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FATIGUE AND FRACTURE

INTRODUCTION

Fracture mechanics is the study of mechanical behavior of

cracked material subjected to an applied load

Fatigue is the weakening of a material caused by repeatedly

applied loads.

The process of progressive localized permanent structural

changes occurring in a material subjected to conditions that
produce fluctuating stresses at some point or points and that

may culminate in cracks or complete fracture after a

sufficient number of fluctuations.

WHY STRUCTURES FAIL?

The cause of most structural failures generally falls
into one of the following categories:

Negligence during design, construction, or operation of

the structure.

Application of a new design or material, which produces

an unexpected (and undesirable) result.

Common causes of Failure are:

Yielding critical loading point

Deflection beyond a certain stage

Buckling

Fatigue

Fracture

Creep

Environmental Degradation

Resonance

Impact

Wear

Fracture mechanisms
Ductile fracture

Accompanied by significant plastic deformation

Brittle fracture

Little or no plastic deformation

Catastrophic

Usually strain is < 5%.

Brittle vs Ductile Materials

FRACTURE MECHANICS

Study of crack propagation in bodies

Methodology used to aid in selecting materials
and designing components to minimize the
possibility of fracture.
It begins with the assumption that all real
materials contain cracks of some sizeeven if
only submicroscopically

Based on three types of displacement modes

3 Modes of Crack Propagation

FRACTURE TOUGHNESS

Fracture toughness is a property which describes the ability of a

material containing a crack to resist fracture, and is one of the most
important properties of any material for many design applications. The
linear-elastic fracture toughness of a material is determined from the
stress intensity factor (K) at which a thin crack in the material begins to
grow.

In fracture mechanics, one does not attempt to evaluate an effective

stress concentration, rather a stress intensity factor K

After obtaining K, it is compared with a limiting value of K that is

necessary for crack propagation in that material, called Kc

The limiting value Kc is characteristic of the material and is called fracture

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toughness

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Fatigue Failure- Mechanism

A fatigue failure begins with a small crack; the initial

crack may be so minute and can not be detected. The
crack usually develops at a point of localized stress
concentration like discontinuity in the material, such as
a change in cross section, a keyway or a hole.

Once a crack is initiated, the stress concentration

effect become greater and the crack propagates.

Consequently the stressed area decreases in size, the

stress increase in magnitude and the crack propagates
more rapidly.

Until finally, the remaining area is unable to sustain the

load and the component fails suddenly. Thus fatigue
loading results in sudden, unwarned failure.
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Four Different Stages of Fatigue Failure

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Crack initiation at points of stress concentration

Crack growth
Crack propagation
Final rupture

Factors Influencing Fatigue

Loading

Geometry

Material
Manufacturing

Environment

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Stress Concentration Factor

Stress concentration factor (Kt), is a dimensionless

factor which is used to quantify how concentrated the

stress is in a material. It is defined as the ratio of the
highest stress in the element to the nominal stress
(reference stress )

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Characteristics of stress-concentration factors:

Function of the geometry or shape of the part, but
not its size or material
Function of the type of loading applied to the part
(axial, bending or torsional)
Function of the specific geometric stress raiser in
the part (such as fillet radius, notch, or hole)
Always defined with respect to a particular
nominal stress
Typically assumes a linear elastic, homogeneous,
isotropic material

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Stress Concentration Factor

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Fatigue Stress Concentration

The existence of irregularities or discontinuities, such as

holes, grooves, or notches, in a part increase the

magnitude of stresses significantly in the immediate

vicinity of the discontinuity .

Fatigue failure mostly originates from such places. Hence

its effect must be accounted and normally a fatigue stressconcentration factor Kf is applied when designing against
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Fatigue Stress Concentration Factor (Kf)

Miscellaneous-effect factor (Ke)

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Notch Sensitivity (q)

A measure of the reduction in strength of a metal caused by
the presence of a notch

The value of q usually lies between 0 and 1.

If q=0, Kf =1 and this indicates no notch sensitivity.

If however q=1, then Kf = Kt and this indicates full

notch sensitivity.

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STRESS-LIFE DIAGRAM(Wohler S-N Curves)

Steel, Ti. etc

Al, Cu alloy,
Mg, etc.,

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Typical S-N curves for ferrous and non-ferrous metals.

Endurance Limit / Fatigue Limit

The fatigue life reduces with respect to increase in

stress range and at a limiting value of stress, the
curve flattens off. The point at which the S-N curve
flattens off is called the endurance limit.

Certain materials have a fatigue limit or endurance

limit which represents a stress level below which the

material does not fail and can be cycled infinitely.

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Unlike steels, most nonferrous metals and alloys (Al, Mg,

Cu alloy, etc.,) do not have a fatigue limit i.e. S-N curve
continues to fall steadily with decreasing stress, though at

a decreasing rate.

Thus, fatigue will ultimately occur regardless of the

magnitude of the applied stress. Fatigue response of these
materials is specified for a number of stress cycles,
normally 107, and is known as fatigue strength.

An effective endurance limit for these materials is

sometimes defined as the stress that causes failure at
1x108 to 5x108.

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Metal fatigue is a significant engineering problem

because it can occur due to repeated or cyclic
stresses below the static yield strength, unexpected
and catastrophic failure of a vital structural part may
occur and rack initiation may start at discontinuities
in highly stressed regions of the component.

Fatigue failure may be due to discontinuities such as

inadequate design, improper maintenance and so
forth.

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Fatigue failure can be prevented by

Avoiding sharp surfaces caused by punching, stamping,

shearing.

Preventing the development of surface discontinuities during

processing.

Reducing or eliminating tensile residual stresses caused by

manufacturing.

Avoiding

assembling

errors,

improper

maintenance,

manufacturing defects, design errors

Using proper material and heat treatment procedures

Environmental
Effects.
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Goodman experimental observation are quite closer

for brittle materials, but it is conservative for ductile
alloys. For compressive mean stress, however it is non-

conservative . To circumvent this problem, one may

assume that compressive mean stress provide no
beneficial effect on fatigue life.

Gerber generally good for ductile material for mean

tensile stress. But this does not distinguish between the

fatigue life for tensile and compressive mean stresses.

Soderberg provides a conservative estimation of

fatigue
life for most engineering alloys
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