2011 International Nuclear Atlantic Conference - INAC 2011

Belo Horizonte,MG, Brazil, October 24-28, 2011

ASSOCIAO BRASILEIRA DE ENERGIA NUCLEAR - ABEN
ISBN: 978-85-99141-04-5

FATIGUE DAMAGE MEASUREMENT BASED ON ELECTRICAL

RESISTANCE CHANGE IN ALUMINUM ALLOY 2024-T3
Nelson N. Atanazio Filho1, Andr L. Nogueira2, Paulo T. Vida Gomes1, Emerson
Giovani Rabello1 and Tanius R. Mansur1
1

Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear (CDTN /CNEN-MG)

Avenida Pres. Antnio Carlos, 6.627 - Campus da UFMG
31270-901 Belo Horizonte MG
nnaf@cdtn.br, gomespt@cdtn.br, egr@cdtn.br, tanius@cdtn.br

Departamento de Engenharia Mecnica - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

Av. Antnio Carlos, 6627 - Pampulha
31270-901 Belo Horizonte MG
andrelnogueira@yahoo.com.br

ABSTRACT
Structural components, in nuclear or conventional industries, normally experience fatigue cycling during
operation. Failure of these components is mostly due to fatigue. So, it is important to know the fatigue damage
behavior and fatigue life of the material before selecting these alloys for making different structural
components. Damage is a very important concept in fatigue studies. In the context of the continuous damage
mechanics of materials is defined as a property that decreases the component strength, until failure. The process
of damage creation consists in the superficial discontinuity nucleation (micro cracks) and/or volumetric
discontinuity nucleation (micro cracks or micro-cavities) in the material. It begins where the localized stress
exceeds the material yielding stress under stress or strain fluctuation. Generally mechanical components suffer
damages along their entire life, since the external loads exceed the allowable stress. In applications where the
fatigue problems are determinative, the damage measurement has a fundamental importance. In this case,
always that the external alternate stress exceeds the fatigue strength limit, will occur an irrecoverable and
cumulative damage in the material. The damage quantitative evaluation is a complex task, since it involves
macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of the material. Electrical resistance measurement method has been
used in terms of monitoring and damage measurement. The electrical resistance method is particularly effective
for detecting small and subtle defects in structural materials and in their joints. The objective of this work is
measure damages caused by reverse fatigue in the Aluminum Alloy 2024-T3 using electrical resistance
measurement method.
Keywords: Fatigue, Damage, Electrical resistance method.

1. INTRODUCTION
Studies about fatigue phenomenon in structural or mechanical parts have wide objectives. It
is estimated that fatigue is responsible by 80% to 90% of the in service failures of structural
and mechanical components, causing economical, environmental and social damage. It is
possible to define the fatigue as a localized degradation process, progressive and permanent,
that occurs in materials subject to stress and strain variation and that produce cracks
nucleation or an entire fracture, after sufficient number of cycles [1]. The continuum damage
theory can be used to study fatigue damage evolution in metals and predict its fatigue lifetime
[2, 3, 4]. Determination of measuring parameters that can be more sensitive to damage
accumulation and easier to be tested is a key to successful application in nuclear and
conventional industries.

The damage creation event in metals represents the creation of surface or volumetric
discontinuities, micro cracks and cavities respectively [4]. A material is considered free of
damage (a virgin material), in the absence of micro cracks and cavities at microscopic scale
(10-3 10-2 mm) in its body. The final stage of damage is the rupture of the material. Damage
is defined as:
~

AD
A

A
A

(1)

where D is the damage, A is the cross-sectional area of the damaged specimen, AD is the total
area of the defects present on this cross-section and = A - AD is the effective area which the
specimen is loaded.

The methods used for quantitative damage evaluation are classified as direct and indirect
methods. The direct methods allow evaluating the damaged area AD. Measurements of the
micro-defects density by microscopy, porosity by changes in the density and x-ray diffraction
are examples of direct methods. The indirect methods are those where the damage evaluation
is done from the measurements of the changing occurring in the physical and mechanical
properties of the material, caused by the damage level induced in it. The indirect methods can
be destructive (Elasticity Module Changes Measurements Method and Micro-hardness) or
non-destructive (Ultrasonic Testing, Electrical Potential Changes Measurements Methods,
Electrical Resistance Methods and Barkhausen Noise Analysis). Among them, potential drop
and electrical resistance methods are one of the best non-destructive testing methods [5].

In this work, the experiments are performed by measurements of the damages caused by high
cycle reverse fatigue in aluminum alloy 2024-T3, utilizing technique of measurement of the
electric resistivity variation. The proposed technique to measure the damages caused by high
cycle fatigue is the technique that utilizes the electrical resistance variation measurement
considering that the electrical resistivity is variable after determined number of fatigue
cycles. Considering the high cycle fatigue, a manner of damage measurement is [6]:

INAC 2011, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.

R
R

R
R

(2)

where R is the increment in the electric resistance variation between the virgin material and
the damaged material, R is the electric resistance of the virgin material, R is the electric
resistance of the damaged material. In theory, when D = 1, R corresponding to rupture
of the specimen. The Eq. 2 is based in the uniform distribution of the damages and considers
the electric resistivity constant. To consider the electric resistivity variation due to high cycle
fatigue damage, the relation between electrical resistance and damage is obtained by [7]:
R
R

1 2D
1 D

3
2

(3)

For metallic materials, the critical damage value to fracture is usually in the range of 0.2 to
0.8 and, in this range, the Eq. 2 is a very good approximation and the Eq. 3 is inaccurate.
During the fatigue process, each point on the surface specimen has an equal possibility to
initiate fatigue micro-cracks. The tensile stress on the cross-section decrease from the
maximum at the outmost layer to zero at the center or the neutral line of the specimen. The
maximum damage on the surface of specimen, DM, in the range of 0 to 1 is proposed for
damage measurement and the approximate relation between DM and R/R was developed and
which may meet the initial and failure conditions [7]:
5
DM

2R
R

R
R
2

R
R

(4)

2. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES

2.1.

Materials and Specimens

For this work, fatigue specimens of aluminum alloy 2024-T3 were machined. Their
dimensions (in mm) are shown in Figure 1.

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Figure 1. Fatigue test specimen configuration. Dimensions in mm.

Fatigue tests carried out on specimens of aluminum alloy 2024 T-3, work hardening and
naturally aged to a condition in which the mechanical properties become homogeneous. The
Tab. 1 shows the mechanical properties of aluminum 2024 T3 obtained in a tensile test
performed in CDTN by a universal machine Instron 95kN TTDML.

Table 1. Mechanical properties of aluminum alloy 2024-T3.

Yield Strength
(MPa)
181

Strength Strength
(MPa)
490

Rupture Strength
(MPa)
465

This alloy is used in aircraft structures, machine screws, scientific instruments, revit, gears,
shafts and hydraulic valves.
2.2.

Test Equipment

High-cycle fatigue tests were performed using a high frequency reverse fatigue machine.
During fatigue testing, DC electrical resistance measurement was made over the specimens
length, using a direct current double bridge for four probes, in which brass screws in
conjunction with short and thick copper wires server as electrical contacts. Because the
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values of electrical resistance changes of fatigued specimens are typically very low, special
techniques to perform such measurements must be used. In this work, a Tinsley QJ57 high
accuracy direct current double bridge was used. During electrical resistance measurement, the
fatigue specimen was fixed in an acrylic stand, in order to accurately locate the position for
measurement of electrical resistance, as shown in Fig. 2.

Figure 2. Measurement electrical resistance.

2.3.

Tests Conduction

Initially, the electrical resistance of a virgin specimen was measured and registered. So, the
specimen was attached to the reverse loading machine, an adequate value of stress amplitude
was adjusted and several (thousands) loading cycles were applied. After that, the specimen
was removed from the loading machine and its electrical resistance was measured and
registered again. The process was repeated many times, until the rupture of the specimen. The
stresses used in the tests were 92, 115, 138 and 161 MPa.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Fig. 3 shown the damage evolution curves measured by Eq. 2. The damage accumulations
corresponding to the uneven damage distribution mainly occurs in the outer zone on the cross
section of the specimens, so that the nucleation and growth of micro cracks in the outer zone,
with respect to a prescribed electrical resistance variation, is much faster. The damage
evolution when 0.6 DM 1 has not been studied.

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Damage in Aluminum
1
CP31/92
CP32/92
CP33/92
CP40/92
CP34/115
CP35/115
CP36/115
CP37/115
CP8/138
CP27/138
CP28/138
CP4/161
CP6/161

Damage

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

1400000

1600000

Cycles

Figure 3. Curves of damage based on electrical resistance changes.

Fig. 4 shown the damage evolution curves measured by Eq. 2 and Eq. 4 for stress 92 MPa.
The result shows that the difference between Eq. 2 and Eq. 4 is very small when
0 DM 0.6. Those equations represent the relationship between fatigue damage
accumulation and electrical resistance changes, considering uneven damage distribution and
variable electrical resistivity [7]. Good agreement has been obtained, as shown in Fig. 4.

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Damage Calculation
1.60

Damage

1.20

92 CP31,2
92 CP31,4
92 CP32,2
92 CP32,4
92 CP33,2
92 CP 33,4
92 CP40,2
92 CP40,4

0.80

0.40

0.00
0

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

1400000

1600000

Cycles

Figure 4. Curves of damage based on electrical resistance changes for stress 92 MPa.

Fig. 5 shown the damage evolution curves measured by Eq. 2, due to ni/Nf.

Damage vs. ni /Nf

1.2
CP31/92
CP32/92
CP33/92
CP40/92
CP34/115
CP35/115
CP36/115
CP37/115
CP8/138
CP27/138
CP28/138
CP4/161
CP6/161

Damage

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

n i/ N f

Figure 5. Curves of damage based on ni/Nf.

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1.2

1.4

4. CONCLUSIONS
Fatigue damage in metals is represented by the formation of inclusions, dislocations,
vacancies and micro-cavities, and results in changes in their electrical resistivity. This study
showed, by means of experimental processes, that the electrical resistivity of Al 2024-T3
alloy specimens increases, due to the presence of defects caused by fatigue such as:
inclusions, dislocations, vacancies and micro-cavities.

So it is possible to establish correlations among the fatigue damage and the corresponding
electrical resistivity change. That approach may be technically developed and employed as a
non-destructive technique, useful to verify fatigue evolution in metals.

5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientfico e
Tecnolgico - CNPq and Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear CDTN that
supported the development of this work.
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INAC 2011, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.