Fatigue (Part 1)

Professor A Chrysanthou
School of Engineering and Technology,
University of Hertfordshire

Mechanics and Properties of Materials Fracture of Materials 1

 Reading Materials - Fatigue
1. The Science and Engineering of Materials, D R Askeland
6.11 The fatigue test
6.12 Results of the fatigue test
6.13 Application of fatigue testing
23.2 Determining the fracture mechanism in metal failures

2. Materials Science and Engineering, W D Callister

8.7 Cyclic stresses
8.8 The S-N curve
8.9 Crack initiation and propagation
8.10 Crack propagation rate
8.11 Factors affecting fatigue life
8.12 Environmental Effects

Mechanics and Properties of Materials Fracture of Materials 2

 Reading Materials - Fatigue
3. Mechanical Metallurgy, G E Dieter
12.1 Introduction to fatigue of metals
12.2 Stress cycles
12.3 The S-N curve
12.4 Statistical nature of fatigue
12.5 Effect of mean stress on fatigue
12.9 Structural features of fatigue
12.10 Fatigue crack propagation
12.11 Effect of stress concentration on fatigue
12.13 Surface effects and fatigue
12.17 Design for fatigue
12.20 Corrosion fatigue

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 Fatigue Introduction
Definition
Failure is progressive localised damage of a
material/component when subjected to fluctuating or
vibrating loads
It accounts for about 80% of engineering failures
Historical
First article on fatigue was published in 1837
The Versailles train crash of 1842 was attributed to axle
failure due to fatigue
The De Havilland Comet involved in 3 crashes and
grounded in 1954; the investigation that followed
showed explosive cabin failure due to fatigue was
responsible
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 Fatigue Introduction
Signs of fatigue
Occurs unseen and without obvious warning
Presence of fluctuating/vibrating stresses
Presence of stress concentrations (macro or micro)
Occurs at nominal stresses lower than the yield stress
Occurs over a long period of time
Characteristic fracture surface

Mechanism
Fluctuating stress causes crack formation (at a stress
concentration usually), which grows slowly at first but
then speeds up, until the remaining load-bearing
material fractures

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Fatigue crack starting at a weld defect

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 How does fatigue failure occur?
Fatigue fracture occurs as a result of a crack
that starts at some discontinuity in the material
(or at some other location of stress
concentration)
The crack grows under the repeated
application of a load
As the crack grows, the stress on the load-
bearing section increases until it reaches a
high enough stress level to cause catastrophic
failure
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 Fatigue Fracture Appearance

Mechanics and Properties of Materials Fracture of Materials Turbine Blade Fir-Tree Fixing 8
 Fatigue Fracture Appearance
Fast fracture
zone (coarse)
Fatigue fracture zone
(smooth, beachmarked)

Stem of a bolt, failed due to

offset load under the head Crack
initiation
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 Fatigue Fracture Appearance

Low Fatigue Stress High Fatigue Stress

Fast fracture
zone

Crack initiation
point

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 Fatigue Example

Turbine Shaft
Commissioned in
1932
Defect introduced
in 1932
Final fast fracture
in 1951, 19 years
later..

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Case Study De Havilland Comet
De Havilland Comet 1 - the
worlds first jet-enginned
passenger airliner (1952)
built here in Hatfield
Competition between the
USA (Boeing) and the UK
to produce the most
successful commercial
aeroplane
Comet prototype first flew
in 1949 and the first
commercial flight in 1952
(Boeing in 1958)

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 flown and presented to the
world

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 Case Study De Havilland Comet
Crack
growth

Accidents in 3 aircraft explosive cabin failure, attributed to fatigue

failure after 1000+ cabin pressurisation cycles
Fatigue crack growth from stress concentrations at square windows
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 Comet simulation studies
Large tank was built to
hold the aircraft
Pressurisation and
depressurisation cycles
were simulated by filling
and emptying the cabin
with water
Cracks were observed to
initiate and grow at square
windows
Stress concentration at
square windows
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 Comet 3 (with oval windows)

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Stress Cycles (Constant Amplitude Fatigue)

Reversed
Stress Cycle
a

r
a

Repeated
Pulsating
Stress Cycle
Stress Cycle

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 DEFINITIONS
STRESS RANGE = MAX - MIN

STRESS AMPLITUDE = (MAX - MIN) / 2

MEAN STRESS = (MAX + MIN) / 2

R (IN SOME SOURCES, r) RATIO

= MIN / MAX

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 Stress Cycles (Variable Amplitude Fatigue)
(a) Realistic Constant (b) Recording of a fluctuating
Stress
Amplitude Fatigue stress on a car axle

Time

Ascent Cruise Descent

Stress

(c) Typical
stress-time
plot for the Gusts
lower Refuelling
Time
wing skin 0
of an
aircraft Taxing
loads
Touch
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down
 STRESS CYCLES
REVERSED STRESS CYCLE
- STRESS CYCLE IS SYMMETRICAL
AROUND ZERO MEAN STRESS
REPEATED STRESS CYCLE
- STRESS CYCLE IS ASYMMETRICAL
AROUND ZERO MEAN STRESS

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Fatigue Data Presentation S-N Curves
Low Cycle Fatigue High Cycle Fatigue
Tensile
Stress Amplitude (S) (a)

Strength

Yield
Strength

Fatigue Limit

1
/4 1 10 102 103 104 105 106 107
Number of Cycles to Failure ()
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 S-N Curves Variations
S S-N curve for steels, Ti
alloys, some Al alloys
For steels, the fatigue limit
is about 0.4 to 0.5 the tensile
strength

Fatigue Limit
S-N curve for Al, Cu, Mg
& their alloys

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

Fatigue Strength at 106 cycles Fatigue Strength at 108 cycles

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 S-N Curves and Probability (P)
Stress P

P = 0.9
P = 0.99
S1

P = 0.01
P = 0.1 P = 0.5

N
102 103 104 105 106 107
Representation of the statistical nature of fatigue, showing the
probability (P) of fatigue failure occurring at stress amplitude S 1,
showing a range in life from ~3000 to 2000000 cycles of stress.
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 S-N Curves Real Data

Sa
(x103 Ib/in2)

104 105 106 107 108

Naturally Aged Aluminium-Copper-Magnesium Alloy (AA2024)
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 SCATTER IN FATIGUE DATA
The scatter in fatigue data is due to fatigue
sensitivity to a number of test and materials
parameters including:
- differences in specimen fabrication
- differences in surface preparation
- mean stress, frequency, specimen alignment
- variation in the properties of the samples

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 Effect of Mean Stress on Fatigue Life
An increase in mean (static) stress
(b)

Stress ()
(right) applied to a material reduces (a)
the stress amplitude required to cause
fatigue fracture in a given time period
(m)
(below)
(a)
(a)
0
Stress Amplitude (a)

(b)

Gerber Parabola
S
Goodman Line
Soderberg Line (a)

(b)
N
YS TS Mean
Stress (m)
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 Goodman line
The Goodman relation can be represented
mathematically as:
alt = lim x (1 - mean/ts)

alt = alternating stress amplitude

lim = fatigue limit
mean = mean stress
ts = ultimate tensile stress

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 Factors affecting fatigue
Stress concentrations (changes in area, holes
sharp corners, scratches, etc.)
Residual stresses (tensile residual stresses
cause fatigue, compressive residual stresses
improve resistance to fatigue)
Temperature (as it increases it can cause
corrosion)
Microstructure (inclusions, impurities, etc.
can act as nuclei for fatigue cracks)

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