SAE TECHNICAL

PAPER SERIES 2006-01-0782

Fatigue Behavior Analysis and Durability

Evaluation of Plastic Fuel Tank
Hiroaki Himeki, Hiroshi Kumagai and Katsumi Morohoshi
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd

Reprinted From: Fatigue Research & Applications, 2006

(SP-2031)

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Fatigue Behavior Analysis and Durability
Evaluation of Plastic Fuel Tank
Hiroaki Himeki, Hiroshi Kumagai and Katsumi Morohoshi
Copyright © 2006 SAE International
ABSTRACT
Plastic materials are often used for automotive fuel tanks
today because of their light weight, freedom for forming
complicated shapes and corrosion resistance. Fatigue
behavior of the high-density polyethylene applied to fuel
tanks was analyzed under low-level cyclic loading that
simulated fuel tank pressure changes. The correlation
between fatigue life and stress, temperature and
frequency (the major influencing factors) was expressed
quantitatively using fatigue test data for test pieces. This
expression was then verified in fatigue tests conducted
on plastic fuel tanks. The validity of this equation for
predicting the fatigue life of plastic fuel tanks was thus
confirmed.
INTRODUCTION
Plastic materials have come to be used frequently for
automotive fuel tanks in recent years owing to their light
weight, freedom for forming various shapes and
corrosion resistance, among other reasons. An
automotive fuel tank experiences many pressure
fluctuations during the life of a vehicle. These include
changes in the vapor pressure of gasoline due to
repeated cycles of heating and cooling as well as the
application of a vacuum load at the time gasoline vapor
adsorbed in the storage canister is purged into the
engine. In cases where an onboard diagnostic (OBD)
evaporative emissions leak check is required, such as in
North America, a fuel tank is also subjected to pressure
changes induced by the pressure-reduction type of leak
check. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the
durability of fuel tanks in relation to stress loads caused
by such pressure changes. Such tests to assess fuel
tank durability are conducted during the vehicle
development process.
In this study, the fatigue properties of typical plastic
materials used for automotive fuel tanks were analyzed
under a condition of low-level cyclic loading that
simulated fuel tank pressure changes. The relationship
between the identified influencing factors and fatigue life
was found quantitatively on the basis of the test results.
2006-01-0782
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd
FATIGUE FAILURE OF PLASTIC FUEL TANKS
High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is one of the plastic
materials used for automotive fuel tanks because of its
good resistance to cold-temperatures shock and
chemicals as well as excellent formability. In this paper
the fatigue properties of HDPE were analyzed.
The crystalline structure of polyethylene is shown
schematically in Figure 1. The material is composed of
crystalline regions (lamellae) in which the polymer
molecules are orderly arranged and non-crystalline
regions of entangled molecular chains that connect the
crystalline regions. The failure morphology of
polyethylene under loading can be broadly divided into
two modes. One is ductile failure that occurs under a
heavy load where even the crystalline regions are
stretched and fail. The other is brittle failure under light
loading where the molecular chains in the non-crystalline
regions are untangled or the tie molecules connecting
adjacent lamellae are pulled out. These two failure
modes are also illustrated conceptually in Figure 1. This
failure mechanism has been studied in reference(1, 2).
Brittle failure is the mode that occurs in the case of low-
level cyclic loading of a plastic fuel tank due to pressure
changes.
Large Stress
Crystalline Region
Ductile Failure
Noncrystalline
Region
Small Stress
Tie Molecular
Brittle Failure
Figure 1 Crystalline Structure of Polyethylene and Failure Mode
Figure 2 outlines the factors influencing the fatigue life of FATIGUE TEST OF TEST PIECE
polyethylene with respect to this failure mechanism.
Load conditions include stress and frequency, while Tests were conducted on test pieces to find the values
temperature and fuel swelling can be cited as of the material constants in Eq. (1).
environmental conditions. Factors related to the
molecular structure include the molecular weight and its Test Pieces
distribution as well as type of branch component and its
concentration. Molding conditions that also affect fatigue The test pieces used in the tests were made of HDPE,
failure include the resin temperature, shear rate and which is widely applied as the material for plastic fuel
cooling condition. Among these various factors, the tanks. The main physical properties of HDPE are given
principal ones examined when evaluating the durability in Table 1, where this polyethylene material is denoted
of plastic fuel tanks are stress, frequency and as PE-A.
temperature. The relationship of these factors to fatigue
life was investigated in this study. Figure 3 shows the configuration of a test piece.
Notched and unnotched test pieces were used in this
Molecular Mold study. A sharp razor blade was used to form a notch 1
Structure Condition mm in depth around the entire circumference of the
Molecular Resin center portion of the test piece.
Type of
Weight Temperature
Branch Share Rate
Cooling Test Condition
Molecular Weight
Density of Condition
Distribution
Branch
Cycles to Tests were conducted with a tensile fatigue testing
Failure machine (Servo Pulser EHF-EA2, Shimadzu Corp.)
Fuel

Frequency
Swelling under a cyclic tensile load, and the number of cycles to
failure was measured. The maximum stress was varied
Stress over a range from 4 to 14 MPa and the minimum stress
T emperature
was 0 Mpa. The frequency varied from 0.01 to 0.1 Hz
Load and the temperature was set at 50 to 80 ºC. Here, stress
Environment
Condition is expressed as the value found from the applied load
and the cross-sectional area of the test piece using the
Figure 2 Cause and Effect Diagram of Fatigue Failure expression:

s=L/S
ANALYSIS OF FATIGUE PROPERTIES OF
PLASTIC FUEL TANK Where L is the applied load, S is the cross-sectional area
of test piece.
FATIGUE LIFE
Table.1 Basic Properties of Polyethylene used for Test
Based on the findings of previous research (3), the
fatigue life of polyethylene can be expressed as shown Material Density
3
HL-MFR Molecular Type of
(g/cm )
below using the modified Coffin-Manson equation. Symbol (g/10min) Weight Branch
PE-A 0.946 5 31˜104 Buthyl
N = s a × f b × 10 c/T × d Eq.(1) PE-B 0.956 5 30˜104 None

where N is the number of cycles to failure, s is stress

(MPa), f is frequency (Hz), T is temperature (K) and a, b, FATIGUE TEST RESULTS FOR TEST PIECES
c and d are material constants.
Stress vs. fatigue life

High-Density Polyethylene
L/D/H=6/6/60 mm
Unnotched test specimen and
Notched test specimen
(Notch depth : 1 mm)
The fatigue test results are shown in Figure 4 in terms of
the relationship between stress and the number of
cycles to failure. It is seen that the number of cycles to
failure decreases with increasing stress. In addition, the
failure mode that occurred in every case in this range of
stress was brittle failure.

The linear relationship seen between stress and the

number of cycles to failure on the log scales in Figure 4
confirmed the validity of the relationship in Eq. (1). From
the slope of the straight line in the figure, the value of
Figure 3 Test Specimen
constant a in Eq. (1) was found to be -4.36.

100
0.1Hz, 60 ℃, wtih notch
0.1Hz, 80 ℃, with notch
0.1Hz, 60 ℃, without notch
Stress (MPa)
cycles to failure. The X-axis shows the inverse of the
absolute temperature and the Y-axis shows the
logarithm of the number of cycles to failure (Arrhenius
plots). It is seen that the number of cycles to failure
decreases with increasing temperature. In addition, the

linear relationship seen between the inverse of the

10 absolute temperature and the logarithm of the number of
cycles to failure confirms the validity of the relationship
in Eq. (1).

The value of constant c in Eq. (1) was found to be 6910

1
from the slope of the straight line in the figure.
1,000 10,000 100,000 1,000,000
Cycles to Failure
1,000
Figure 4 Relation between Stress and Cycles to Failure 12MP a, 0.1Hz

Cycles to Failure (× 1000)

8MP a, 0.1Hz
100
As the tests were mainly conducted on notched test
pieces, stress actually concentrated in the notched
region. To obtain data for correcting that tendency, tests
were conducted on test pieces without a notch. Under 10
the assumption that the slope of the straight line
showing the results would be nearly the same as that for
the notched test pieces, the value of constant d in Eq.(1)
1
was found from the test results for the unnotched test
2.7 2.8 2.9 3 3.1 3.2
pieces to be 10-9.89.
1/T ×1000  (1/K)
Frequency vs. fatigue life Figure 6 Relation between Cycles to Failure and Temperature

Figure 5 shows the test results in terms of the

relationship between frequency and the number of Summary of fatigue test results
cycles to failure. It is seen that the number of cycles to
failure increases as the frequency rises. In addition, a Using the fatigue test results found for the test pieces,
linear relationship is seen between the two on the log Eq. (1) can be expressed as
scales in the figure, thereby confirming the validity of the
relationship in Eq. (1). N = s -4.36 × f 0.825
× 10 6910/T × 10 -9.89 Eq.(2)

From the slope of the straight line in the figure, the value FATIGUE TEST OF PLASTIC FUEL TANK
of constant b in Eq. (1) was found to be 0.825.
Test result of fatigue test of plastic fuel tank
1

10MP a, 80 ℃ A fatigue test was then conducted on a plastic fuel tank

to verify whether Eq. (2), formulated on the basis of the
12MP a, 60 ℃
test piece results, could actually be applied to plastic fuel
Frequency (Hz)

0.1
tanks. Stress loads were applied to the plastic fuel tank
shown in Figure 7 by subjecting it to cyclic pressure
loads, and the number of cycles to failure was measured.
0.01

0.001
100 1,000 10,000 100,000
Cycles to Failure
Figure 5 Relation between Frequency and Cycles to Failure

Temperature vs. fatigue life

Figure 6 shows the test results in terms of the Figure 7 Fuel Tank Fatigue Test specimen
relationship between temperature and the number of
The fuel tank used in this fatigue test was made of a was measured by the strain gauge which was fixed at
different HDPE material (denoted as PE-B in Table 1) the failure area. The test results agree well with the
than that of the test pieces which is used in previous values calculated with Eq. (3). It is therefore assumed
section. The PE-B material had a shorter fatigue life than that the fatigue life prediction equation found from the
PE-A in order to shorten the test duration. The fatigue test piece results can also be applied to plastic fuel
life of PE-B was shortened by reducing the content of tanks.
the branch of the polyethylene molecules. Figure 8
compares the number of cycles to failure between PE-A 100
and PE-B. This figure shows the notched test piece
Equation (3)
results of the test piece fatigue test. From the notched
Fuel Tank Test
and unnotched test piece results, the equation used for 0.1Hz, 60͠

Stress (MPa)
predicting the fatigue life of PE-B can be obtained as Eq.
(3) below in the same way as previous section. 10

N = s -4.97 × f̓ 0.908 × 10 7067/T × 10 –11.44 Eq.(3)

100
1
PE-A
0.1Hz, 60degC 100 1,000 10,000 100,000
PE-B
Cycles to Failure
Stress (MPa)

Figure 10 Comparison of Test Piece and Fuel Tank Test

10
Based on foregoing discussion, it is thought that Eq. (2),
derived from the tests conducted on test pieces made of
an actual plastic fuel tank material, can be used in a
durability evaluation of a plastic fuel tank to express the
1 fatigue properties quantitatively.
1 100 10,000 1,000,000
Cycles to Failure Effecto of Stress Ratio R

Figure 8 Comparison of Cycles to Failure between PE-A and PE-B The effect of stress ratio R (=minimum stress / maximum
stress) was examined by the fatigue test of test pieces.
Maximum stress was varied from 6 to 12 MPa, while
Outer Layer
minimum stress was from 2 to 10 MPa. Stress ratio was
Crack set from 0.2 to 0.875. Frequency was 0.1 Hz and
Temperature was 60 ºC. Tests were conducted on
notched test pieces of PE-B. Figure 11 shows the
relation between the stress and cycles to failure. Bold
line in this figure indicates the fatigue life equation for
notched PE-B test piece.

100 2 MPa
Inner Layer 4 MPa Minimum
7 MPa
8 MPa Steress
Maximum Stress (MPa)

10 MPa
Fatigue Life Equation
Figure 9 Failure Area of Fuel Tank Fatigue Test

10

An enlarged photograph of the fracture surface of the

fuel tank that failed in the fatigue test is shown in Figure
9. It is seen that a crack initiated from the outside
surface of the fuel tank and propagated toward the inner,
resulting in perforation of the tank. The failure area of 1
the fuel tank had no notched shape. Like the test pieces, 100 1,000 10,000 100,000
the failure mode of the tank was brittle failure. Cycles to Failure

Figure 10 shows the fatigue test results for the plastic Figure 11 Relation between Stress and Cycles to Failure when
fuel tank in terms of the relationship between stress and maximum and minimum stress was varied for PE-B.
the number of cycles to failure. The stress of fuel tank
The test results correspond well to the fatigue life
equation which was obtained from the fatigue tests of
test pieces on the condition that minimum stress was 0
MPa. This means fatigue life is determined
approximately by the maximum stress and the
dependence on the minimum stress is small on the
condition that stress ratio is less than 0.8. As a result, it
was found that maximum pressure changes of fuel tank
is the principal influencing factor when evaluating the
durability of a plastic fuel tank.
DURABILITY EVALUATION OF PLASTIC FUEL
TANK
An investigation was then made of a method for applying
the experimentally obtained fatigue life prediction
equation to an evaluation of the durability of a plastic
fuel tank. In order to use Eq. (2) in an evaluation of fuel
tank durability at the design stage, it is necessary to
have some method of determining the stress applied to
a fuel tank. The possibility of using the finite element
method (FEM) to conduct a stress analysis was
examined, as this is one way of determining stress at the
design stage.
Figure 12 FEM Model of Plastic Fuel Tank
8 Nakamura and Kunihiro Sasai : Fatigue Behavior of
-6.0kPa
6
-3.3kPa
Calculated Stress (MPa)
4 Vol.33, No.14 (1993)
2 CONTACT
0 Nissan Motor Co., ltd.(560-2 Okatsukoku, Atsugi-shi,
-2
-4
-5 0 5
Measured Stress (MPa)
Figure 13 Comparison of measured stress and calculated stress
A stress analysis was conducted using the FEM model
of the plastic fuel tank shown in Figure 12, and the
results are compared in Figure 13 with the
experimentally measured stress values. The stress was
measure by the strain gauge on the actual fuel tank. The
applied vacuum load was varied in a range of -3.3 kPa
to -6.0 kPa. It is seen that there is a good correlation
between the measured and calculated stress levels,
which suggests that stress can be predicted with
sufficient accuracy on the basis of an FEM analysis.
These results indicate that Eq. (2) and an FEM stress
analysis can be combined to examine the durability of a
plastic fuel tank at the design stage.
CONCLUSION
x Fatigue tests were conducted on test pieces and an
actual plastic fuel tank made of high-density
polyethylene materials. The results showed that the
fatigue properties of the material relative to low-level
cyclic loading corresponding to the pressure
changes experienced by actual plastic fuel tanks
can be expressed as a function of stress, frequency
and temperature.
x A method was examined for applying the fatigue
properties thus obtained to an evaluation of the
durability of plastic fuel tanks. As a result, it was
found that the fatigue life prediction equation
combined with an FEM stress analysis can be
utilized at the design stage to help the evaluation of
fuel tank durability.
REFERENCES
1. A.Lustiger, R.L.Markham : Importance of tie
molecules in preventing polyethylene fracture under
long-term loading conditions, Polymer, Vol.24,
p1647-1654 (1983)
2. Y. Nagai, “High-density polyethylene (HDPE),”
Kougyou Zaigyou, Vol. 45, No. 2, pp. 43-47 (1977)
(in Japanese)..
3. Hiroyuki Nishimura, Akio Nakashiba, Masahiro
Medium-Density Polyethylene Pipes for Gas
Distribution, Polymer Engineering and Science,
Kanagawa 243-0192, Japan)
10