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The Characteristics of the Fatigue Life of the SAE 1541 Carbon Steel Based on
the Strain-Life Approach

Article  in  Key Engineering Materials · January 2021

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Key Engineering Materials Submitted: 2020-04-24
ISSN: 1662-9795, Vol. 872, pp 73-77 Revised: 2020-06-05
© 2021 Trans Tech Publications Ltd, Switzerland Accepted: 2020-06-10
Online: 2021-01-11

The Characteristics of the Fatigue Life of the SAE 1541 Carbon Steel
Based on the Strain-Life Approach
RAUZATUL Akmala, HUSAINIb* and TEUKU Edisah Putrac
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Darussalam 23111,
Banda Aceh, Indonesia
a
rauz19@mhs.unsyiah.ac.id, bhusainiftm@unsyiah.ac.id, cedi@unsyiah.ac.id

Keywords: Failure, Stress, Amplitude

Abstract. The aim of this study was to characterize the fatigue life of the SAE 1541 carbon steel. The
fatigue life was predicted based on the strain-life approach through the application of constant and
variable strain data with negative, zero, and positive mean values. Each strain data was developed at
amplitude range of 200 µε, 400 µε, 600 µε, 800 µε, 1,000 µε, 1,200 µε, 1,400 µε, 1,600 µε, 1,800 µε,
and 2,000 µε. The results showed there was no significant difference in the fatigue life for negative,
zero, and positive mean strain amplitudes using the Coffin-Manson model. This is due to the non-
consideration of the mean strain effect by the Coffin-Manson model. However, according to the
Morrow and SWT models, negative mean strain data gave a longer fatigue life while positive mean
strain data gave a shorter life. In addition, variable strain data gave a longer fatigue life since they
contain low and high amplitudes, with the low amplitudes contributing to minimum fatigue damage.

Introduction
One type of failure in the engineering field is fatigue and it is caused by continuous constant or
variable amplitude loadings (CALs or VALs) leading to loss of ductility and, consequently, the failure
of a component. It is also caused by stress below the yield strength and found to occur locally,
permanently and gradually [1,2]. The prediction of a fatigue life requires the experimental
measurement of the strain data and an accurate method of conducting this is through the strain-life
approach which considers the plastic events occurring in certain areas. However, this approach has
been discovered to be suitable only for CALs with no certain results shown for VALs [3]. This is
associated with the lack of consideration for the cycle sequence effect by the combination of the
Palmgren-Miner rule with the strain-life approach [2,4,5]. Therefore, considering the assumption that
strain data generally has a VAL, the aim of this study was to identify the fatigue life characteristics
of strain data based on the strain-life approach.

Materials and Method

In this study, strain data with the amplitude ranges of 200 µε, 400 µε, 600 µε, 800 µε, 1,000 µε,
1,200 µε, 1,400 µε, 1,600 µε, 1,800 µε, and 2,000 µε were developed with each consisting six
conditions which are the negative CAL, zero CAL, positive CAL, negative VAL, zero VAL, and
positive VAL. In total, sixty strain data were developed and the example of a 200 µε is shown in
Fig. 1.

All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of Trans
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 74 Applied Engineering, Materials and Mechanics IV

-900 100 1100

-950 50 1050

-1000 0 1000

Strain (µe)

Strain (µe)
Strain (µe)

-1050 -50 950

-1100 -100 900

0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02

Time (s) Time (s) Time (s)

(a) (b) (c)

-900 100 1100

-950 50 1050

-1000 0 1000
Strain (µe)
Strain (µe)

Strain (µe)
-1050 -50 950

-1100 -100 900

0 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.020 0.025 0 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.020 0.025 0 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.020 0.025

Time (s) Time (s) Time (s)

(d) (e) (f)

Fig. 1 Strain data with the amplitude ranges of 200 µε: (a) negative CAL, (b) zero CAL, (c) positive
CAL, (d) negative VAL, (e) zero VAL, and (f) positive VAL.

The Coffin-Manson model [6,7] combining the elastic and plastic strains is defined by:
'
σ f
(2N f ) ( )
b c
'
=ε + ε f 2N f (1)
E

where ε is the strain amplitude, σ'f is the fatigue strength coefficient, E is the material modulus of
elasticity, Nf is the number of cycles, b is the fatigue strength exponent, ε'f is the fatigue ductile
coefficient and c is the fatigue ductile exponent.
The Morrow model [8] calculates the mean stress σmean by adjusting the elastic strain-life curve,
which is:
'
σ f − σ mean
( ) ( )
b c
'
ε 2N f + ε f 2N f (2)
E

One more model considering the mean stress is the Smith-Watson-Topper (SWT) parameter [9],
represented mathematically as follows:
' 2
σ f 2b
(2N f ) ( )
b+c
' '
=σ max ε + σ f ε f 2N f (3)
E

where σmax is the maximum stress amplitude.

Fatigue damage for each loading cycle Di is:

1
Di = (4)
Nf

Then, the cumulative fatigue damage was calculated through the use of the Palmgren-Miner rule
[10,11], defined by:
 Key Engineering Materials Vol. 872 75

 ni 
D = ∑  (5)
Nf 
 
where ni is the number of applied cycles.
For the purpose of simulation, the material used was the SAE 1541 carbon steel which is often
used in manufacturing gears, shafts, and other engine components. The mechanical properties of this
material are stated in Table 1.

Table 1 Mechanical properties of the SAE 1541 carbon steel [12]

Properties Values
Ultimate tensile strength, Su [MPa] 1200
Material modulus of elasticy, E [GPa] 207
Fatigue strength coefficient, σ'f [MPa] 2980
Fatigue strength exponent, b -0.15
Fatigue ductility exponent, c -0.61
Fatigue ductility coefficient, ε’f 0.68

Results and Discussion

Fig. 2 shows the strain-life curves of the CALs and VALs based on the Coffin-Manson model.
These curves reveal that the model gave an identical fatigue life for negative, zero, and positive mean
strains. This is due to the assumption of zero-mean values for the strain data by the Coffin-Manson
model [13]. This, therefore, means strain data with the same range amplitude gives identical fatigue
life, despite the difference in mean strain values.

2000 2000
Negative mean Negative mean
Zero mean Zero mean

1500 Positive mean 1500 Positive mean

1000 1000
Strain (µe)

Strain (µe)

500 500

0 0
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

Fatigue life (reversals of blocks) Fatigue life (reversals of blocks)

(a) (b)
Fig. 2 The fatigue-life based on the Coffin-Manson model: (a) CALs, (b) VALs

A contrasting condition is presented in Figs. 3 and 4 where both the Morrow and SWT models,
respectively, showed that strain data with a negative mean strain gave a longer fatigue life while those
with positive mean strain accelerated the fatigue life. These results were similar to what was reported
by Zakaria et al. [2], Khan et al. [14], and Bruchhausen et al. [15]. Moreover, in comparison with the
Morrow model, the SWT model gave a significant difference between negative, zero, and positive
mean strains.
Furthermore, the curves also show that VALs have a longer fatigue life due to the presence of low
and high amplitudes with the low ones found to be leading to minimum damage and longer life
[5,13,16,17]. In real applications, most of the fatigue data show several behaviors which lead to
various challenges [14]. Therefore, fatigue tests are complex and could sometimes be time-consuming
[4,13,18-20].
76 Applied Engineering, Materials and Mechanics IV

2000 2000
Negative mean Negative mean
Zero mean Zero mean

1500 Positive mean 1500 Positive mean

1000 1000
Strain (µe)

Strain (µe)
500 500

0 0
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

Fatigue life (reversals of blocks) Fatigue life (reversals of blocks)

(a) (b)
Fig. 3 The fatigue-life based on the Morrow model: (a) CALs, (b) VALs
2000 2000
Negative mean Negative mean
Zero mean Zero mean

1500 Positif mean 1500 Positive mean

1000 1000
Strain (µe)

Strain (µe)

500 500

0 0
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

Fatigue life (reversals of blocks) Fatigue life (reversals of blocks)

(a) (b)
Fig. 4 The fatigue-life based on the SWT model: (a) CALs, (b) VALs

Conclusion
This research was conducted to characterize the fatigue life of the SAE 1541 carbon steel subjected
to CALs and VALs with negative, zero, and positive mean values based on the strain-life approach.
Based on the assumption by the Coffin-Manson model that strain data have a zero-mean value, the
model gave the same fatigue life for negative, zero, and positive mean strain. These results were
different from those provided by the Morrow and SWT models, where negative mean strain gave a
longer fatigue life and positive mean strain gave a shorter life. In addition, VALs have a longer fatigue
life due to the presence of low and high amplitudes with the low contributing to the minimum fatigue
damage.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Universitas Syiah Kuala for providing financial support to this
research through Professor Research Grant No. 22/UN11.2.1/PT.01.03/ PNBP/2020.

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