Professional Documents
Culture Documents
METAL FATIGUE
INTRODUCTION
It has long been known that a component subjected to
fluctuating stresses may fail at stress levels much lower than its
monotonic fracture strength, due to a process called Fatigue.
A form of failure that occur in structure subjected to dynamic and
cyclic stresses.
Possible failure at a stress level lower than the tensile or yield
strength for a static load and after a lengthy period of repeated
stress or strain cycling.
It is believed that more than 95 % of all mechanical failures can
be attributed to fatigue.
Many engineering materials such as those used in cars, planes,
turbine engines, machinery, shoes, etc are subjected constantly
to repetitive stresses in the form of tension, compression,
bending, vibration, thermal expansion and contraction or other
stresses.
Reversed stress
cycle
Repeated stress
cycle
Random stress
cycle
MECHANISM OF FATIGUE
FAILURE
Consider a ductile material which is subjected to
simple alternating tensile and compressive stresses
There are typically three stages to fatigue failure
The Process of
Fatigue
The Materials Science Perspective:
Cyclic slip,
Fatigue crack initiation,
Stage I fatigue crack growth,
Stage II fatigue crack growth,
Crack nucleation:
During the first few cycles
of loading, localized
changes take place in the structure at various places
within the material.
These
changes
lead
to
the
formation
of
submicroscopic cracks.
Low Cycle Fatigue
Based on the LCF local strain philosophy, fatigue
cracks initiate as a result of repeated plastic strain
cycling at the locations of maximum strain
concentration.
Crack growth:
The submicroscopic cracks formed grow as the cycles
of loading continue and become microscopic cracks.
Crack propagation:
If a crack exits in the component before it goes unto
service for example due to weld fabrication or from
some other cause, the 'initiation stage is by-passed
and the fatigue failure process is taken up entirely
with incremental growth and final fracture.
Macroscopic Examination
Microscopic Examination
start
End
progres
s
SEM image
Finer markingsStriations
Intrusions
Clamshell/beach
and
Extrusions
markings motion leads to PERSISTENT SLIP BANDS (PSBs)
Dislocation
14
CRACK
CRACK Propagation
Propagation
Mechanism
Mechanism !!
Cyclic Load
Crack Initiation
(microcrack)
Fracture
We will study Crack propagation Stages again once we get familiarize with
the loading cycles
Atta ul Haq GIK Institute-Fall 2013
15
16
Stress
a)
max
One
cycle
min
Range
stress
peak :
peak
min
;
Stress
amplitude:
peak:
Time
b)
peak
max
peak
a
peak
max
mipeak
n
Mean stress :
peak
m
peak
peak
max
min
;
2
Stress
Stress ratio :
One
reversal
Time
mipeak
R penak
max
0
18
WOHLER or S-N
DIAGRAM,
Figure 1
The S-N curves for a tool steel and an aluminum alloy showing
the number of cycles to failure
Endurance Limit
For some materials such as BCC steels and Ti alloys,
the S-N curves become horizontal when the stress
amplitude is decreased to a certain level.
This stress level is called the Fatigue Limit, or
Endurance Limit, which is typically ~35-60% of the
tensile strength for steels.
In some materials, including steels, the endurance
limit is approximately half (50%) the tensile strength
given by:
endurance limit
Endurance ratio
0.5
tensile strength
Fatigue life
Tells us how long a component survives at particular stress.
For example if the tool steel (Figure 1) is cyclically subjected to an
applied stress at 90,000 psi the fatigue life will be 100,000 cycles.
Fatigue Strength:
For materials, which do not show a fatigue limit, i.e., the S-N curves do
not become horizontal such as Al, Cu, and Mg (non-ferrous alloys), and
some steels with a FCC structure,
fatigue strength is specified as the stress level at which failure will
occur for a specified number of cycles, where 107 cycles is often used.
Fatigue strength is necessary for designing with aluminum and
polymers which have no endurance limit.
Fatigue Life
Crack Growth Rate
To estimate whether a crack will grow, the stress
intensity factor (K), which characterizes the crack
geometry and the stress amplitude can be used.
Below a threshold K a crack doesnt grow.
For somewhat higher stress intensities, the cracks grow
slowly.
For still higher stress-intensities a crack grows at a rate
given by:
da
dN
C K
Stress Intensity
Factor
K
In Cyclic
Loading,
we define , K;
K = Kmax Kmin
= Y (Smax Smin)
risErdogan Equation:
Fatigue Life
26
Fatigue testing
Cantilever loading
27
Stress-Corrosion Failure
Stress corrosion happens when a material
reacts with corrosive chemicals in its
environment.
Two good examples,
salt on the roads reacting with the steel in
cars causing reduced lifetime of the cars
components such as its frame and
suspension system.
salt in the ocean reacting with boats and
their moorings where the corrosion reduces
the life of the engine, which is cooled by the
salt water, and the structural integrity of the
boat is jeopardized if salt water sits in the
Stress-Corrosion Failure
Stress-corrosion will cause failure of materials
below their yield strength because the corrosion will
cause cracks to form, usually along grain
boundaries.
Usually if there is a corrosion product on the
surface where a crack is inside the material.
The surface flaws themselves can be nucleation
sites for crack growth.
Usually materials are coated to reduce or prevent
corrosion. The automotive industry has shown
excellent results by applying metal coatings (Sn)
and polymer coatings on the sheet steel used on
the body of cars.
Fatigue control
1. Consider actual stresses, including stress concentrations, rather
than to nominal average stresses.
2. Visualize load transfer from one part or section to another and the
distortions that occur during loading to locate points of high stress
3. Avoid adding secondary brackets, fittings, handles, steps, bosses,
grooves, and openings at locations of high stress
4. Use gradual changes in section and symmetry of design to reduce
secondary flexure
5. Consider location and types of joints (frequent cause of fatigue
problems)
6. Use double shear joints when possible
7. Do not use rivets for carrying repeated tensile loads (bolts superior)
8. Avoid open and loosely filled holes
If the point representing the stress amplitude and mean stress for
any given set of condition lies within the area bounded by the axes
and the Goodman line the shaded area, then according to the
Goodman relationship the material should not be fail by fatigue.
Surface treatment
Surface polishing
Polish the surface to remove stress amplification sites
Shot peening
Imposing residual compressive stress within a thin outer
surface layer
Case hardening
By a carburizing or nitriding process whereby a
component is exposed to a carbonaceous or nitrogenous
atmosphere at an elevated temperature
ANY QUESTION????????