curve is only valid for a specific set of fatigue

conditions (e.g. R ratio, load frequency, temperature),
and the graph may be different when the conditions are
changed
10.12.2015

UCK 353E-Aersopace Materials-Week9

Curve B: below the

endurance limit, the
material can endure
an infinite number of
load cycles. Desirable
fatigue because an
infinite life is assured

Fatigue crack growth curves

Stress Approach

=
, variation in the fatigue stress
, crack length
, correction factor

= , distance that the

crack propagates in one load

cycle N
, material constant
, slope of regime B
Strain Approach (plastic deformation)

= ()
10.12.2015

, change in the plastic strain

, static failure strain
, fatigue ductility coefficient (-0.5 to -0.7)
UCK 353E-Aersopace Materials-Week9

Fatigue of metals
Fatigue life stages of metals:
i)
ii)
iii)

Fatigue crack initiation,

Crack growth under cyclic loading
Final failure

10.12.2015

UCK 353E-Aersopace Materials-Week9

Fatigue of metals
Fatigue cracks initiate at preexisting defects, such as
voids, large inclusions or
surface flaws that act as stress
raisers
Under cyclic loading, the metal
near the pre-existing defect is
plastically deformed owing to
the stress concentration and,
eventually, a small crack is
initiated
Defects that concentrate high
levels of stress, such as
scratches or sudden changes
in section thickness of the
component can reduce the
number of load cycles to
initiate a fatigue crack by
many orders of magnitude
10.12.2015

UCK 353E-Aersopace Materials-Week9

Surface analysis of fatigued metals

Each ripple is a fatigue fracture striation
showing the distance the crack has
advanced in one load cycle.
The ripples usually radiate outwards
from a single point which is the site of
crack initiation
Fractured region, the load capacity of
the fatigued metal is reduced to the
maximum fatigue load, then sudden
fracture occurs through the remaining
uncracked region. Ductile tearing has
occurred during the rapid growth of the
crack

Fracture surface of fatigued metal: (a) low magnification

view showing fracture surface; (b) ripples caused by
fatigue crack growth
10.12.2015

UCK 353E-Aersopace Materials-Week9

Fatigue of fibre polymer composites

Fatigue of composites is characterised by a multiplicity of
damage types, which includes cracks in the polymer matrix,
debond cracks between the fibres and matrix, splitting cracks,
delamination cracks, and broken fibres.
The damage types initiate at different times and grow at
different rates over the fatigue life of the composite material
The fatigue strains in the high-stress regime approach the
failure strain of the fibres
Fatigue endurance limit of the composite is determined by the
fatigue limit of the polymer matrix
Despite the many types of damage, continuous fibrepolymer
composites, such as carbonepoxy, often exhibit a fatigue life
which is much longer and a fatigue endurance limit which is
higher than aerospace-grade aluminium alloys
10.12.2015

UCK 353E-Aersopace Materials-Week9

10

Fatigue of fibre polymer composites

10.12.2015

UCK 353E-Aersopace Materials-Week9

11

Fatigue life of composites

The fibre type, fibre volume percent, fibre lay-up pattern, and
matrix properties all influence the fatigue life
The fatigue resistance of composites generally improves with
their elastic modulus and strength; with materials containing
high stiffness, high-strength carbon fibres having excellent
fatigue resistance
The fatigue life decreases with a reduction in the percentage of
load-bearing fibres (which in this case are 0 fibres) in the
composite
Fatigue damage in composites can occur under both tension
and compression loads
The fatigue life of composites is often reduced when the load
frequency is above about 20 Hz

10.12.2015

UCK 353E-Aersopace Materials-Week9

12

SN curves for carbonepoxy composites

with different fibre patterns

10.12.2015

UCK 353E-Aersopace Materials-Week9

13

SN curves for carbonepoxy composite under

different cyclic loading conditions

10.12.2015

UCK 353E-Aersopace Materials-Week9

14

Improving the fatigue properties

Structure have to be free from stress concentrations such as
sharp corners and sudden changes in section thickness
Material should be made thicker around fasteners holes and
other cut-outs
Material must be free from surface scratches, machine marks
and other stress raisers
Metal must be cast, processed and heat treated using
processes that avoid the formation of microstructural defects
such as voids and large inclusions
Fine-grained metals generally possess a longer fatigue life than
coarse-grained materials
Surface protective coatings to resist corrosion, erosion
Increasing stiffness and strength of composites
Maximising the volume pertengate of load bearing fibres
Using high stiffnes high strength fibres
10.12.2015

UCK 353E-Aersopace Materials-Week9

15