FATIGUE FAILURE

Dr. Meor Iqram Meor Ahmad

11.03.2020
Email: meoriqram@eng.ukm.my
 Contents
 Fatigue as a Phenomenon in the Material
 Stress Concentration at Notches
 Fatigue Properties
 Fatigue Crack Growth: Analysis and Predictions
 Fretting/contact Fatigue
 Corrosion Fatigue
Fatigue as a Phenomenon in the
Material

Introduction
• Specimen subjected to a cyclic load, a fatigue crack nucleus
can be initiated on a microscopically small scale, followed by
crack grows to a macroscopic size, and finally to specimen
failure in the last cycle of the fatigue life.
• Understanding of the fatigue mechanism is essential.
Conisholme wind
turbine: An analysis
report identifying
material fatigue as the
cause of the accident.
Fatigue
 IS IT IMPORTANT? Absolutely!

 An understanding of fatigue effects is CRITICAL to the

design of devices and structures that may be subjected to
cyclic loading during their lifetime.
Fatigue
 Fatigue effects often cause failures which remain
undetected until a catastrophic fracture occurs, frequently
at a very inopportune time and without warning.
 These failures drive up warranty costs and cause
considerable customer dissatisfaction. The worst case is
the potential for devastating financial losses and even
endangering lives.
 Therefore, the prediction of fatigue behavior can no longer
be considered optional.
Fatigue failure
 Estimated to cause 90% of all failures of metallic
structures

 Fatigue failure is brittle-like (relatively little plastic

deformation)- even in normal ductile materials

 Fatigue failure is sudden and catastrophic

 Fatigue failure
 Associated with cyclic or fluctuating stresses

 Failure can occur at stresses considerably lower than

tensile or yield strengths of materials under a static load

 Cyclic stresses causing fatigue may be:

 Axial: tension or compression
 Flexural: bending
 Torsion: twisting
 Fatigue failure
 3 distinct stages in a fatigue failure
 Crack initiation
 Near stress concentration
 90% of the fatigue life is taken up trying to initiate a crack
 Crack propagation
 Incremental advance of the crack with each stress cycles
 Final catastrophic failure
 Remaining area (ligament) cannot the load
Fatigue failure
Fatigue failure
Fatigue failure
Fatigue failure
Fatigue failure
Gear tooth contact Rail road
Fatigue failure
Fatigue failure
 Fatigue appearance

 Fatigue striations/ridges/linear
marks
 Evidence of crack propagation with
each stress cycle
 Not seen with unaided eye – requires
electron microscope
 Beachmarks
 Macroscopic surface feature
representing literally 1000’s of striation
Fatigue appearance

 Beachmarks grow out from

the point of fatigue
initiation
 Clamshell appearance
 Follow the beachmarks
toward the initiation site of
the fatigue crack
 Keyway or other notch in the
shaft design
 Area of casting porosity
 Inclusion or defect in the
material
Fatigue appearance
Fatigue appearance

500μm
Fatigue appearance
Fatigue appearance

50μm 50μm

50μm
50μm
Fatigue appearance
Casting defects

100μm

50μm
Different phases of the fatigue life
 nucleation of microcracks generally occurs very early
in the fatigue life.
 it may take place almost immediately if a cyclic stress
above the fatigue limit is applied.
 The important point is that the fatigue life until failure
consists of two periods:
 the crack initiation period and
 the crack growth period.
Crack initiation
 Fatigue crack initiation and crack growth are a
consequence of cyclic slip.
 It implies cyclic plastic deformation, or in other words
dislocation activities.
 Fatigue occurs at stress amplitudes below the yield
stress.
 Slips cannot fully reversible:
 First, the oxide monolayer cannot simply be removed
from the slip step.
 Secondly, strain hardening in the slip band is also not
fully reversible.
Some important lessons to be learned:

 A single cycle is sufficient to create a microscopical

intrusion into the material, which in fact is a microcrack.
 The mechanism occurring in the first cycle can be repeated
in the second cycle, and in subsequent cycles and cause
crack extension in each cycle.
 The small shift of the slip planes during loading and
unloading is leading to an intrusion and extrusion.
 The first initiation of a microcrack may well be expected to
occur along a slip band. A part of this slip band was already
visible after no more than 0.5% of the fatigue life.
The simple mechanism of fatigue crack
initiation
 Disruption of bonds between atoms, i.e.
 decohesion occurs,
 tensile decohesion,
 shear decohesion, or both.

 It occurs if a slip step penetrates through a free

surface. It can also occur at the tip of a growing
fatigue crack.
The most important conclusion
to be drawn:

In the crack initiation period, fatigue is a

material surface phenomenon.
 Crack growth
• Crack growth occurs as a more or less continuous process along
the entire crack front.
• The crack front can be approximated by a continuous line,
which could have a semi-elliptical shape.
• How fast the crack will grow depends on the crack growth
resistance of the material.
• Surface roughness and other surface conditions do not affect
crack growth.
Cross section of microcrack.
Second important conclusion:

Crack growth resistance when the crack

penetrates into the material depends on the
material as a bulk property. Crack growth is
no longer a surface phenomenon.
Fatigue crack propagation

Re-sharpening

Blunting
 Fatigue appearance

 Fatigue striations
 Evidence of crack propagation
with each stress cycle
 Not seen with unaided eye –
requires electron microscope
 Beachmarks
 Macroscopic surface feature
representing literally 1000’s of
striation
 Fatigue appearance

 Beachmarks grow out from

the point of fatigue
initiation
 Clamshell appearance
 Follow the beachmarks
toward the initiation site of
the fatigue crack
 Keyway or other notch in the
shaft design
 Area of casting porosity
 Inclusion or defect in the
material
Crack initiation at inclusions
 Non-metallic inclusions of a microscopic size (10 to
100 µm) have been observed in low-alloy high-
strength steels.
 Fatigue crack nucleation occurred at these inclusions
located at the material surface or slightly below the
surface.
Small cracks, crack growth barriers,
thresholds

Observation of non-propagating of cracks as a function of Kt

Number of crack nuclei
Crack growth and striations
 Striation
Basic wave shapes of a cyclic load
Cyclic tension and cyclic torsion
Characteristic of fatigue failure
 Microscopic:
1. Transgranular (in most cases)
2. Striation
 Macroscopic:
1. No macro-plastic deformation
2. Growth bands
3. Growth direction perpendicular to main principle
stress
4. Radial (steps)
5. Number of fatigue nuclei
Transgranular crack growth
 Fatigue cracks do not follow the grain boundary,
contrary to stress corrosion cracks and creep failures.
Because fatigue crack growth is a consequence of
cyclic slip.
 The transgranular character can easily be observed on
microscopic samples in the optical microscope.
Striations
 Striations are evidences of micro-plastic deformations
of individual load cycles
 The striations indicate the cyclic nature of the load
history.
(a) Typical replica appearance of regular
striations.
(b) Striations viewed in SEM.
(c) Random loading produced irregular striations,
varying with load amplitude, still one striation per
cycle.
(d) So-called “ductile” striations, with large,
regular size and spacing.
(e) Brittle striations, where successive crack front locations
are still marked but not by the same process as in figures (a)
through (d).
Stress Concentration at Notches
Definition of Kt
 The severity of the stress concentration is depending
on the geometry of the notch configuration, generally
referred to as the shape of the notch.
 The ratio of the peak stress and the nominal stress in
the net section leads to the commonly used definition
of the stress concentration factor Kt
 Kt gives a direct indication of the severity of the stress
concentration, because it is an amplification factor on
the stress level which is nominally present in the net
section of the notch.
Effect of the notch geometry on Kt
 (a) Flat bars with holes

Discontinuities of cross section may result in high  max

K
localized or concentrated stresses.  ave
STOP
Exercise 1 (Do it yourself)

Determine the largest axial load P that

can be safely supported by a flat steel
bar consisting of two portions, both 10
mm thick, and respectively 40 and 60
mm wide, connected by fillets of radius
r = 8 mm. Assume an allowable normal
stress of 165 MPa.
(b) Flat bars with fillets
 Determine the geometric ratios and find
the stress concentration factor from Fig.
2.64b.
D 60 mm r 8 mm
  1.50   0.20
d 40 mm d 40 mm
K  1.82

Find the allowable average normal stress

using the material allowable normal
stress and the stress concentration
factor.

 max 165 MPa

 ave    90.7 MPa
K 1.82

(b) Flat bars with fillets Apply the definition of normal stress to
find the allowable load.
P  A ave  40 mm 10 mm 90.7 MPa 

 36.3 103 N
P  36.3 kN
Fatigue Properties
Cyclic stresses

 Characterization of cyclic stresses

Mean stress

Stress range

Stress amplitude

Stress ratio
Types of loading
S-N curve
 In high-cycle fatigue situations, materials performance
is commonly characterised by an S-N curve, also
known as a Wöhler curve . This is a graph of the
magnitude of a cyclical stress (S) against the
logarithmic scale of cycles to failure (N).
 S-N Fatigue Properties

 Nominal stress required to

cause a fatigue failure in
some number of cycles

 Test results presented as a

plot of stress () against the
number of cycles to failure
(N): S-N curve.

 Data is obtained by cycling

smooth or notched
specimens until failure
Relationship between fatigue limit and
ultimate tensile strength

σf = ασuts
 α ≈ 0.5 for steel, cast iron and Ti-alloys, but a
lower value α ≈ 0.35 applies to the Al-alloys.
Mean stress effects
 If m is increased and a remains the same, then max
becomes larger. As a result, a larger stress is present
to open microcracks or macrocracks.

 The fatigue strength is reduced to zero if the mean

stress is increased to the ultimate tensile stress uts.
Any small Sa cycle at m ≈ uts should immediate lead
to failure because max > uts.
 The effect of the stress amplitude is more significant
for the fatigue properties of a material than the effect
of the mean stress, especially for high fatigue lives and
the fatigue limit.
Low-cycle fatigue
 Where the stress is high enough for plastic deformation to
occur, the account in terms of stress is less useful and the strain
in the material offers a simpler description.
 In low-cycle fatigue, macroscopic plastic deformation occurs in
every cycle.
 Low-cycle fatigue can be relevant to structures that are
subjected to small numbers of load cycles in their economic life.
 Under low-cycle fatigue, failure can occur in a small number of
cycles, say 1000 cycles or less. Small cracks are usually nucleated
immediately.
 The low-cycle fatigue process in the laboratory done by
imposing constant strain cycles on a specimen.
High-cycle fatigue
 Historically, most attention has focused on situations
that require more than 104 cycles to failure where
stress is low and deformation primarily elastic.
Very high-cycle fatigue
 In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on
safely extending the service lives of existing transportation
and power generation systems beyond their original design
lifetimes.

 The need to reduce environmental impact and the need

for increased economic efficiency are driving the design of
new components and systems in which fatigue lifetimes as
long as 109 to 1010 cycles are required. Thus, there is global
interest in, and need for, improved understanding of the
fatigue behavior of structural materials in the very high
cycle fatigue (VHCF) regime.
Fatigue Crack Growth:
Analysis and Predictions
Introduction
 When a component or structural member is subject to
fluctuations in stress, it may lead to the development of
fatigue cracks.
 Fatigue cracks extend slowly, generally with a very small
increment of crack growth occurring with each cycle, and
with little or no evidence of plastic deformation.
 The cracks can continue to grow until they cause complete
failure of the component, member or structure by fast
fracture, plastic collapse or other mode which prevents
service duties being performed.
3 Stage in Fatigue Failures
 Stage 1: Formation of persistent slip bands (PSB) and
microscopic slips that eventually initiate micro fatigue
cracks

 Stage 2: Stable fatigue crack propagation. Crack propagate

normal to loading direction.

 Stage 3: Unstable (significant) crack propagation and rapid

failure
Total Fatigue Life
 The stages prior to the formation of a macroscopic crack
represent the initiation life of the component whilst the
remaining life after formation of such a crack is the
propagation life. Thus the overall fatigue life of a
component in general is as follows:

 Total life = Initiation life + Propagation life

Total Fatigue Life
 For cases where initial cracks are present, the initiation life
disappears and the whole life is occupied by the
propagation of the crack from the initial size to a final size
which is determined either by rapid fracture or by plastic
collapse of the remaining cross-section.

 In some applications the presence of initial crack-like flaws

is inherent to the manufacturing process. A particularly
important case where this applies is in welded structures
where tiny slag intrusions of the order of 0,1 to 0,4 mm
depth occur in the partially melted region at the weld toe.
The fatigue behavior of welded joints is therefore
dominated by the propagation life.
Inherent Flaws
Inherent Flaws
Fracture Mechanics in Fatigue Life
Prediction
 The application of fracture mechanics to fatigue behavior is
concerned with the propagation life since it is only during
this stage that a macroscopic crack is present.
 Thus for situations where no initial flaw is present, fracture
mechanics analyses can be used to estimate the
propagation part of the total life from assumed initial to
final flaw size.
 It is then necessary also to estimate the initiation life and
add this to the propagation life to get an estimate of the
total life.
Fracture Mechanics Crack
Propagation Behavior
 Paris proposed that the rate of crack propagation per cycle
should be controlled by the range of the stress intensity
factor for the cycle. The general relationship now known
universally as the Paris Law is as follows:

 C DK 
da m

dN
 da/dN is the rate of crack growth per cycle
 DK is the range of stress intensity factor at the crack tip
 C and m are material constants
Fatigue Crack Growth (FCG)

 C DK 
da m

dN
FCG
 Experimental work to investigate the relationship between
fatigue crack growth rate and range of stress intensity
factor can be presented on a graph of da/dN against DK.
 In general, such a graph on log-log scales shows three
regions. At the bottom end there is a threshold region of DK
below which cracks do not propagate. This threshold value,
DKth, is dependent on both mean stress and environmental
conditions.
 At the top end of the graph the rate of fatigue crack
propagation may be increased if the upper end of the
applied stress intensity factor range approaches the
material fracture toughness.
 In between these regions the graph is generally linear on
logarithmic scales.
FCG

 C DK 
da m

dN

 In the Paris Law, it can be seen that it predicts that log

da/dN should be proportional to log DK, so that the slope
of the straight line is the constant m, and the position of
the line is determined by the constant C.
 Thus the predictions of the Paris law are confirmed by
experiment for the central region of behavior
FCG
 The value of the crack propagation law exponent m is
found to lie between about 2.6 and 3.6 for different
materials and conditions.
 A typical value often taken for structural steels is m = 3.0.
 The corresponding value of C for crack propagation of
steels in air is about 2.0x10-13 in N/mm-3/2 units giving crack
propagation rate in mm/cycle.
 (The equivalent value of C in MPa m units is 6.32x10-15 for
DK in the same units, giving da/dN in m/cycle).
Fatigue Life Under Constant
Amplitude
 For the simple case of a central crack of length 2a in an
infinite plate subject to remote fluctuating tension stress
range D, the stress intensity factor range is given by:

DK  D a
 Putting this value into the expression of the Paris law, the
following result is obtained:

da
dN

 C D a m
Fatigue Life
 This can be re-arranged as a simple differential equation as follows:


da  C D a dN  m

 This expression can be integrated directly, and for the case of m = 3 for
example, this gives:


da  C D a dN 
3

 or
da
dN 

C D a  3

 and
1 af
N

C D 
3 a0
a 1.5 da
Integration of FCG rate
 If finite width correction factor or more complicate FCG
laws are necessary, it becomes more difficult to integrate
crack growth rate data analytically. Instead a numerical
approach must be used, as follows:
1. Choose a suitable increment of crack growth, Dai =ai+1-ai,
small enough to obtain sufficient accuracy
2. Calculate DK for the crack length corresponding to the
mean of the crack growth increment, (ai+1-ai)/2
3. Determine da/dN for this value of DK
4. Calculate DNi from Dai/(da/dN)
5. Repeat the previous steps over the required range of crack
growth and sum the values of DNi.
Example (Class Exercise)
 A thick plate has an extended length surface crack of
height 2 mm perpendicular to the surface and to
fluctuating applied stresses with a range of 100 N/mm2.
Assuming that the Paris law is valid with C = 2 x10-13 and
m=3, determine the life for the crack to grow to a height of
10 mm.
 C DK 
da m

dN
da
dN

 C Y .D a
m

1 af
3 a
1.5
N
 
a da
C D  0

K for several common geometries

Solution
 C DK 
da m

dN
da
dN

 C Y .D a
m

1 af
3 a
1.5
N
 
a da
C Y .D  0

N
1 a 
11.5 10
2

2 10 13 (1.12  200   0.5 ) 3 1  1.5

N  499645 cycles
 Assume that the value of KIC and the size of the flaw, a, are
specified; then, starting from:
K IC
K IC  f     a   c 
 , where c is the critical stress.
f  a
This relation means that, given the flaw size and the value
of the fracture toughness, that the applied stress can be no
greater than c. Consider another design problem in which
the stress level and the fracture toughness are both
prescribed; then we will find:
 K IC
K IC  f     ac    ac
f 
2
 K IC 
     ac
 f  
 Finally, we can determine the value of the critical flaw
size, ac , or the maximum allowable flaw size:
2
1  K IC 
ac   
  f  
Example (Homework)
 Consider a structural component, made of 4340 alloy steel.
The component is in the form of a very wide plate, thus
the geometry factor, f, can safely be assumed to equal 1.
 Two sheets of this alloy, each with different heat
treatments and thus different mechanical properties, are
available. Material A has a KIC = 98.9 MPam (90 kpsiin.),
and a yield strength of 860 MPa. Material B has a yield
strength of 1515 MPa and a plane strain fracture
toughness, KIC, of 60.4 MPam.
(a) For each alloy, determine whether or not plane strain
conditions apply if the plate is 10 mm (0.39 in.) thick.

(b) It is not possible (in this problem) to detect flaw sizes

less than 3 mm, because of the resolution limit of the
NDT (non-destructive test) apparatus. If the plate
thickness is sufficient, so that plane strain conditions
obtain and one can use the KIC values of the alloys,
determine whether or not a critical flaw is detectable.
Assume that the design (or working) stress is one-half of
the yield stress.
Solution
 Material A
 The thickness of the material should be greater
than
2
 K IC   
2

  0.033m  33mm1.30in.
98.9
W  2.5   2.5
   860 
 y 
 But the actual thickness is 10 mm, which is less
than the threshold thickness for plane strain
conditions. Instead, we have plane stress.
 Material B:
 Again , checking that we have plane strain conditions for
this alloy:
2
 60.4 
W  2.5   0.004m  4.0mm  10mm
 1515 
 So, plane strain occurs in Material B. Therefore, the critical
flaw size is:
2
 

1 60.4MPa m 
ac     0.002m  2.0mm0.079in.
  1 1515MPa 
  
  2 
 Unfortunately, the critical flaw size is less than the
minimum detectable flaw size, so it will not be picked up,
until it grows larger.
 Example
 A specimen of 4340 steel alloy having a plane strain fracture toughness
of 45 MPam is exposed to a stress of 1000 MPa. Will the specimen
experience fracture if it is known that the largest surface crack is 0.75
mm long? Assume that the geometry parameter f = 1.

 Solution
 This problem asks us to determine whether or not the 4340 steel alloy
specimen will fracture when exposed to a stress of 1000 MPa, given
the values of KIc, f, and the largest value of a in the material. This
requires that we solve for ac from the equation for the fracture
toughness. Thus
K IC 45MPa m
c    927MPa
Y a (1) ( )(0.75x10 m)
3

Therefore, fracture will most likely occur because this specimen will tolerate a
stress of 927 MPa before fracture, which is less than the applied stress of 1000
MPa
 Example

 Suppose that a wing component on an aircraft is fabricated

from an aluminum alloy that has a plane strain fracture
toughness KIC =40 MPam. It has been determined that
fracture results at a stress of 365 MPa when the maximum
internal crack length is 2.5 mm. For this same component
and alloy, compute the stress level at which fracture will
occur for a critical internal crack length of 4.0 mm.
Solution
 The value of ‘Y' from the equation KIC = Y a is calculated,
then used to calculate  for a second value of a.

K IC 40MPa m
Y   1.749
 a 365MPa   1.25 10 m 
3

 Then, we use the value of the geometry parameter, f, to

find the critical stress given some other critical internal flaw
size. Notice that we have used half of the internal flaw size
in this calculation, not the full flaw size. This goes back to
our understanding of internal cracks in a solid as elliptical
in shape, with a length of 2a, while surface cracks are
understood to form only one-half of the ellipse. The 'a' in
the plane strain fracture toughness definition is that half-
length of the ellipse.
 For an internal flaw of 4.0 mm = 4.0 x 10-3 m = 2a, then we
find a criticl stress of

K IC 40
c    288.5MPa

f   a 1.749 3.1415927 2.0 10
3
Example
 A large plate is fabricated from a steel alloy that has a
plane strain fracture toughness, KIC, of 55 MPam. If,
during service, the plate is exposed to a tensile stress of
200 MPa, find the minimum length of a surface crack that
will lead to fracture. Assume that the geometry factor, Y,
equals 1.0.
 Solution:
 The problem statement clearly is asking for the critical flaw
size. We can use the relationship:
2
1  55MPa m 
2
1  K IC 
 
1  3025m 
ac        
  Y      1.0200MPa   3.1415927 40,000 


 
 0.3183 7.563102  2.41102 m  2.41cm  ac
Fretting/Contact Fatigue
Introduction
 Fretting corrosion is primarily a surface damage
phenomenon occurring as a result of small cyclic
movements between two materials caused by cyclic
loading.
 FRETTING is a special wear process that occurs at the
contact area between two materials under load and
subject to slight relative movement by vibration or some
other force.
 Damage begins with local adhesion between mating
surfaces and progresses when adhered particles are
removed from a surface.
 When adhered particles are removed from the surface,
they may react with air or other corrosive environments.
 Affected surfaces show pits or grooves with surrounding
corrosion products.
 On ferrous metals, corrosion product is usually a very fine,
reddish iron oxide; on aluminum, it is usually black.
 The debris from fretting of noble metals does not oxidize.
Under fretting conditions, fatigue strength or endurance
limits can be reduced by as much as 50 to 70% during
fatigue testing
 During fretting fatigue, cracks can initiate at very low
stresses, well below the fatigue limit of non-fretted
specimens.
 In fatigue without fretting, the initiation of small cracks can
represent 90% of the total component life.
 The wear mode known as fretting can cause surface
microcrack initiation within the first several thousand
cycles, significantly reducing the component life.
 Additionally, cracks due to fretting are usually hidden by
the contacting components and are not easily detected. If
conditions are favorable for continued propagation of
cracks initiated by fretting, catastrophic failure can occur
Test set-up for fretting fatigue
Fretting fatigue damage
Fretting fatigue damage
Fretting fatigue damage
Fretting fatigue crack
Factors affecting fretting fatigue

 (a) Clamping pressure between the two surfaces.

 (b) Amplitude of the rubbing movements.
 (c) Materials involved.
 (d) Roughness of the rubbing surfaces.
 (e) Corrosive contributions of the environments.
 (f) Cyclic stress level.
 (g) Variable-amplitude loading.
Fretting joint
Corrosion Fatigue
 Introduction
 Corrosion fatigue – fatigue in a corrosive environment
 An aggressive environment can be harmful for the fatigue life of
a structure, and protection against corrosion is necessary.
 Designers must consider corrosion in service, not only in view of
fatigue.
 Corrosion is a time dependent process. As a consequence,
corrosion fatigue should depend on the time scale of the load
history.
 During fatigue at a low frequency, much more time is available
for a corrosion mechanism than during fatigue at a high
frequency.
Corrosion fatigue damage
Corrosion fatigue damage
Corrosion fatigue damage

Corrosion Fatigue in 316L Stainless Steel

There were signs of pitting

 Corrosion fatigue damage

Fine cracks (at arrows) inter-linking pits

associated with ant nest corrosion.

Cross-section showing ant nest

corrosion in a heat exchanger tube after
6 weeks from fabrication
Corrosion pit
Effect of salt water on S-N curves. Note the large reduction of fatigue limits.
Effect of salt water on S-N curves. Note the large reduction of fatigue limits.
FCG under corrosion fatigue
Thank you…