ME 251: Fall 2013 Materials Engineering Lab

Fatigue Test

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Fatigue
Fatigue is the progressive, localized and

permanent structural damage that occurs when a material is subjected to cyclic or fluctuating loading. The maximum stress values are less than the ultimate tensile stress limit and may be below the yield stress limit of the material. It is estimated that 90% of all metal failure occur from fatigue.

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Fracture
Fracture is the separation or fragmentation of a

solid body into two or more parts under the action of stresses. Fracture of a material by cracking can occur in many ways, the principle ones being: Slow application of external loads (tension) Rapid application of external loads (impact) Cyclic or repeated loading (fatigue) Time-dependent deformation under constant load (creep)
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Fatigue Failure
Fatigue cracks are generally initiated at flaws on

a free surface. Once initiated, cracks grow at an accelerating rate.

Eventually, a crack becomes unstable and

propagates through the remaining cross-sectional area of the part during single load application causing sudden catastrophic failure.

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Fatigue Failure, Cont.

The process of fatigue failure can be divided into the

following stages: 1.Cyclic plastic deformation prior to fatigue crack initiation. 2.Nucleation (Initiation of fatigue cracks). 3.Short crack or small crack phase. 4.Crack propagation or growth rates that can be characterized by either linear-elastic fracture mechanics, elastic-plastic fracture mechanics or fully plastic fracture mechanics. 5.Final instability or failure.
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Fatigue Failure, Cont.

The following basic factors are necessary to

cause fatigue fracture: Applied stress of sufficient magnitude Large variation or fluctuation in applied stress Sufficiently large number of cycles of the applied stress Note: With frequent stress fluctuations, the material may fail at a stress level far below its static ultimate tensile strength or even static yield strength of the material.
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Fatigue Failure, Cont.

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Fatigue Failure, Cont.

A practical example of low-cycle fatigue would be the

bending of a paperclip. A metal paperclip can be bent past its yield point (i.e., bent so it will stay bent) without breaking, but repeated bending in the same section of wire will cause the material to fail. Fatigue is an important design consideration in any machine such as automotive & aerospace vehicles, material handling equipments, power generators, process plant equipments etc.
Note: Fatigue is a stochastic (random) process, often

showing considerable scatter even in controlled environments. Wichita State University

Factors Affecting Fatigue Life

Type of loading.

Surface roughness, scratches, dents etc.

Type of material. Grain size: for most metals, fine-grained parts

exhibit a longer fatigue life than coarse-grained parts. Environmental conditions can cause erosion and corrosion which affect fatigue life. Residual stress: Welding, cutting, casting and other manufacturing process involving heat and deformation can produce high residual stress that Wichita State University fatigue strength. can reduce

Factors Affecting Fatigue Life, Cont.

Direction of loading: Important in case of non-isotropic

material. Temperature: Higher temperature generally decrease fatigue strength. Geometry: Notches and variation in cross section throughout a part lead to stress concentrations where fatigue cracks initiate. A stress concentration is a location in an object where stress is concentrated. An object is strongest when force is evenly distributed among it, but an area of stress concentration results in a localized increase in stress at that location. State University Wichita Examples of shapes that cause concentrations are

Designing Against Fatigue

Design to keep stress below threshold of fatigue limit (infinite lifetime concept). 2. Design (conservatively) for a fixed life after which the user is instructed to replace the part with a new one (a so-called lifed part, finite lifetime concept, or "safe-life" design practice); 3. Instruct the user to inspect the part periodically for cracks and to replace the part once a crack exceeds a critical length. This approach usually uses the technologies of nondestructive testing and requires an accurate prediction of the rate of crack-growth between inspections. This is often referred to as damage tolerant design or "retirement-for-cause". Wichita State University
1.

Infinite Lifetime Concept(S-N Curve)

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Infinite Lifetime concept(S-N Curve), Cont.

Safe-life design based on the infinite-life criterion reflects

the classic approach to fatigue. It is generally categorized as a "high cycle fatigue" methodology. This methodology is one where the influence of steel seems virtually overwhelming. The "infinite-life" aspect of this approach is related to the asymptotic behavior of steels, many of which display a fatigue limit or "endurance limit" at a high number of cycles (typically >106) under benign environmental conditions. Most other materials do not exhibit this response, instead displaying a continuously decreasing stress-life response, even at a great number of cycles (106 to 109), which is more correctly described by a fatigue strength at a given Wichita State University number of cycles.

Finite Lifetime Concept (-N Curve)

With more advanced and highly loaded components,

it became obvious that stress-based techniques alone would not be sufficient to handle the full range of problems that needed to be addressed using continuum assumptions. The occurrence of plasticity, for example, and the accompanying lack of proportionality between stress and strain in this regime led to the use of strain as a controlling quantity. Strain-life criteria is primarily intended to address the "low-cycle" fatigue area (e.g., from approximately 102 to 106 cycles). Where the stress is high enough for plastic deformation to occur, the account in terms of stress is Wichita State University less useful and the strain in the material offers a

Finite Lifetime Concept (-N Curve), Cont.

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Damage Tolerance Concept (da/dN vs. K)

The S-N and -N techniques are usually appropriate for

situations where a component or structure can be considered a continuum (i.e., those meeting the `no cracks' assumption). In the event of a crack-like discontinuity, however, they offer no support. 1Damage tolerance is a property of a structure relating to its ability to sustain defects safely until repair can be effected or the structure replaced. 1The approach to engineering design to account for damage tolerance is based on the assumption that initial flaws exist in any structure and such flaws propagate with usage AnWichita alternative concept and controlling quantity must be State University used. That quantity is stress intensity, a characterization

Damage Tolerance Concept, Cont.

a) Specimen

and loading b) Measured data c) Rate data

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Types of Fatigue Testing

Tension Compression (reversed stress)

Tension Tension (repeated stress)

Irregular or random

Sheet and plate bending (flexural fatigue)

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Lab Experiment: Fatigue Lifetimes of Smooth and Notched Specimens

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