Ch.

6 - Fatigue Failure Theory

Fatigue - Progressive Fracture Due to Cyclic Loading
Brittle Fracture of Ductile Materials (as well as
Brittle Materials)
Fracture at Significantly Stresses below Yield
Strength
Goals for Design:
Understand Mechanism
Understand Factors that Influence Fatigue
Insure Wont Happen in Critical Parts

Example
Aircraft
Crankshaft
Failure

Fatigue Striations on Crack Surface

Figure 6.3 Aluminum Alloy Fatigue Fracture

Fatigue History

Rankine 1843 Unexpected failure of

Railroad Axles
Wohler 1871 First Scientific Study, Fully
Reversed Loads on Axles
Liberty Ships WWII
British Comet Cabin Pressurization Cycles
Dowling 3% GNP

Fatigue Fracture Ship Hull

Moore Rotating Bending Test

Fatigue Mechanism

Crack Initiation:
Microscopic cracks from fabrication, processing
Origin at Notch or Stress Concentration

Crack Propagation:
Tensile Stresses induce slow, progressive fracture
Rate depends on degree of corrosion

Sudden Fracture:
Stress Intensity K at crack tip equals Fracture
Toughness Kc of material

Strength Life Behavior Steels

Strength Life Behavior Aluminum

Fatigue Models
Fatigue Regimes: LCF (103 cycles), HCF
Stress Life (Strength Life) S N
Most useful for machine components (widely accepted)

Strain Life
Most useful for LCF Regime
Best model for initial crack propagation (complex)

LEFM Fracture Mechanics

Fracture mechanics theory useful for LCF Regime
Used in conjunction with NDT of Material

Fatigue Models for Design

LCF Regime Treat as Static Loads using Static

Failure Criteria (Yield or Fracture?)
HCF Regime Stress Life (Strength Life)
Method of Choice for Machine Design

Strength Life Models

Represented by S - N Diagrams for HCF

Estimate an Uncorrected Infinite Life
Strength:
Se Endurance Limit - ferrous materials with real
endurance limit ~ 106 cycles

Sf Fatigue Strength - non-ferrous materials ~ 5 x

108 cycles

Goals:
Predict Se (or Sf) Ideal Strength based on rotating
bending test data
Predict Se (or Sf) Realistic Strength for other loading,
geometry, environment
If stresses exceed Se, Sf predict finite life N
Determine Fatigue Factor of Safety for infinite life:
Nf = Se / sa

Rotating Bending Data - Steel

Se ~ 0.5 Sut for Sut < 200 ksi (1400 Mpa)

Se ~ 100 ksi for Sut > 200 ksi (1400 Mpa)
Sut can be estimated from Hardness tests

Rotating Bending Data - Steel

Rotating Bending Data - Aluminum

Sf ~ 0.4 Sut for Sut < 48 ksi (330 Mpa)

Sf ~ 19 ksi for Sut > 48 ksi (330 Mpa)

Rotating Bending Data - Aluminum

Other Loads and Conditions

Se = Cload Csize Csurf Ctemp Creliab Se

C factors account for other loads and conditions other
than a rotating bending failure under ideal conditions
and processing
C factors always less than 1.0

C load

Bending (Torsion, etc.) Cload = 1.0

Stresses Higher on Outside Faces
Axial Loading

Cload = 0.7

Stresses Distributed Uniformly

C size Steel Cylindrical Parts

Larger Parts have more fracture nucleation sites
(assuming uniform flaw density)
For d < 0.3 in (8mm)

Csize = 1.0

For 0.3 in < d < 10 in:

Csize = 0.869 d-.097

For 8 mm < d < 250 mm:

Csize = 1.189 d-.097

Eqs. 6.7b Steel Only.

Larger Sizes use Csize = 0.6
Non-Round Parts: Define Equivalent Diameter

C size Other Cross-Sections

A95 cross sectional area stressed within 95% of maximum

C size Other Cross-Sections

Dequiv = sqrt(A95 / .0766)

C surf Steel Parts

Independent
of Part Size
or Shape
For Steel
(Fig 6-26)
Cast Iron
Csurf = 1.0

C surf Curve Fit

Csurf = A (Sut) b

C reliab

C temp
Ctemp

Equation 6.7f

For T < 450 C (840 F) Ctemp = 1.0

Corrosive Environments
Corosion Fatigue Mechanism Unknown

Fresh Water: Se ~ 15 ksi

Chromium & Stainless Steels exception
Limited Data for Other Materials

Stress Concentrations
Stress Concentration Effects Generally Included in
Fatigue Stress Prediction:

s = Kf * s nom, t = Kf * t nom
Depends on Notch Sensitivity q
Brittle Materials more sensitive
More Ductile materials are less sensitive

Kf = 1 + q * (Kt 1)
1 < Kf < Kt as 0 < q < 1

Stress Concentrations - Recall

In General: Kt increases as notch radius decreases

Notch Sensitivity - Steel

Notch Sensitivity - Aluminum

Effect of Residual Stresses

Fatigue is tensile stress phenomenon
Compressive residual stresses increase
strength/life of part:
Thermal treatment case hardening
Surface treatments shot peening, cold
forming
Mechanical prestressing preloading
causing yield

Effects of Residual Stresses

If amount of compressive stress is well
known, it can be added to the subsequent
applied stress to compute the net stress per
cycle
If unknown, it can be incorporated
indirectly by using a lower factor of safety
with the applied stress alone

Design for Fully Reversed Uniaxial Stresses

Determine corrected Se or Sf
Determine Stress Concentration Factors
s = Kf * s nom or t = Kf * t nom

Compute Von Mises Stress s

Nf = Se / s or Nf = Sf / s
Study example 6-4

Design for Fluctuating Stresses

Most loading is not fully reversed (sm is not
equal to zero) called Fluctuating

MECH 340 Mechanical Engineering Design

Design for Fluctuating Uniaxial Stresses

Most loading is NOT fully reversed (sm is not
equal to zero)
IF sm

< 0 like residual stresses > Se, Sf

IF sm

> 0 it will decrease Se, Sf

Procedure for accounting for positive mean

stresses

Design for Fluctuating Uniaxial Stresses

Plot sa vs. sm
Effective Infinite Life Strength of part
decreases as positive mean stresses increase
Constant Life Fatigue Diagrams

Constant Life Fatigue Diagrams

1. Plot S-N curve for part
2. Find Sn for different life (103, 104, etc.)
3. Plot Sn on sa axis
4. Straight Lines from Sn to Sut on sm axis
5. Superimpose Static Yield Line
Lines represent a constant life of part for
various combinations of stresses

Modified Goodman Diagram (MGD)

Modified Goodman Diagram

Failure can occur by fatigue or macroscopic

yielding
Fluctuating mean stresses (torsion,
bending, axial) are combined using Von
Mises to give sm
Fluctuating alternating stresses are
combined using Von Mises to give sa