Yarmouk University

Hijjawi Faculty of Engineering Technology

Mechanical Engineering Department
Strength of Material Lab (ME 228)
Experiment No Fatigue Test.
BY Dr. AMMAR

Objectives: -

1-To draw the S-N diagram with the help of fatigue test.
2-To study the effect of various curvature radii and surface qualities on fatigue.
3-To analytically approximate the fatigue damage accumulated in a part which is subjected to a
known fatigue spectrum.

Introduction: -

In the early 1800’s some machine failures occurred which raised the interest of Engineers at that
time about these failures . The point of interest was centered on the failure of various mechanical
components subjected to stresses below the tensile strength of the material. There was no apparent
flaw in the materials or workmanship; the only common factor was that all components had been
subjected to cyclical stress. This type of failure was called ‘fatigue’ as it was considered that the
fractures occurred due to the metal becoming weak or ‘tired’.
A perusal of the broken parts in almost any scrap yard will reveal that the majority of failures occur
at stresses below the yield strength. This is a result of the phenomenon called fatigue which has
been estimated to be responsible for up to 90% of the in-service part failures which occur in
industry. If a bar of steel is repeatedly loaded and unloaded at say 85% of its’ yield strength, it will
ultimately fail in fatigue if it is loaded through enough cycles. Also, even though steel ordinarily
elongates approximately 30% in a typical tensile test, almost no elongation is evident in the
appearance of fatigue fractures. Basic fatigue testing involves the preparation of carefully polished
test specimens (surface flaws are stress concentrators) which are cycled to failure at various values
of constant amplitude alternating stress levels. The data are condensed into an alternating Stress, S,
versus Number of cycles to failure, N, curve which is generally referred to as a material’s S-N
curve. As one would expect, the curves clearly show that a low number of cycles are needed to
cause fatigue failures at high stress levels while low stress levels can result in sudden, unexpected
failures after a large number of cycles. Background Definition: Fatigue is the condition whereby a
material cracks or fails as a result of repeated (cyclic) stresses applied below the ultimate strength
of the material.

Fatigue failures generally involve three stages:

1. Crack Initiation.
2. Crack Propagation.
3. Fast Fracture.
Fatigue failures often occur quite suddenly with catastrophic (disastrous) results and although
most insidious for metals, polymers and ceramics (except for glasses) are also susceptible to
sudden fatigue failures. Fatigue causes brittle like failures even in normally ductile materials with
little gross plastic deformation occurring prior to fracture. The process occurs by the initiation and
propagation of cracks and, ordinarily, the fracture surface is close to perpendicular to the direction
of maximum tensile stress. Applied stresses may be axial (tension-compression), flexural (bending)
or torsional (twisting) in nature. In general, there are three possible fluctuating stress-time modes
possible. The simplest is completely reversed constant amplitude where the alternating stress varies
from a maximum tensile stress to a minimum compressive stress of equal magnitude. The second
type, termed repeated constant amplitude, occurs when the maxima and minima are asymmetrical
relative to the zero-stress level. Lastly, the stress level may vary randomly in amplitude and
frequency which is merely termed random cycling

Figure 1. Schematic Illustrating the Cyclic Loading Parameters.

Figure 2. Constant Amplitude (CA) loading Figure 3. Variable Amplitude (VA) loading
 Some important relationships between the stresses are presented below. Note that stress is
represented by S, the symbol used in the Imperial system. σ is the equivalent in S.I.units.

Tensile stresses are normally considered positive and compressive stresses are considered
negative. The Fatigue Life (Nf) of a component is defined by the total number of stress
cycles required to cause failure. Fatigue Life can be separated into three stages where
Nf = Ni + Np

The S - N Curve; -

The S - N curve is a graphical method of presenting fatigue data. The easiest data to obtain
consists of the applied stress and the number of cycles to failure at that stress. Three forms of
graph are used, of which the middle form is the most common.

The number of cycles to failure is called the endurance of

the specimen. At high stress levels the endurance is low, and the converse is true. The last
two plots show three distinct regions of behavior. The initial gentle slope covers a low
endurance range. At the end of the second region is a distance bend or knee. In the third
region the shape depends on the material. Steel and ferrous alloys exhibit a final region
which is parallel to the N axis. Non-ferrous materials have a steadily decreasing slope curve.
The stress at which the ferrous S - N curve becomes parallel to the N axis is called the fatigue
limit. At stresses below this limit, it seems that fatigue failure cannot occur. Non-ferrous
materials do not show such a limit and it is possible to plot the S - N curve out to 108 and
beyond. However, such testing is somewhat pointless for fairly obvious reasons.
 The Mechanism of Fatigue: The fatigue process begins with the atomic structure of the metal
crystals. There are two distinct phases. The first is the development of a crack and the second
is the propagation of this crack to specimen failure. Research observations have found that
the first indications occur on the surface of the specimen. Some crystals develop bands after a
certain number of cycles. These slip bands occur as a result of sliding or shearing of atomic
planes within a crystal. Additional cycles cause further displacement to the point where the
bands are much broader, and separation occurs within one of the bands. This separation is the
formation of a crack. More recent explanations of the initial formation start with natural
dislocations which occur in the atomic lattice of a crystal. Repeated stress causes local
microplastic deformation at the dislocation site and allows dislocations to move through a
crystal. A dislocation moves freely until it reaches the edge of a crystal, where it can go no
further. Eventually enough dislocations accumulate at a crystal boundary to initiate a crack.
In most metals there are 1010 dislocations within 1cm3 of metal.
Propagation of a crack depends upon many factors, including the shape of the crack tip.
Final fracture is very complex and still not fully understood. The fracture area tends to show
very little plastic deformation in the area of the crack. It is also quite usual to find a very
smooth surface. This surface is sometimes covered by a family of marks which look like
ripple marks on a sandy beach. At first it was thought that this was evidence of a
discontinuous propagation mechanism in the crack. However later research has shown that
the smooth almost glassy area fractures at a single instant with a velocity approaching the
speed of light. The ripple marks are due to reflected stress waves in the material and are
called Walner lines.

Theoretical Prediction of Fatigue Failure: -

As yet there is no mathematical theory available which can predict fatigue failure. However,
there are several empirical laws which give a reliable guide as to the possibility of failure. It
is usual to plot a diagram of semi range of stress s a against mean stress sm. This is the sa - sm
diagram. The empirical laws are:

Where:
: Effective alternating stress at failure for a lifetime of
Nf cycles

: Ultimate strength

: Yield strength

: Fatigue strength coefficient

: Mean normal stress for a cycle

 Figure 4. Comparison of four correction methods for mean stress effect

Experimental procedures: -

The objective of the experiments is to produce an S - N curve for a material. If time permits
more than one material may be tested.
The Apparatus: The apparatus is illustrated upon page three of this manual. A test specimen
is firmly gripped in the machine spindle. Its outer end is clamped in a loading device by
which a load is applied and shown on a digital display. The machine spindle is driven by an
electric motor and covered by a hinged guard which is interlocked with the motor power
supply.
Total spindle revolutions and thus stress cycles are displayed on the self-powered meter. This
can only be re-set using the key operated switch adjacent to it. Should the power fail and
interrupt a test the cycle count is retained by the instrument. The load is manually applied by
the adjuster and spring system.
The specimen is essentially a cantilevered specimen subjected to an alternating stress cycle
whose average is zero.

Procedure: -

1- Open the hinged guard

2- Remove any old pieces of specimen from the spindles - see notes on the ER collet
system.
3- Place a new specimen in the machine spindle. The full bar diameter should always be
in the collet, if not the collet will not close and grip properly. Now tighten the collet
nut using the provided nut wrench and spanner.
4-Insert the specimen into the loading spindle so that the collet nut faces are 50mm apart
and the center of the necked section of the specimen is mid-way between the two.
Then tighten the loading spindle collet with the wrench and spanner, as before.
5-Rotate the spindle and specimen assembly by hand to check it is rotating easily and
smoothly. If there is undue resistance or the loading spindle appears to move
 eccentrically it is likely that the ER collet is NOT correctly engaged in its nut.
Remove the specimen and check the ER collets as per collet fitting instructions.
6- Take up any slack in the loading system and apply a light load, say 2 or 3N; 0.2 to
0.3kg; only.
7- Press the RED button on the display to tare or zero the load reading.
8- Close the guard. If the machine has power available, the specimen sensor should have
an LED indicator lit on its body. Note: - the specimen sensor registers on the collet
nut,4
9- Zero the counter with the key.
10- Start the machine, if it will not start check that the emergency stop is released.
11- Increase the spring balance load to achieve the desired stress level.
12-When the specimen fails the machine will stop automatically. Note the cycle count
before re-setting.

Fig 5. fatigue test machine

1- Machine spindle 9- Power inlet

2- Collet nut 10-Mounting foot
3- Test specimen 11-Start-stop button
4- Collet nut > < 50 mm 5 Loading spindle 12-Base
6- Loading bearing 13-Spindle guard
7- Load cell 14-Load cell
8- Specimen sensor
Specimen Stress for Applied Load:-

The load is applied as a cantilevered load at 125mm from the smallest diameter of the neck.
The neck stress can be calculated from the elasticity theory and is given by: -

Fig 5. The tested specimens: (Unit: mm).

Results: Tabulate your results as below: -

The 8-digit counter will record every revolution of the shaft. However, trying to plot the last
few digits of a six- or seven-digit number is meaningless. To obtain an accuracy of 1% in our
readings we need to only consider the first four digits of a number and then quote the first
three.

EX.
8974362 = 897000 to 3 s.f. ( s.f. = significant figures).
6255971 = 626000 to 3 s.f.
2328757 = 233000 to 3 s.f.
plot your experimental data upon an S - N diagram, use S - log 10 N:-

As each test
may take several hours, particularly at the lower stress level, it will not be possible to obtain a
complete set of results in a single laboratory session.
It is suggested that a class is divided into groups of two or three and each group performs one
test. The complete set of test data may then be collated to obtain the full experimental plot.
For the given stress conditions applied, calculate the empirical laws given in the theory
section of this manual. Further Work: The specimen geometry changes very gradually and
thus there are no stress concentrations present due to the shape of the specimen. Prepare
specimens. Take account of the stress concentration factor and again obtain an S - N curve.
What effect does stress concentration have upon fatigue limit?

Figure 6: Graph between load and number of revolutions.

Discussion: -
The results verify the theory. Fatigue strength is the highest stress that a material can
withstand for a given No of cycles without rupture. There are two types of fatigue. 1. Normal
Fatigue. 2. Thermal Fatigue. Fatigue failure is catastrophic means something happens
suddenly. Endurance can be defined as # of cycles which the specimen rotates before it fails.
Endurance and # of cycles are same. Crack Initiation is the starting of crack development in
the weaker part of the specimen. The factors that may affect the fatigue life of the specimen
are magnitude of stress, quality of surface, material, surface roughness, surface treatments,
imperfection in assemblies of components etc. We can upgrade the fatigue life and surface
hardness of steel alloys by heat treatment (carburizing). Thermal fatigue is a specific type of
fatigue failure mechanism that is induced by cyclic stresses from repetitive fluctuations in the
temperature of equipment. Our experiment does not belong to the thermal fatigue since a
mechanical load was applied. When the specimen has good surface finish, it has higher
fatigue life.

References:-
 Fundamentals of Materials Science & Engineering by William D Callister, Jr &
David. Rethwish, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007, 3rd Edition.
 Materials Science in Engineering, fourth edition,by Keyser, Carl A., (1986).
 Reprinted by permission of Prentice-Hall, Inc.,Upper Saddle River, NJ.)
 Callister Jr, W. D., & Rethwisch, D. G. (2020). Fundamentals of materials science
and engineering: an integrated approach. John Wiley & Sons.