Chap 8

Fatigue
 Fatigue
• It has been estimated that 90% of all service failures of metal parts are caused
by fatigue
• Fatigue is failure of a material due to repetitive stress, which may be above or
below the yield strength.
• Many engineering materials such as those used in cars, planes, turbine engines,
machinery, etc are subjected constantly to repetitive stresses in the form of
tension, compression, bending, vibration, thermal expansion and contraction or
other stresses.
• There are typically three stages to fatigue failure.
• First a small crack is initiated or nucleates at the surface and can
include pits, sharp corners due to poor design or manufacture,
inclusions, grain boundaries or dislocation concentrations.
• Second the crack gradually propagates .
• Third a sudden fracture of the material occurs.
 Fatigue
• The fracture surface near the origin is usually
smooth. The surface becomes rougher as the
crack increases in size.
• Striations are on a much finer scale and show the
position of the crack tip after each cycle.
• Granular portion of the fracture surface: rapid
crack propagation at the time of catastrophic
failure
Dynamic Loading and Fatigue
Comparison between Fatigue strength
and Tensile strength
 Definitions and Concepts
• Mean stress
• Stress amplitude (half of the
range) variation about the
mean
• Stress ratio R, Amplitude
ratio
• Completely reversed
stressing, R=-1
 Fatigue Data
• The most important fatigue data for engineering
designs are the S-N curves, which is the Stress-
Number of Cycles curves.

• In a fatigue test, a specimen is subjected to a

cyclic stress of a certain form and amplitude and
the number of cycles to failure is determined.

• The number of cycles, N, to failure is a function

of the stress amplitude, S. A plot of S versus N is
called the S-N curve.
 Mean Stress on S-N curves

Fatigue life decreases as the mean stress

increases
 S–N (Wöhler) Curves
• S (stress)–N (cycles to failure) curves.
• (A) Ferrous (B) nonferrous metals.
Fatigue Strength Equation
 Safety Factors for S-N Curves
• The safety factor in stress:

• The safety factor in life:

Relation between life safety factor and
stress safety factor
 Problem 1
• For the AISI 4340 steel, a stress amplitude of σa =
500MPa will be applied in service for N = 2000
cycles. What are the safety factors in stress and in
life?
Problem 2
 Effect of Mean Stress
• Most S-N curves are from experiments in
which the mean stress was zero.
• however, the mean stress is usually not zero.
• to predict fatigue behavior when the stress
cycles about a mean stress have been
proposed. Goodman suggested:
 Effect of Mean Stress
• Soderberg proposed a more conservative relation:

• Gerber proposed a less conservative relation:

 Problem 3
• A 4340 steel bar is subjected to a fluctuating
axial load that varies from a maximum of 330
kN tension to a minimum of 110 kN
compression. The mechanical properties of
the steel are:
• σu = 1090 MPa, σe = 510 MPa
• Determine the bar diameter to give infinite
fatigue life based on a safety factor of 2.5, Use
the conservative Goodman equation
 Problem 4
A circular cylindrical rod made of aluminium with a
uniform cross sectional area of 20 cm2 is subjected to a
mean axial force of 120 kN. The fatigue strength of the
material, σ a =σf is 250 MPa after 106 cycles of fully
reversed loading and σTS = 500 MPa. Using the different
procedures discussed in class, estimate the allowable
amplitude of force for which the shaft should be
designed to withstand at least one million fatigue
cycles. State all your assumptions clearly.
 Fatigue Failures

• Stage I Non-propagating
fatigue crack
(~0.25nm/cycle)
• Stage II Stable fatigue
crack propagation-
widely study
• Stage III Unstable
fatigue crack
propagation failure
 Fatigue Failures
• Crack Growth Rate • For higher stress-intensities a
crack grows at a rate given by:
• To estimate whether a • Where A and m are empirical
crack will grow, the stress constants that depend on the
intensity factor (DK), material.
which characterizes the • When DK is high, the cracks grow
crack geometry and the in a rapid and unstable manner
stress amplitude can be until fracture occurs.
used. Below a threshold
DK a crack doesn’t grow. da
 A( DK ) m
dN
DK  K max  K min
DK  f ( max   min ) a
 Problem 5
• A mild steel plate is subjected to constant
amplitude uniaxial fatigue loads to produce
stresses varying from σmax = 180 MPa to
σmin = -40 MPa. The static properties of the
steel are σo = 500 MPa, σu = 600 MPa, E = 207
MPa, and Kc = 100 MPa.m1/2. If the plate
contains an initial through thickness edge
crack of 0.5 mm, how many fatigue
• cycles will be required to break the plate?
For through thickness edge crack, α = 1.12, and for ferritic-pearlitic
steels, A = 6.9 x 10-12 MPam1/2 and m = 3.0. σr = σmax