Fatigue Testing

Fatigue is the condition whereby a material cracks or fails because of repeated (cyclic)
stresses applied below the ultimate strength of the material. Fatigue failure often occurs
quite suddenly with catastrophic result.
When a structure is loaded, a crack will be nucleated (crack nucleation) on a
microscopically small scale, this crack then grows (crack growth), then finally complete
failure of the specimen. The whole process constitutes the fatigue life of the component in
question.
Fatigue testing is used to determine how many load cycles a material can sustain or the
failure load level for a given number of cycles. The results of fatigue testing vary
dramatically depending on the material. For example, most steels and aluminum alloys
behave very differently under fatigue. Steel typically has a fatigue threshold which means
that if it is tested at loads lower than the threshold, it will never break. Most aluminum alloys
do not have a fatigue limit. Even under a small load, most aluminum alloys will fail after a
sufficient number of cycles.
Plastics (polymers) are very sensitive to strain rate, the speed of testing. Testing plastics at
a higher rate will lead to different results than testing them at a lower rate. Similarly,
plastics are temperature sensitive; meaning that they behave very differently at high
temperatures than at lower temperatures.
Fatigue testing is very common in the automotive, aerospace, military and orthopaedic
industries. This type of mechanical testing can be performed using very simple sinusoidal
load cycles or may simulate very complex service life load profiles.
Low-cycle fatigue testing or LCF testing is a strain-controlled testing method. It describes the
thermal and /or mechanical loading conditions which cause premature failure of materials at a
lower number of cycles, usually below 1000 cycles. It is widely used in industry, particularly
aerospace and aircraft manufacturing. High-cycle fatigue or HCF is stress-controlled and
requires more than 1000 cycles. The material undergoing fatigue testing is subject to lower
loads, usually less than 2/3 of the yield stress.

In fatigue testing, a specified mean load (which may be zero) and an alternating load are
applied to a specimen and the number of cycles required to produce failure (fatigue life) is
recorded. Generally, the test is repeated with identical specimens and various fluctuating loads.
Loads may be applied axially, in torsion, or in flexure. Depending on amplitude of the mean and
cyclic load, net stress in the specimen may be in one direction through the loading cycle, or may
reverse direction. Data from fatigue testing often are presented in an S-N diagram which is a
plot of the number of cycles required to cause failure in a specimen against the amplitude of the
cyclical stress developed. The cyclical stress represented may be stress amplitude, maximum
stress or minimum stress. Each curve in the diagram represents a constant mean stress. Most
fatigue tests are conducted in flexure, rotating beam, or vibratory type machines.




Test Methods

The fatigue test is normally conducted using at least 8-12 specimens in order to provide sufficient information
for the interpretation of fatigue behaviour of the tested material. The S-N curve shows a relationship between
the applied stress and the number of cycles to failure, which can be used to determine the fatigue life of the
material subjected to cyclic loading. High applied cyclic stress results in a low number of cycles to failure. For
example, the fatigue testing of 1047 steel provides a small number of cycles to failure at a high cyclic stress.
As the cyclic stress reduces, the number of cycles to failure increases. At the fatigue endurance limit, there
will be a certain value of the cyclic stress where specimen failure will not occur. This cyclic stress level is
called the fatigue strength.
According to the figure, the fatigue strength of 1047 steel is approximately 320 MPa. However, nonferrous
alloys such as some alloys of aluminium, magnesium and copper will not normally show the fatigue
endurance limit. The slope can be found gradually downwards with increasing number of cycles to failure and
shows no horizontal line. In such a case, the fatigue strength will be defined at a stress level where the number
of cycles to failure reaches 107 or 108 cycles.
The fatigue strength of engineering materials is in general lower than their tensile strength. A ratio of the
fatigue strength to the tensile strength as described in equation 1 is called the fatigue ratio.
It is normally observed that, in the case of steels, the fatigue strength increases in proportional to the tensile
stress. Therefore, improving the tensile strength by hardening or other heat treatments normally increases the
fatigue strength of the material. However for nonferrous metals such as aluminium alloys, the fatigue ratio is
found approximately 0.3 and the improvement of the tensile strength do not necessary increases the fatigue
strength of the material.
Fatigue ratio Fatigue strength
Tensile strength

S-N curves of 1047 steel and 2014-T6 aluminium alloy


The fatigue S-N curve are generally considered in 2 cases, which are high cycle fatigue and low cycle fatigue.
The study of high cycle fatigue concerns about fatigue behaviour of the materials which is controlled by the
applied load or stress and where the gross deformation taking place is elastic.
However highly localized plastic deformation can also be observed for example at the crack tip. The number
of cycles to failure in this case is normally determined at higher than 105 cycles. The S-N curve in the high
cycle fatigue region can be expressed using the Basquin equation as follow;
In the case of low cycle fatigue, the fatigue behaviour is controlled by elastic and plastic strains and the
number of cycles leading to failure is lower than 104 or 105 cycles. Gross plastic deformation is due to high
levels of the applied stresses and leads to difficulties for stress interpretation. The low cycle fatigue data is
generally presented as a relationship between plastic strain (p) and the number of cycles to failure (N).
When plotted in a log-log scale, the relationship can be expressed following the Coffin-Manson relationship

Corrected fatigue strength
It can be said that since fatigue properties of a material is easily influenced by many factors (size,
surface, test method, environment and probability). The S-N curve ob-tained from laboratory tests
has to be related to real-life design condition by modifying it with some factors and least the
laboratory results should not be used directly with no question.
Laboratory endurance strength (Se) of the materials obtain from S-N diagram (or the likes) are
therefore corrected for actual conditions by using correction factors like;
Se = Ka x Kb x Kc x Kd x Ke x Kf x Se
Where,
Ka = Surface Correction factor
Kb = Size Correction factor
Kc =Reliability Correction factor
Kd = Temperature Correction factor
Ke = Stress concentration Correction factor
Kf = Miscellaneous Correction factor
Se = Endurance Strength of material specimen under laboratory condition
Se = Endurance Strength of material specimen under actual running condition


Factors affecting fatigue life of materials
Fatigue behavior of engineering materials is highly sensitive to a number of
variables. Some of these factors include:
1. Mean Stress: It is half the algebraic sum of the maximum stress and the
minimum stress. Usually the dependence of fatigue life on stress amplitude
is studied at a constant mean stress m, often for the reverses cycle
situation (m = 0). As may be noted, increasing the mean stress level leads
to a decrease in fatigue life.
2. Surface condition of material: It is known that highly polished elements
withstand fatigue much better than normally machined ones.
3. Influence of the shape of specimen on stress flow: The shape of the
specimen is very important, since at corners ant notches the local stress
can be several times more than the calculated average value.
4. Imperfections inside the material and at the surface: In certain
materials, failure as a result of repeatedly cycled stress generates
localized slip pattern. Each slip segment work so that very small cracks
form in the material. The notch effect causes the cracks to multiply until
a network develops to cause fracture. If these cracks are reversible
(sealed) with the cycle, the material is said to be ductile. If not, it will
fracture. It is, therefore, important that when a structure is to be cycled,
sharp corners, surface scratches, or notches must be avoided by the
designer.
5. Environmental effects: such as thermal fatigue and Corrosion fatigue

Fatigue Testing Apparatus
Function and layout
In the revolving fatigue testing machine, a rotating
sample which is clamped on one side is loaded with
a concentrated force. As a result, an alternating
bending stress is created in the cylindrical sample.
Following a certain number of load cycles, the sample
will rupture as a result of material fatigue.
The revolving fatigue testing machine essentially
consists of
- Spindle with sample receptacle (1)
- Drive motor (2)
- Load device (3)
- Switch box with the electrical control and
counter (4)
- Protective hood (8)
The spindle is mounted on two amply dimensioned
rolling-contact bearings.
























The spindle is driven by a smooth running a.c.
motor with a speed of approximately 2880 RPM.




The test bar (7) is clamped in the spindle on
one
side by a collet chuck (5) and guided on the
other
side in a floating bearing (6).









Specimens



(a) Rotating bending, (b) Axial uniform, (c) Axial hourglass
These specimens are usually used for axial or bending tests. They usually have finely polished
surfaces to minimize surface roughness effects. No distinction between crack nucleation and growth is
normally made with these specimens. Careful alignment is needed for axial loaded specimens to
minimize bending.


(d) Axial or bending with circumferential groove (e) Cantilever Flat Sheet
Stress concentration influence can be studied with most
of these specimens by machining in notches, holes, or grooves.







(f) Combined stress
A thin-walled tube specimen designed for torsion and combined axial/torsion with the possibility of adding
internal and/or external pressure. This multiaxial loading can be performed in-phase or out-of-phase. The thin-
walled tube allows for essentially uniform normal and shear stresses in the cross-sectional area.



(g) axial Cracked sheet, (h) part-through crack,(i) Compact
tension and (j) three point bend specimen


Specimens shown have been used for obtaining fatigue
crack growth data. In all cases a thin slit, notch, or
groove with a very small root radius is machined into the
specimen.




ASTM Test Standards for Fatigue Testing
ASTM D623 - Rubber property-heat generation and flexing fatigue in compression
ASTM F1612 - Standard Practice for Cyclic Fatigue Testing of Metallic Stemmed Hip
Arthroplasty Femoral Components with Torsion
ASTM F1717 - Standard Test Methods for Spinal Implant Constructs in a Vertebrectomy
Model
ASTM F1798 - Evaluating static and fatigue properties of interconnection mechanisms and
subassemblies used in spinal arthrodesis implants.

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