FATIGUE & SURFACE FINISH

G. CHOWDHURY Prof. (Met)

INTRODUCTION
Design load is always kept much below UTS In fact, with Safety Factor it is below YS But the fact of life remains that even with that safe load, failure do occur On post mortem of failure, the reasons are normally found to be Wear, Corrosion, Sudden fracture or Fatigue fracture Interestingly, all originate from the SURFACE

INTRODUCTION
MODES OF FAILURE IN SERVICE
Mode Wear Corrosion Sudden fracture Fatigue fracture Contribution of Surface 100 100 95 90 Contribution of Interior NIL NIL 5 10

INTRODUCTION
While the first two can presumably be related to loss of surface area (not really), and the third one to overloading The last one is most intriguing Why a material should fail without any loss of surface area or overloading? We will try to address this issue here

INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS FATIGUE FAILURE? Failure of a metal subjected to repetitive or fluctuating stress at a level much lower than its YS is known as FATIGUE The key points are Load level much lower than YS Nature of loading- Repetitive or Fluctuating

INTRODUCTION
What is the implication? A design load, often kept lower than the YS with safety factor, may not be really safe if subjected to dynamic loading Two immediate Questions pop up Why it is so? What is the safe design load under condition of dynamic loading? We will rather try to answer the last one first

INTRODUCTION
A fatigue failure is often characterized by One or more fatigue initiation points Progress of crack in multiple smooth steps of circle centering the initiation point (normally known as Beach Marks) This zone appears old and lustureless, occasionally with rust on the surface! Sudden failure or break apart zone, lusturous and often associated with Chevron Marks

DIFFERENT TYPES OF DYNAMIC LOAD

FIG-1 FATIGUE SRESS CYCLES.

DIFFERENT KEY TERMS

The Range of stress ( r) = The Alternating stress (
a) Max

Min

r/2 m)

The Mean or Steady stress ( R= A=

Max/ a/ Min

=(

Max

Min)/2

THE IDEAL S-N CURVE

If a material is subjected to dynamic loading of Type-1 under laboratory condition, it is observed that Generally, materials fail after some time Higher the max, lower the number of cycle For some materials like Steel and Titanium, at some max number of cycle is infinity For others, no such thresh hold value of max

THE S-N CURVE

FIG-2 FATIGUE CURVES

SAFE DESIGN LOAD

So, what a Designer can do? For steel, (fortunately) he can take the Endurance Limit as the safe load For others, he can fix a reasonably high number of cycle, normally 108, and take the corresponding max as the safe load The obvious question which arises is whether this is a material property or not? The answer is both YES AND NO!

SAFE DESIGN LOAD

YES The basic shape and nature of the curve cant be altered NO The value grossly depends on surface condition and metallurgical conditions Moreover, it is dependant on size of component, type or nature of load, point of application of load, degree of freedom etc. It is often necessary to carry out a component fatigue testing to arrive at a design data

MECHANISM OF FATIGUE
To understand the statement and to answer the first question why it is so? we have to have some insight of Mechanism of fatigue Two theories are propagated
ORWANS THEORY W.A.WOOD CONCEPT OF FATIGUE

Both deal with plastic strain at micro level

ORWANS THEORY ON FATIGUE

Metal contains small weak regions of high stress concentration due to surface roughness or metallurgical notches such as inclusions or other imperfections even GB This small region is treated as plastic regions in an elastic matrix With repeated cycles of constant stress amplitude, the plastic region will experience a built-up of stress & decrease in strain as a result of progressive localized strain hardening

ORWANS THEORY ON FATIGUE

Contd..

Total plastic strain converges towards a finite value as the number of cycles increases towards infinity Once the Critical value of Strain and corresponding Built-up Stress is reached, the region opens up to release the stress This creates a micro fissure or crack

ORWANS THEORY ON FATIGUE

Contd..

This crack itself creates a stress concentration & forms a new localized plastic region in which process is repeated This process is repeated over & over until the crack becomes large enough to cause sudden fracture on application of the full tensile stress of the cycles

ORWANS THEORY ON FATIGUE

Contd..

This limiting value of total plastic strain approaches faster with increase in the stress applied to the specimen The Fatigue limit or Endurance limit hinges upon the fact that below a certain stress, the total plastic strain can not reach the critical value The essence of the theory Localized strain hardening uses up the plasticity of metal to cause fracture

WOODS CONCEPT OF FATIGUE

It basically refines Orwans Theory on the issue of plastic strain Dislocations play a major role in the fatigue crack initiation phase. It has been observed in laboratory testing that after a large number of loading cycles dislocations pile up and form structures called persistent slip bands (PSB)

Movement of an Edge Dislocation

Movement of an edge dislocation across the crystal lattice under a shear stress.

WOODS CONCEPT OF FATIGUE Contd

PSBs are areas that rise above (extrusion) or fall below (intrusion) on the surface of the component due to movement of material along slip planes This leaves tiny steps or notches in the surface that serve as stress raisers where fatigue cracks can initiate This mechanism is in agreement with facts that fatigue cracks start at the surface & cracks have been found to initiate at the slip band intrusion & extrusion

WOODS CONCEPT OF FATIGUE Contd

WOODS Concept Contd.. Demonstration of Crack Propagation Due to Fatigue

The figure right illustrates the various ways in which cracks are initiated and the stages that occur after they start.

This is extremely important since these cracks will ultimately lead to failure of the material if not detected and recognized.

The material shown is pulled in tension with a cyclic stress in the y direction.

Cracks can be initiated by several different causes, the most three important causes are Nucleating slip planes, Notches. Internal flaws.

MECHANISM OF FATIGUE
So, now we have detected Stress Raisers as the culprit to initiate fatigue crack Metallurgical stress raisers are Inclusion, Opened up seam, Internal flaws, Grain Boundaries, Slip Planes etc. Mechanical stress raisers are many; Holes, Key ways, Surface roughness & notches, Machine marks, Undercut, Abrupt change in diameter, all are potential stress raisers. However, the stress intensity factor varies

STRESS CONCENTRATION FACTOR

The Stress Concentration factor, known as kt, is the ratio of stress due to stress concentration and the nominal stress For a circular hole in the component Maximum stress Wmax = 3 W where W is the nominal stress So kt = 3 The factor kt strongly depends on shape and rises abruptly for Sharp notches, Tool marks etc.

STRESS CONCENTRATION FACTOR

A shaft with varying diameter having fillet of radius r and big and small diameters as D and d for D/d r/d kt 1.1 0 3.5 0.06 1.2 0.12 1.16

STRESS CONCENTRATION FACTOR

A shaft with varying diameter having fillet of radius r and big and small diameters as D and d for D/d r/d kt 2.0 0 >10 0.06 1.62 0.12 1.40

FATIGUE REDUCTION FACTOR

Fatigue reduction factor, kf is given by ratio of fatigue strength without notch and fatigue strength with notch This ratio depends on kt Brittle and Ductile materials behave differently in the face of same type of stress concentration At high kt values the reduction in fatigue strength of ductile material is less, for harder materials the reduction is more This means that at times use of lower strength materials can give better fatigue resistance

FATIGUE REDUCTION FACTOR

Fatigue Reduction factors of different materials due to surface obtained from various surface treatments Treatment Mirror Polish Fine Ground Machined Hot Rolled kf (for 400Mpa UTS) 1 0.9 0.8 0.75 kf (for 1800Mpa UTS) 1 0.7 0.5 0.22

FATIGUE REDUCTION FACTOR

Fatigue Reduction factors of different materials due to surface obtained from various surface treatments Treatment Corroded in water As forged Corroded in salt water kf (for 400Mpa UTS) 0.65 0.60 0.47 kf (for 1800Mpa UTS) 0.17 0.14 0.10

FATIGUE REDUCTION FACTOR

Case of high pressure tube High pressure tube of diesel loco was earlier made of low alloy steel with strength of around 650 Mpa. There were large scale failures. Changed to St 52 plane carbon steel with strength of 520 Mpa. It worked.

FATIGUE REDUCTION FACTOR

Sharp notches Sharp notches have very high kt However, the reduction in kf may be much less compared to increase in kt This is even more so for ductile materials. However, the sharp notches have another great effect on failure of components. This is failure by impact. Here the chances of failure may be directly related to kt

SURFACE FINISH AND FATIGUE LIFE

Different surface finishes produced by different material removal mechanical processes can appreciably affect fatigue performance. Preferably the last machining operation should leave marks parallel to the direction of principal stress. In this case, the ridges lie parallel to the principal stress

SURFACE FINISH AND FATIGUE LIFE

Fatigue life of SAE 3130 Steel Reversible stress 655Mpa
Type of finish Lathe formed Part Hand Polished Hand Polished Ground Ground and Polished Surface roughness (in m) 2.67 1.50 1.30 0.18 0.05 Fatigue Life (in cycle) 24000 91000 1,37000 2,17000 2,34000

SURFACE FINISH AND FATIGUE LIFE

Case of crank shaft breakage HEC crank shafts were breaking in large numbers. So, material had to be imported from National Forge The main difference in quality was in the finish of fillets which had machine marks left in case of HEC crank shafts while National Forge supplies had excellent finish

ON IMPROVEMENT OF FATIGUE LIFE

Surface hardening
Surface hardening generally improves fatigue life After surface hardening, ground finish and magnetic particle check for grinding cracks is almost mandatory

Selective quenching
Rim quenching in wheel is very effective

Shot peening
very effective method of introducing compressive stresses on surface which improves fatigue strength of components

ON IMPROVEMENT OF FATIGUE LIFE

Electro Plating
Plating should be compatible with substrate. Cr plating on steel is notorious for reducing fatigue strength Shot peening after electro plating gives very good results

Heat Treatment
Decarburized surface of heat treated steel detrimental to fatigue performance Hence, care to avoid decarburization

ON IMPROVEMENT OF FATIGUE LIFE

Sharp Notch
Sharp notch, accidentally formed, are to be grounded to flatten it
It will reduce kt

Heat Affected Zone

Welding is not advisable on dynamically loaded safety components

Grinding
Care to be taken to avoid formation of HAZ due to overheating during grinding

COMPONENT SIZE & FATIGUE LIFE

Size effect Fatigue strength of large members are lower than that of small members Surface area increases with increasing diameter. Amount of surface area is of significancefatigue failure usually starts at the surface. For loading in bending or torsion, an increase in diameter usually decreases the stress gradient across the diameter & increases the volume of material which is highly stressed

FATIGUE FRACTURE

Photograph showing small fatigue zone in the broken coil spring

Fig.1Photograph showing the cracked pieces with deep punch marks on front rim side and fracture ends

Fig.2 Photograph showing the fatigue fracture initiated from deep punch mark.

Fig.3 Photograph showing the close view of the fatigue zone.