Material Science Fatigue and Creep

MATERIAL SCIENCE
MODULE IV
FATIGUE AND CREEP
CHAPTER I - FATIGUE
INTRODUCTION
Failure of a material component is the loss of ability to function normally or
to perform the intended job.
Three general ways failure:
▪ Excessive elastic deformation, E.g.: buckling. Controlled by design and
elastic modulus of the material.
▪ Excessive plastic deformation, Controlled by yield strength of the material.
E.g.: loss of shape, creep and/ or stress rupture at elevated temperatures.
▪ Fracture, involves complete disruption of continuity of a component –
under static load: brittle or ductile, under fluctuating/cyclic load: fatigue,
mode in which most machine parts fail in service.
Prof.Prakash Katdare,MANET,Pune 05/25/2020 2

Fracture
▪ Fracture is considered as end result of plastic deformation process.
▪ It is separation of body under stress into two or more parts.
▪ Separation is caused by physical or chemical forces.
Process of Fracture
▪ Crack initiation
▪ Crack propagation
Types of Fracture
▪ Ductile Fracture
▪ Brittle Fracture

Ductile Fracture

Ductile fracture in tension occurs after appreciable plastic deformation.
It is usually preceded by necking.
It exhibits three stages –

(1) formation of cavities / neck formation under tensile loads.
(2) growth of cavities
(3) final failure involving rapid crack propagation at about 45º to the tensile axis.
(crack grows perpendicular to axis of specimen; then it propagates along localized
shear plane roughly at 45º).

Brittle fracture / Cleavage Fracture

Brittle fracture in takes place with little or no preceding plastic deformation.
▪ It occurs, often at unpredictable levels of stress, by rapid crack propagation.
▪ Crack propagates nearly perpendicular to the direction of applied tensile stress,
and hence called cleavage fracture.
▪ Most often brittle fracture occurs through grains i.e. transgranular.
▪ Three stages of brittle fracture-
(1) plastic deformation that causes dislocation pile-ups at obstacles,
(2)micro-crack nucleation as a result of build-up of shear stresses,
(3)eventual crack propagation under applied stress aided by stored elastic energy.

Fatigue
▪ Fatigue fracture is defined as the fracture which takes place under repeatedly
applied stresses.
▪ Fatigue is a phenomenon associated with variable loading or more precisely to
cyclic stressing or straining of a material.
▪ Just as we human beings get fatigue when a specific task is repeatedly performed,
in a similar manner metallic components subjected to variable loading get fatigue,
which leads to their premature failure under specific conditions.
▪ Fatigue behavior is marked by
1. Loss of strength
2. Loss of ductility
3. Increased uncertainity in both strength and service life.

▪ Fatigue causes over 85% of operating failures of machine elements.
▪ A fatigue failure occurs without any warning.
▪ It occurs at stresses well before the tensile strength of the materials.
▪ The tendency of fatigue fracture increases with the increase in temperature and
higher rate of straining.
▪ The fatigue fracture takes place due to the micro cracks at the surface of the materials.
▪ It results in, to and fro motion of dislocations near the surface.
▪ The micro cracks act as the points of stress concentration.
▪ For every cycle of stress application the excessive stress helps to propagate the crack.
▪ In ductile materials, the crack grows slowly and the fracture takes place rapidly.
▪ But in brittle materials, the crack grows to a critical size and propagates rapidly
through the material.

Liberty Ships Failure
▪ The Liberty ships were the first all-welded

ships, and a significant number of ships failed
by catastrophic fracture.
▪ Fatigue cracks nucleated at the corners of
square hatches and propagated rapidly by
brittle fracture.
▪ In earlier ships, the riveted plates acted as
natural crack arresters.
▪ These were absent in the all-welded Liberty
ships.

Alexander Kielland – Rig Failure
▪ The rig collapsed owing to a fatigue crack in one of its six
bracings (bracing D-6), which connected the collapsed D-leg
to the rest of the rig.
▪ This was traced to a small 6mm fillet weld which joined a
non-load-bearing flange plate to this D-6 bracing.
▪ This flange plate held a sonar device used during drilling
operations.
▪ The poor profile of the fillet weld contributed to a reduction
in its fatigue strength.
▪ Further, the investigation found considerable amounts of
lamellar tearing in the flange plate and cold cracks in the
butt weld.
▪ Cold cracks in the welds, increased stress concentrations
due to the weakened flange plate, the poor weld profile,
and cyclical stresses (which would be common in the North
Sea), seemed to collectively play a role in the rig's collapse.

Fatigue Limit / Endurance Limit

▪ Most metals posses an endurance limit, i.e., a definite stress at and below which failure by fatigue
apparently does not take place.
▪ If the applied stress level is below the endurance limit of the material, the structure is said to have
an infinite life. This is characteristic of steel and titanium in benign environmental conditions. A
typical S-N curve corresponding to this type of material is shown Curve A in Figure.
▪ Many non-ferrous metals and alloys, such as aluminum, magnesium, and copper alloys, do not
exhibit well-defined endurance limits. These materials instead display a continuously decreasing
S-N response, similar to Curve B in Figure 1. In such cases a fatigue strength Sf for a given
number of cycles must be specified.
▪ The concept of an endurance limit is used in infinite-life or safe stress designs. It is due to
interstitial elements (such as carbon or nitrogen in iron) that pin dislocations, thus preventing the
slip mechanism that leads to the formation of microcracks. Care must be taken when using an
endurance limit in design applications because it can disappear due to:
1. Periodic overloads (unpin dislocations)
2. Corrosive environments (due to fatigue corrosion interaction)
3. High temperatures (mobilize dislocations)

Mechanism of Fatigue
▪ A fatigue failure begins with a small crack; the initial crack may be so minute and can not
be detected.
▪ The crack usually develops at a point of localized stress concentration like discontinuity
in the material, such as a change in cross section, a keyway or a hole.
▪ Once a crack is initiated, the stress concentration effect become greater and the crack
propagates.
▪ Consequently the stressed area decreases in size, the stress increase in magnitude and the
crack propagates more rapidly.
▪ Until finally, the remaining area is unable to sustain the load and the component fails
suddenly.
▪ Thus fatigue loading results in sudden, unwarned failure.
Crack initiation
▪ Areas of localized stress concentrations such as fillets, notches, key ways, bolt holes and even
scratches or tool marks are potential zones for crack initiation.
▪ Crack also generally originate from a geometrical discontinuity or metallurgical stress raiser like
sites of inclusions
▪ As a result of the local stress concentrations at these locations, the induced stress goes above the
yield strength (in normal ductile materials) and cyclic plastic straining results due to cyclic
variations in the stresses. On a macro scale the average value of the induced stress might still be
below the yield strength of the material.
▪ During plastic straining slip occurs and (dislocation movements) results in gliding of planes one
over the other. During the cyclic stressing, slip saturation results which makes further plastic
deformation difficult.
▪ As a consequence, intrusion and extrusion occurs creating a notch like discontinuity in the
material.

Crack propagation
▪ This further increases the stress levels and the process continues, propagating the cracks
across the grains or along the grain boundaries, slowly increasing the crack size.
▪ As the size of the crack increases the cross sectional area resisting the applied stress
decreases and reaches a thresh hold level at which it is insufficient to resist the applied
stress.
Final fracture
▪ As the area becomes too insufficient to resist the induced stresses any further a sudden
fracture results in the component.

Characteristics of Fatigue Fracture
▪ Fatigue fracture is a brittle fracture even if the
material is ductile.
▪ No plastic deformation can be observed on fracture
specimen.
▪ A fatigue failure, therefore, is characterized by two
distinct regions.
▪ One is smooth and burnished to show spreading of
crack.
▪ The second is rough or granular where the
specimen finally fractures. Fracture possibly occurs
as a result of overload.
▪ The zone of sudden fracture is very similar in
appearance to the fracture of a brittle material, such
as cast iron, that has failed in tension.

Factors Influencing Fatigue
▪ Surface Conditions – Surface irregularities cracks or rough surfaces causes stress concentration and
reduces fatigue life.
▪ Temperature - Fatigue strength is highest at low temperatures and decreases gradually with rising
temperatures.
▪ Mean Stress - If mean stress becomes tensile a lowering of fatigue limit results. Compressive
surface stresses are introduced into components due to nitriding or shot peening to improve fatigue
resistance.
▪ Frequency of stress cycle – Frequency of stress cycles has little effect on fatigue life, although
lowering the frequency usually results in slightly reduced fatigue life.
▪ Environment – Corrosive environment may create pits on metal component which then act as
notches and stress raisers, and reduce life of component. For most materials even atmospheric
oxygen decreases the fatigue life by influencing speed of crack propagation. The resistance to
corrosion fatigue can be improved by various surface treatments and coatings.
▪ Metallurgical Factors – Grain size, annealing, quenching, tempering.

Fatigue Loadings
Reversed Load
A force applied continuously, causing variation in the magnitude as well direction of internal
stresses with in the specific range. Examples: Continuously rotating shafts, Railway axles,
Spokes.

▪ Alternating Load/ Fluctuating load - A force applied is a combination of static load and
completely reversed load, causing variation in the magnitude and in some case direction of
internal stresses with in the specific range. Examples: Shafts carrying gears other than spur gear
▪ Repeated Load - A force applied repeatedly, causing variation in the magnitude of internal
stresses with in the specific range. Examples: Belts, chains, wave loading, gears

▪ Irregular / Random Loading
An irregular pattern may be found in aircraft, where the stress variations are random.
▪ Dangerous Loading
Completely Reversed Loading > Repeated Load > Fluctuating Load

Fatigue Damage
▪ During full service life of the component under fatigue loading some kind of damage occurs to
it.
▪ Sometimes cracks start but fail to propagate. Cracks may start in the region of high stresses but
may grow slowly or even stop in direction of decreasing stresses.
▪ Cracks propagate at different speed in different materials under different conditions.
▪ Low stress level produces fine cracks whereas high stress levels produces coarse cracks.
▪ Fatigue damage depends upon the order in which stress levels are applied.
▪ A high stress level applied initially will produce a coarse crack which may not propagate
rapidly under a subsequently applied low stress and vice versa.
▪ All these variations tend to average out if stress levels are applied in random order; the
Cumulative Damage Theory has been developed on this basis.

▪
The theory states that each series of stress cycles account for a certain fraction of total
damage and when these fractions add up to unity, failure will occur.
The fraction of total damage done by one series of cycles at a particular stress level is
given by the ratio of the number of cycles (n) actually endured at that level (before the
next stress level cycle takes up) to the fatigue life (N) at that level.
This ratio is called Cycle Ratio, C
The value of N is obtained from S-N curve for p% survival.
Expressed mathematically
Or
Where is number of cycles at stress and so on.

Fatigue Testing
▪ Fatigue tests are made with the object of determining the relationship between the stress
range and the number of times it can be applied before causing failure.
▪ Testing machines are used for applying cyclically varying stresses and cover tension,
compression, torsion and bending or a combination of these stresses.
▪ Fatigue test helps in determining endurance strength and endurance limit for a metal.
▪ It is a dynamic type of test which determines relative behavior of materials when
subjected to repeated or fluctuating loads. It determines the resistance of metal to
repeated or alternating loads.
▪ The fatigue behavior of a specific material, heat-treated to a specific strength level, is
determined by a series of laboratory tests on a large number of apparently identical
samples of that specific material.

▪ A single test consists of applying a known, constant bending stress to a round sample of the
material, and rotating the sample around the bending stress axis until it fails. As the sample
rotates, the stress applied to any fiber on the outside surface of the sample varies from maximum-
tensile to zero to maximum-compressive and back.
▪ The test mechanism counts the number of rotations (cycles) until the specimen fails. A large
number of tests is run at each stress level of interest, and the results are statistically massaged to
determine the expected number of cycles to failure at that stress level.
▪ A rotating bending machine (RBM) is mostly suitable to test the fatigue properties at zero mean
stress. A schematic sketch of the test device is illustrated in the figure. A standard test specimen is
clamped in bearings at the ends and loaded at two points as shown.
▪ With this type of device the region of rotating beam between built-in ends is subjected to pure
bending with a constant bending moment all along its length.
▪ While under the influence of this constant moment, the specimen is rotated by the drive spindles
around the longitudinal axis; any point on the specimen is thus subjected to completely reversed
stress pattern.

Fatigue Curve / S-N Curve
▪ Tests on several specimens are conducted under identical conditions with varying levels of stress
amplitude. The cyclic stress level of the first set of tests is some large percentage of the Ultimate
Tensile Stress (UTS), which produces failure in a relatively small number of cycles. Subsequent
tests are run at lower cyclic stress values until a level is found at which the samples will survive
10 million cycles without failure.
▪ The results are plotted as an S-N diagram (see the figure) usually on semi-log or on log-log
paper, depicting the life in number of cycles tested as a function of the stress amplitude. A typical
plot is shown in the figure below for two class of materials.
▪ The ratio of the endurance limit Se to the ultimate strength Su of a material is called the fatigue
ratio. It has values that range from 0.25 to 0.60, depending on the material.

▪ Endurance or Fatigue Limit In the case of the steels, a knee (flattening or saturation) occurs in
the graph, and beyond this knee failure will not occur, no matter how large the numbers of
cycles are. The strength (stress amplitude value) corresponding to the knee is called the
endurance limit (Se) or the fatigue limit. However the graph never does become horizontal for
non-ferrous metals and alloys, hence these materials do not have an endurance limit.
▪ Endurance or fatigue limit can be defined as the magnitude of stress amplitude value at or
below which no fatigue failure will occur, no matter how large the number of stress reversals
are, in other words leading to an infinite life to the component or part being stressed.
▪ For most ferrous materials Endurance limit (Se) is set as the cyclic stress level that the material
can sustain for 10 million cycles.
▪ In general, steel alloys which are subjected to a cyclic stress level below the EL (properly
adjusted for the specifics of the application) will not fail in fatigue. That property is commonly
known as "infinite life".
▪ Most steel alloys exhibit the infinite life property, but it is interesting to note that most
aluminum alloys as well as steels which have been casehardened by carburizing, do not exhibit
an infinite-life cyclic stress level (Endurance Limit).

S-N Diagram-Operational Regions and Design Concepts
▪ Low Cycle Fatigue - The body of knowledge available on fatigue failure from N=1 to N=1000
cycles is generally classified as low-cycle fatigue.
▪ High Cycle Fatigue - High-cycle fatigue, then, is concerned with failure corresponding to stress
cycles greater than 103 cycles.(Note that a stress cycle (N=1) constitutes a single application and
removal of a load and then another application and removal of load in the opposite direction.
Thus N= ½ means that the load is applied once and then removed, which is the case with the
simple tensile test.)
▪ Finite and Infinite Life - Finite life region covers life in terms of number of stress reversals upto
the knee point.(in case of steels) beyond which is the infinite-life region. The boundary between
these regions cannot be clearly defined except for specific materials; but it lies somewhere
between 106 and 107 cycles, for materials exhibiting fatigue limit.
WHY IS THE SURFACE SO IMPORTANT?
▪ Fatigue failures almost always begin at the surface of a material. The reasons are that
(a) the most highly-stresses fibers are located at the surface (bending fatigue) and
(b) the inter-granular flaws which precipitate tension failure are more frequently found at the
surface.
▪ Suppose that a particular specimen is being fatigue tested (as described above). Now suppose the
fatigue test is halted after 20 to 25% of the expected life of the specimen and a small thickness of
material is machined off the outer surface of the specimen, and the surface condition is restored
to its original state.
▪ Now the fatigue test is resumed at the same stress level as before. The life of the part will be
considerably longer than expected. If that process is repeated several times, the life of the part
may be extended by several hundred percent, limited only by the available cross section of the
specimen. That proves fatigue failures originate at the surface of a component.

Fatigue Corrosion / Corrosion Fatigue
▪ Fatigue corrosion is the reduced ability of a metal to withstand repeated stress when exposed to
the combined action of stress and a corrosive environment as compared to the effects of stress
alone. It causes a fracture surface similar to ordinary fatigue except that in some cases corrosion
products are present in the outer sections of the cracks.
▪ Fatigue corrosion can occur on many different types of metal products, ranging from heavy
equipment to the metal panels used in construction and shipbuilding.
▪ Fatigue corrosion is caused by crack development under the simultaneous action of corrosion
and cyclic stress. As in the case of stress corrosion cracking, fatigue corrosion is dependent on
factors including:
a) Loading
b) Environmental
c) Metallurgical
▪ Fatigue corrosion can be prevented through reducing fatigue: by minimizing vibration and
pressure fluctuation by using high-performance alloys resistant to corrosion fatigue ,by using
coatings and inhibitors to delay the initiation of corrosion fatigue cracks.

MATERIAL SCIENCE
MODULE IV
FATIGUE AND CREEP
CHAPTER II - CREEP
CREEP
▪ Under many service conditions, materials are required to sustain steady loads for long period of
time and under different temperature conditions for ex- blades of turbine rotor, filaments in vaccum
tube, furnance parts, etc.
▪ Under these conditions material may continue to deform until its usefulness is seriously impaired.
Such time dependent deformation can grow large and result in fracture of member without any
increase in load.
▪ This time- dependent deformation under a certain applied load is called Creep.
▪ Creep may be defined as process by which plastic flow occurs when a constant stress is applied to a
metal for prolonged period of time.
▪ Generally occurs at high temperature (thermal creep), but can also happen at room temperature in
certain materials (e.g. lead or glass), though much slower.
▪ Creep can take place and lead to fracture at static stresses much smaller than those which will break
the specimen when loaded quickly.

▪ Though mostly due to the reduced yield strength at higher temperatures, the collapse of the World
Trade Center was due in part to creep from increased temperature operation.
▪ In steam turbine power plants, pipes carry steam at high temperatures (566 °C (1,051 °F)) and
pressures (above 24.1 MPa or 3500 psi). In jet engines, temperatures can reach up to 1,400 °C
(2,550 °F) and initiate creep deformation in even advanced-design coated turbine blades. Hence, it is
crucial for correct functionality to understand the creep deformation behavior of materials.
▪ Creep deformation is important not only in systems where high temperatures are endured such
as nuclear power plants, jet engines and heat exchangers, but also in the design of many everyday
objects. For example, metal paper clips are stronger than plastic ones because plastics creep at room
temperatures.
▪ Creep is dangerous as an unanticipated failure could prove fatal.
▪ Typical creep rate: Jet engine: 1% in 10,000 hours.
Steam generator: 1% at 100,000 hours.

Creep Curve
• In a typical creep test the load and temperature are kept constant and the elongation is monitored
with time. The strain (typically engineering strain) computed from the elongation is plotted as
function of time. The loads employed are typically below the elastic limit.
• The rate of deformation is called the creep rate. It is the slope of the line in a Creep Strain vs. Time
curve.

a. Primary Creep:
Primary or transient creep is a decreasing creep rate because of the work hardening process resulting
from deformation. The primary creep is similar to delayed elasticity and as such is recoverable by
unloading the specimen.
Effect of work hardening more than recovery.
b. Secondary or Steady State Creep:
Deformation continues at an approximately constant rate.
Work hardening is balanced by recovery.
Essentially plastic or viscous depending upon stress and temperature.
c. Tertiary Creep:
Necking of specimen starts in this stage.
Specimen failure processes set in.

Effect of Temperature & Stress
On increasing the load: (i) the instantaneous

strain (elastic) increases, (ii) for a given time
(say t1) the strain is more, (iii) the time to
failure (tf) decreases (i.e. as expected,
specimens fail earlier).
On increasing the temperature:

(i) the instantaneous strain (elastic = 0)
increases, (ii) for a given time (say t1) the
strain is more, (iii) the time to failure (tf)
decreases.
The instantaneous strain 0 increases with

increasing T because of the slight decrease in
the Young’s modulus (E) of the material.
Creep Resisting Material
Creep resistant materials avoid the tendency to move or deform permanently under the influence
of stress. Creep takes place over time and results from long-term exposure to stress levels below a
material’s yield strength. Creep is more severe in materials subjected to heat for long periods at
levels close to the materials melting point. For example, a turbine blade made of a non-creep
resistant material and used in a high temperature environment, may creep over time.
Creep resistant materials play a critical role in many applications including: jet engines, heat
exchangers, nuclear power plants, kilns
Component failure is often the result of creep. Other everyday creep resistant material
applications include the use of these materials in the production of spark plugs.
Commonly used materials → Fe, Ni (including superalloys), Co base alloys.

Material Science Fatigue and Creep

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MATERIAL SCIENCE

Prof.Prakash Katdare,MANET,Pune 05/25/2020 2

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It is usually preceded by necking.

It exhibits three stages –

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▪ The Liberty ships were the first all-welded

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Completely Reversed Loading > Repeated Load > Fluctuating Load

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Steam generator: 1% at 100,000 hours.

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On increasing the load: (i) the instantaneous

On increasing the temperature:

The instantaneous strain 0 increases with

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