Learning from the Past?

Fatigue Failures in Engineered

Systems
David K. Matlock
Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center
Colorado School of Mines
Golden, Colorado
The Hatfield Memorial Lecture
December 2, 2014

Why title: Learning from

the Past?

Railroad Axle Failure: circa 1844

Fracture at change in diameter = stress concentration

Mid-1800s Whler (and others)

showed that fatigue occurs by crack growth from
surface defects
Developed apparatus for repeated loading of railway
axles
Contributions led to the S-N or Whler curve
Result: improved understanding of fatigue.
Image - Original: Joseph Glynn, Paper No 617, Proc. ICE en:1844.
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tender_fatigued_axle.JPG.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_W%C3%B6hler

Railroad Axle Failure: 2004

Conclusion: ..Fatigue
fracture originated at a
surface profile irregularity...
likely introduced during axle
reconditioning..

Final
Fracture

Railroad Axle Failure: 2010

Conclusion: ... The axle
failed in fatigue near the
mid-point of the axle body

Presentation Overview
Introduction: what is fatigue?
Modification of material strength and
fracture characteristics by the cyclic
application of load or stress, often leading
to fracture without prior component
shape change
Present a primer on fatigue
Case Studies
Fatigue enhancement via metallurgy
Design and application

Fatigue Potential: Our Daily Lives

Transportation

www.netcarshow.com

airplanesihaveknown.blogspot.com

inhabitat.com

Recreation

sandiegomountainbikeskills.com

www.world-insider.com/usa-the-best-amusement-parks/

Energy

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Wind_turbine

awcwire.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/howwind-turbines-work/

www.lusas.com
taflab.berkeley.edu/ME168-FA13/ME168_Applications.htm

How many cycles do we experience?

Passenger Car Engine

100,000 mile typical use
Average 40 mph @ 2000 rpm
300 million revolutions

Truck Wheels/Axles
1 million mile typical life
500 wheel rotations/mile
500 million rotations

Primer on Fatigue
Types of loading..
Material property changes due
to cyclic loading.
How to measure?
How to control?

Examples of Cyclic Loading: Axial

Load or Stress

Unidirectional Loading

Time

Load or Stress

Reversed Loading

Time

Examples of Cyclic Loading: Bending

Reversed Bending
Example: Leaf Spring

Tension

Compression

Compression

Tension

Load or Stress

Reversed Bending

Time

Examples of Cyclic Loading: Combined

Rotational Bending
Example: Drive shaft out of alignment
Tension

Rotation

Applied Bending

Load or Stress

Compression

Stress at point as shaft rotates

Time

Effects of Cyclic Loading on Strength

Cyclic stress-strain behavior
Measure load & displacement in sample cyclically
loaded from tension to compression
Pure Copper

Stress

Fully Annealed

Strain

J.D. Morrow, Cyclic Plastic Strain Energy and Fatigue of Metals. In: American Society for
Testing and Materials - ASTM STP 378. Internal Friction, Damping and Cyclic Plasticity 1965;
p. 4587.

Cold Worked

Effects of Cyclic Loading on Strength

Monotonic -

SAE 4340 Steel

Cyclic -

R.W. Landgraf, Achievement of High Fatigue Resistance in Metals and Alloys, ASTM STP-467, 1970, p. 3.

Effects of Cyclic Loading on Strength

Cyclic Hardening

Cyclic Softening

Aluminum
2024-T6

Stress

Stress

Steel
SAE 4340

Strain

Strain

R.W. Landgraf, J.D. Morrow, and T. Endo, J. Materials, JMLSA 4(1), ASTM 1969, P. 176.

Effects of Cyclic Loading on Strength

Big-Picture Conclusion:
Hard (i.e. high strength) materials
cyclically soften --- while soft (i.e. low
strength) materials cyclically harden!
Cyclic Softening

Stress

Cyclic Hardening

Strain

Effects of Cyclic Loading on Fracture

Three stages of fatigue
Crack nucleation - at point of high applied
stress results from local plastic
deformation after multiple cycles
Stable crack growth - on plane perpendicular
to the maximum tensile stress
Final fracture - after crack grows to critical
length -- i.e. remaining material can no longer
support applied cyclic loads
Total Fatigue Life:
NTotal = NNucleate + NGrowth + 1Overload

Effects of Cyclic Loading on Fracture

Fatigue Crack Nucleation and Growth

R.A. Lund, Fatigue Fracture

Appearances, ASM Handbook, Vol.
11, 2002. p. 627.

10 mm

Effects of Cyclic Loading on Fracture

Fatigue Crack Nucleation and Growth

10 m

TEM Replica: Low Cycle Fatigue

7075 Al T6 Aluminum
R.D. Sloan, Sloan Research Inds. Inc (Circa 1970)

10 mm
R.A. Lund, ASM Handbook,
Vol. 11, 2002

Unidirectional
Tension-tension Loading

Stable Fatigue
Crack Growth

5 mm

Important points..Effects of Cyclic Loading

Strength altered
Crack nucleation and growth leads to failure at
low stress (e.g. often less than yield stress)
Stable crack growth exists prior to fracture
Occurs without macroscopic geometry
change
Grows on plane perpendicular to maximum
tensile stress
Presence offers the opportunity to utilize
non-destructive testing techniques to
identify prior catastrophic failure

Evidence Fatigue is Critical

to Our Daily Lives

1951
Starring
James Stewart

www.metacafe.com/watch/7743905/no_highway_in_the_sky_1951/ (accessed Nov 2014)

Life Imitates Movie

De Havilland Comet 1
Innovative airplane
Commercial service
www.telegraph.co.uk
Initiated 1952
Operated at 40,000 feet
Cabin pressurized, 8000 ft equivalent
Two catastrophic accidents 1954
Royal Aircraft Establishment pressurization tests
confirmed cabin structural failure by fatigue
Required significant redesign
Opened the way for modern design and testing
concepts.

P.A. Withey, Fatigue Failure of the De Havilland Comet I, Engr. Fail. Anal., vol. 4, no. 2, 1997, pp. 147-154.

Aloha Airlines, Flight 243

April 28, 1988

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

determined that the probable cause of the accident was
fatigue damage of the fuselage skin lap splice.
lessonslearned.faa.gov (accessed Nov 2014)

Flight 232 - Sioux City, Iowa July 19, 1989

Turbofan engines - fan disk failure Ti alloy.

Undetected defect formed during initial manufacture (Dec. 1971).
Defect caused the initiation of a fatigue crack
Crack grew to a critical size ----- catastrophic failure
Disk parts damaged hydraulic control systems
Total service time = 41,009 hours and 15,503 cycles (i.e. flights)

lessonslearned.faa.gov (accessed Nov2014)

 inch (19 mm) diameter bolts

Adopted
October 1, 1991

fracture surfacesof three

boltsindicated fatigue
cracks initiating at multiple
sites along the thread roots on
diametrically opposite sides of
the bolts

10 mm

Methods to Assess Fatigue

Fracture Properties
Fatigue Life Tests (S-N)
Fatigue Crack Growth

Fatigue Life Curves

Multiple standardized tests available
Specialized tests designed to simulate
in-service conditions

ASPPRC, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO USA

Fully Reversed Test; Frequency = 30 Hz

Video starts
after
2280 cycles

L.M. Rothleutner and D.K. Matlock, ASPPRC, Colorado School of

Mines, Golden, CO USA, 2014

Failure life = 2750 cycles

L.M. Rothleutner and D.K. Matlock, ASPPRC, Colorado School of

Mines, Golden, CO USA, 2014

Failure life = 2750 cycles

L.M. Rothleutner and D.K. Matlock, ASPPRC, Colorado School of

Mines, Golden, CO USA, 2014

5 mm

Typical S-N Data

800

130
Direct cooled Non-traditional
NTB
Bainitic Steel
2750
cycles 0.34 C, 1.21 Mn, 0.66 Si, 0.09 V
25HRC; 15% retained austenite

700

120
110
100
90

600

Nominal Reversed Bending Stress (ksi)

Nominal Reversed Bending Stress (MPa)

900

8027
500

70
60

400

50
Baseline

300
200
103

(3)

104

105
106
Cycles

107

40
30
108

Fatigue Limit
Or
Endurance Limit

M.D. Richards, M. Burnett, J.G. Speer, and D.K. Matlock, Metall. and Mat. Trans. A, 2013, vol. 441, pp. 270-285.

Krouse-type Bending Fatigue

Displacement controlled; constant frequency
Large constant stress region
Variable R
1 to 1

Flat samples

5 cm

ASPPRC, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO USA

Bending Fatigue of Spring Steel

426 oC Temper
500 oC Temper

WQ and AC indicate cooling

after tempering
As-Quenched

N. Merlano, Effect of Tempering Conditions On The Fatigue and Toughness of 5160H Steel, MS Thesis, Colorado School of Mines, 1989

Fatigue Crack Growth Analysis

Fracture mechanics based approach

Assume material contains a crack (flaw, notch,..)
Machine standard sample
Impose cyclic tensile load

Measure change in crack length (da) with each cycle

(dN)

Correlate:

da/dN = f(P) = f() = f(K)

Where:
P = load
= stress = (load/area)
K = stress intensity factor g(crack geometry)

Fatigue Crack Growth Analysis

P

da

www.fracturemechanics.net
(accessed Nov 2014)

T.L. Anderson, Fracture Mechanics: Fundamentals and

Applications, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, 1991, p. 603.

Potential to Alter Stable Crack Growth

10-5

da/dN = 1.36 x 10-10 (K)2.25

Single
Function!

da/dN (m/cycle)

10-6

da
= A (K )m
dN

10-7

12 Ni STEEL
10 Ni STEEL
HY-130 STEEL
HY-80 STEEL

10-8

10-9

10

K (MPa m)

Tempered Martensitic
Steels
Applicability of data:
Yield = 560 to 2070 MPa
Ambient temperature
Dry air

100
Adapted from: J.M. Barsom and S.T. Rolfe, Fracture and
Fatigue Control in Structures, 2nd Edition (1987), Prentice-Hall,
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, p. 287

Stable Fatigue
Crack Growth

Plastic
Zone

5 mm
ASPPRC, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO USA

Interpretation of Single da/dN Function

D.K. Matlock, ASPPRC, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO USA, 2009.

Interpretation of Single da/dN Function

Apply stress = plastic zone

D.K. Matlock, ASPPRC, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO USA, 2009.

1 KI
rp =
6 y

Interpretation of Single da/dN Function

Apply cyclic stress = plastic zone advances

da
dN
Crack advances

D.K. Matlock, ASPPRC, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO USA, 2009.

1 KI
rp =
6 y

Interpretation of Single da/dN Function

Apply cyclic stress = plastic zone advances

da
dN

1 KI
rp =
6 y

rp
= 10 to 2000
da
dN

Growth controlled by cyclic stress strain

Hard materials cyclically soften
Soft materials cyclically harden
D.K. Matlock, ASPPRC, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO USA, 2009.

Interpretation of Single da/dN Function

Apply cyclic stress = plastic zone advances

Conclusion: Limited
2
A
opportunity to influence 1 KI

rp =
fatigue life through control6of
y
fatigue crack growth rates via
rp
metallurgy modifications= -10 to 2000
da
da
must address crack
dN
dN nucleation!
Orcontrolled
crack growth
by design!
Growth
by cyclic
stress strain
Hard materials cyclically soften
Soft materials cyclically harden
D.K. Matlock, ASPPRC, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO USA, 2009.

Lessons Learned Lab Tests

Summary of approaches to produce structures
with enhanced fatigue performance
Decrease surface cyclic tensile stress
Remove Loads!!
Remove Cycles!!
Minimize stress concentrations
Design
Manufacturing
Induce residual compressive stress
Increase material strength ( EL UTS )
Bulk or surface
Maximize material quality i.e. minimize
inclusion contents, etc.

Examples: Metallurgical
Modifications to Control Crack
Nucleation

Process Control
Deep Rolling - Shafts
Alloy Control
Steel Cleanliness Bearings
Microalloying - Gears

Drivers: Future Automobile Engines

Lighter weight + higher performance = higher stresses
High-strength fatigue-resistant materials facilitate designs

Deep Rolling: Crankshafts

M.D. Richards, PhD Thesis, Colorado School of Mines, USA, 2008.

Connecting Rod

www.driving-test-success.com/how-cars-work.htm

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crankshaft

Single Cylinder
Crankshaft

A. Fatemi, et al., Fatigue Performance Evaluation of Forged Steel Vs. Ductile Cast
Iron Crankshafts: A comparative Study, U. of Toledo, 2007, www.autosteel.org.

Deep Rolling Laboratory Sample

Sample Diameter = 25 mm

M.D. Richards, M. Burnett, J.G. Speer,

and D.K. Matlock, Effects of
Deformation Behavior on the Fatigue
Performance of Deep Rolled Medium
Carbon Steels, Metallurgical and
Materials Transactions A, 2013, vol.
441, pp. 270-285

A. Fatemi, et al., Fatigue Performance Evaluation of Forged Steel Vs. Ductile Cast
Iron Crankshafts: A comparative Study, U. of Toledo, 2007, www.autosteel.org.

Deep Rolling

M.D. Richards, The Effects of Deformation Behavior on the Fatigue Performance of Deep
Rolled Medium Carbon Steels, PhD Thesis, Colorado School of Mines, USA, 2008.

Deformation during Deep Rolling

Roller

Geometry Change Due

to Deformation

Residual
Stress

Notch
Constraint

Strain

Deformation
Volume

Radially symmetric, non-uniform strain

Increases local strength
Mechanically burnishes surface
Develops residual stress
Residual stress stability depends on response to
cyclic loading

M.D. Richards, The Effects of Deformation Behavior on the Fatigue Performance of Deep Rolled
Medium Carbon Steels, PhD Thesis, Colorado School of Mines, USA, 2008.

Test Methodology: R = 1, Freq. = 30 Hz

Sample Diameter = 25 mm

M.D. Richards, The Effects of Deformation Behavior on the Fatigue Performance of Deep
Rolled Medium Carbon Steels, PhD Thesis, Colorado School of Mines, USA, 2008.

Baseline Fatigue Performance

130
4140
4140 Steel
800

120
110

700

100
90

600

80
500

70
60

400
Baseline

50
(3)
(3)

300
200
103

10

10

10

10

40

Nominal Reversed Bending Stress (ksi)

Nominal Reversed Bending Stress (MPa)

900

Three Steel
Alloys
Alloy

Fatigue Ratio
EL/UTS

4140
NTB
C38M

0.49
0.47
0.43

30
108

Cycles
M.D. Richards, M. Burnett, J.G. Speer, and D.K. Matlock, Effects of Deformation Behavior on the Fatigue Performance
of Deep Rolled Medium Carbon Steels, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 2013, vol. 441, pp. 270-285

Deep Rolled Fatigue Performance

41404140
Steel

1000
900

150
140
130

Nominal
Fatigue Ratio
Endurance Limit
kt*Sf-DR/UTS
Sf-DR (MPa)

Alloy
120

800

110
700
(3)

600
Deep Rolled
(2)
(3)

500

4140
100

469

0.74

90NTB

448

0.76

80

386

0.69

C38M

70
60

400
Baseline
(3)
(3)

300
200

Nominal Reversed Bending Stress (ksi)

Nominal Reversed Bending Stress (MPa)

1100

104

50
40
30

105
106
Cycles

107

Deep rolling
increases
endurance Limit
by 50 to 60 %.

M.D. Richards, M. Burnett, J.G. Speer, and D.K. Matlock, Effects of Deformation Behavior on the Fatigue Performance
of Deep Rolled Medium Carbon Steels, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 2013, vol. 441, pp. 270-285

Processing to Optimize Fatigue Resistance

Hypothesize Fatigue resistance improved by
Stabilization of cold worked dislocation
structure
Stabilization of residual stress distribution
Approaches to process modifications
Age previously rolled samples
Roll at dynamic strain aging temperatures
(up to about 350 oC)

M.D. Richards, M. Burnett, J.G. Speer, and D.K. Matlock, Effects of Deformation Behavior on the Fatigue Performance
of Deep Rolled Medium Carbon Steels, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 2013, vol. 441, pp. 270-285

Dynamic Strain Aging (DSA)

Changes in Deformation Mechanisms
Decrease dislocation mobility pinning
Increase dislocation density
Change in dislocation structure from cellular to
diffuse tangles

ELONGATION
C.C. Li, and W. C. Leslie, Effects of dynamic strain aging on the subsequent mechanical properties of carbon steels, Metallurgical
Transactions A, December 1978, Volume 9, Issue 12, pp 1765-1775.

Deep Rolled @ 340 oC

Nominal Reversed Bending Stress (MPa)

900
4140
4140 Steel
800
700
Deep Rolled - HT
(3)
(3)

600

Deep Rolled - RT
(2)
(3)

500
400
Baseline

(3)
(3)

300
200
103

104

105
106
Cycles

107

108

M.D. Richards, M. Burnett, J.G. Speer, and D.K. Matlock, Effects of Deformation Behavior on the Fatigue Performance
of Deep Rolled Medium Carbon Steels, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 2013, vol. 441, pp. 270-285

Summary: Deep Rolling

Fatigue crack nucleation made more
difficult
Deep rolling at elevated temperatures
increases EL by approximately 100%
Processing at DSA temperatures proved
very cost effective to enhance fatigue
performance

M.D. Richards, M. Burnett, J.G. Speer, and D.K. Matlock, Effects of Deformation Behavior on the Fatigue Performance
of Deep Rolled Medium Carbon Steels, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, 2013, vol. 441, pp. 270-285

Examples: Metallurgical
Modifications to Control Crack
Nucleation

Process Control
Deep Rolling - Shafts
Alloy Control
Steel Cleanliness Bearings
Microalloying - Gears

Fatigue in Gears and Bearings

Drive
Gear

Contact

Bending
Driven
Gear

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spur_gears_animation.gif

Rolling Contact Fatigue in Bearings

Cleaner Steel

Fatigue Life (Millions of Revolutions)

1980

Today

1000

Vacuum Arc Remelted

Improved Bottom Pour
Original Bottom Pour

100

Precipitation Deoxidation
+ Shrouding
10

Precipitation Deoxidation
Vacuum Carbon Deoxidation

1
0.0001

0.001

0.01

0.1

Total Length of Inclusion Stringers (mm/cm3)

P. Kramer, An Investigation of Rolling-Sliding

Contact Fatigue Damage of Carburized Gear
Steels, MS Thesis, CSM 2013

Stress profile adapted from L.E. Alban,

Systematic Analysis of Gear Failures,
American Society for Metals, Metals Park, OH
(1985), pp. 94106

C.V Darragh, Engineered Gear Steels A

Review, 2001 Drives and Controls/Power
Electronics Conference, pp. 21-26.

10

Bending Fatigue: Gear Steels

Utilize higher temperature carburizing more
efficient (vacuum, plasma)
Issue, need to suppress grain growth & refine
austenite grain sizes to increase performance

Utilize microalloy (Nb) precipitates to suppress

grain growth
G. Krauss, D.K. Matlock, and A. Reguly, Microstructural Elements and
Fracture of Hardened High-Carbon Steels, Proc. of Thermec 2003, Trans
Tech Publications, Inc., Uetikon-Zurich, Switzerland, 2003, pp. 835-840

0.1 Nb

Nb-Ti Modified 8620 Steel :

Vacuum Carburized @1050 oC
100 m
1400

0.06 Nb

All Alloys - 114 C min-1

1300
1200

100 m

Stress (Mpa)

1100
1000

0.1 Nb

900
800

0.06 Nb

0.02 Nb
700
600
500
3
10

100 m

0.02 Nb

b
4

10

10
Cycles

10

10

R.E. Thompson, D.K. Matlock, and J.G. Speer, "The Fatigue Performance of High Temperature Vacuum
Carburized Nb Modified 8620 Steel," SAE Transactions, Journal of Materials and Manufacturing, Vol. 116,
Sect. 5 (2007) pp. 392-407.

Selected Case Studies to

Illustrate Engineering Solutions
to Fatigue Failures..
importance of design,
manufacturing, and
maintenance

Design Example:
Fatigue Failure in
Bullwheel Axle Shaft

Lower Terminal Bullwheel Axle Failure

Hub

Sheave

Main Bullwheel
Shaft
D.K. Matlock, "Lift Fatigue, Ski Area Management, vol. 23, no. 1, 1984, pp. 62
63, 80 (http://www.saminfo.com/article/lift-fatigue).

Bullwheel Shaft

Crack
Location

Dia = 5 inch
(13.3 cm)

D.K. Matlock, "Lift Fatigue, Ski Area Management, vol. 23, no. 1, 1984, pp. 62
63, 80 (http://www.saminfo.com/article/lift-fatigue).

Hub

Sheave

Main Bullwheel
Shaft
D.K. Matlock, "Lift Fatigue, Ski Area Management, vol. 23, no. 1,
1984, pp. 62 63, 80 (http://www.saminfo.com/article/lift-fatigue).

Hub

Sheave

Main Bullwheel
Shaft
D.K. Matlock, "Lift Fatigue, Ski Area Management, vol. 23, no. 1,
1984, pp. 62 63, 80 (http://www.saminfo.com/article/lift-fatigue).

Have we learned anything from

the past?
What about the future?

Closing Comments
So.
Why do fatigue failures continue to occur?
Multiple inputs affect fatigue performance
Design
Material
Manufacture
Maintenance
Application/Use
Fatigue fractures will continue to occur!

Closing Comments
Opportunities exist for continued development
of high-performance clean materials
Inspection
Opportunities for smart NDE technologies
to identify cracks before catastrophic failure
Continual fatigue education critical
All parties involved must appreciate factors
which control fatigue life
still need good Common Sense
Engineering