CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
Reliability of materials and structures in the form of thick-walled cylinders is of

critical importance to many industries including power, nuclear, chemical, armament,

and food processing industries. Catastrophic failure of these cylinders can put the

human life and the surroundings at very high risk. For this reason, the integrity of the

cylinder should be guaranteed. The purpose of this chapter is to present a general

overview of the title. The chapter comprises the following topics:

The basic concepts of the fatigue process

Thick-walled cylinder

The problem description, research strategy and the objective of the

present research

Overview of the thesis

1.1 Fatigue: Progressive fracture

Fatigue is defined as:

“The process of progressive localized permanent structural change occurring in a

material subjected to conditions that produce fluctuating stresses and strains at

some point or points and that may culminate in cracks or complete fracture after a

sufficient number of fluctuations” [1].

Under the cyclic application of stress below the ultimate tensile strength of a material,

localized hardening or softening occurs due to plastic deformation. The localized

plastic deformation may occur at points of stress concentrations or even in absence of

a stress raiser; for example in persistent slip bands extrusion formation can result in

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crack initiation. This localized structural change may develop cracks in the structural

member after a certain number of cycles. The loading is called fatigue loading and the

subsequent fracture is called fatigue failure. The corresponding number of load cycles

or the time during which the member is subjected to these loads before fracture occurs

is referred to as the fatigue life of the member.

It is believed that most common failures are due to fatigue; many experts of the field

suggested that 50 to 90 percent of all mechanical failures are fatigue failures [2] and

usually these failures are unexpected. Fatigue failures occur in every field of

engineering and also in interdisciplinary engineering fields. They include thermal,

mechanical fatigue failure in electrical circuit boards involving electrical engineers,

bridges involving civil engineers, automobiles involving mechanical engineers, farm

tractors involving agricultural engineers, aircraft involving aeronautical engineers,

heart valve implants involving biomedical engineers, pressure vessels involving

chemical engineers, and nuclear piping involving nuclear engineers. Thus, all fields of

engineering are involved with fatigue design of metals. Fatigue failures encompass

problems in simple items like door springs, tooth brushes, tennis racquets, electric

light bulbs, and repeated bending of paper clips and include more complex

components and structures like pressure vessels, ground vehicles, ships, aircraft, and

human body implants. The latter include automobile steering linkage, engine

connecting rods, ship propeller shafts, pressurized airplane fuselage, landing gears,

and hip replacement prostheses.

The integrity of nearly all engineering structures is threatened by the presence of

cracks. Structural failure occurs if a crack larger than a critical size exists. Although

most well designed structures initially contain no critical cracks, subcritical cracks can

grow to failure under fatigue loading, called fatigue crack growth (FCG). Because it is

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impossible or impractical to prevent subcritical crack growth in most applications, a

damage tolerant design philosophy was developed for crack sensitive structures.

Design engineers have taken advantage of the FCG threshold concept to design for

long fatigue lives. FCG threshold ( Kth) is a value of K (crack-tip loading), below

which no significant FCG occurs. Cracks are tolerated if K is less than Keffth.

However, FCG threshold is not constant. Many variables influence Kth including

microstructure, environment, and load ratio.

1.1.1 Stages of fatigue failure

The fatigue life of a metallic material is divided into several stages: crack nucleation,

micro-crack growth, macro-crack growth, and failure. Crack nucleation is associated

with cyclic slip and is controlled by the local stress and strain concentrations.

Although the slip-band mechanism of crack formation may be necessary in pure

metals, the presence of inclusions or voids in engineering metals will greatly affect

the crack-nucleation process. Micro-crack growth, a term now referred to as the

“small-crack growth” regime, is the growth of cracks from inclusions, voids, or slip

bands, in the range of 1 to 20 m in length. Schijve [3] has shown that for polished

surfaces of pure metals and commercial alloys, the formation of a small crack, about

100 m in size, can consume 60 to 80 % of the fatigue life. The AGARD [4, 5] and

NASA/CAE [6] studies on small-crack behavior in a variety of materials showed that

about 90% of the fatigue life is consumed in crack growth from about 10 m to

failure. This is the reason that there is so much interest in the growth behavior of

small cracks. Macro-crack growth and failure regions are the regions where fracture

mechanics parameters have been successful in correlating and predicting fatigue-

crack growth and fracture.

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Generally, a fatigue fracture has three distinct stages; crack nucleation, its growth and

ultimate failure. Equally present in the first two stages is some kind of repetitive load.

Typically, this load is mechanical; in the case of the crank of a combustion engine, it

can be a repeating pressure; in the interior of an aircraft or fixation of wings in the

fuselage of such aircrafts, it can also be of thermal origin; e.g. in boilers, heat

exchangers, etc. Fig. 1.1 shows the sketch of the three stages of fatigue as seen on the

fracture surface.

II
Striations -
One line
per cycle
III
I

Fig. 1.1 Sketch showing three stages of fatigue as seen on the fracture surface

The fatigue life of a member, i.e. the total number of cycles to failure, is the sum of

cycles at the first and the second stages:

Nf = Ni + Np (1.1)

where Nf : Number of cycles to failure

Ni : Number of cycles for crack initiation

Np : Number of cycles for crack propagation

In high cycle fatigue stresses are predominantly elastic and studies show that in this

case Ni is relatively high [3]. In low cycle fatigue, bulk plasticity is involved and

stress levels are usually above the yield strength of the material. With increasing

stress level, Ni decreases and Np dominates.

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1.1.2 Fatigue crack growth curve

In general, the fatigue crack growth process is characterized by three distinct regions

[7] as shown in Fig.1.2. The sigmoidal shape can be divided into three major regions.

Region I is the near threshold region and exhibits a threshold value, ∆Kth, below

which there is no observable crack growth. Cracks which form below the fatigue

strength are called non-propagating cracks. This region is associated with the growth

of cracks at low stress intensity factor ranges ( K) and is commonly believed to

account for a significant proportion of the fatigue life of a component.

Region II is the stable crack growth region and has been extensively studied for its

technological importance [8 - 19]. This region, normally known as the Paris region,

shows essentially a linear relationship between log da/dN and log K. This region has

received the greatest attention as it is in this region the Paris crack growth law [20]

can be applied, viz:

m
da/dN = C K (1.2)

Here m is the slope of the line obtained from the above equation and the coefficient C

is found by extending the straight line to K=1 MPa m. Both C and m are

experimentally obtained constants. The second stage prevails for an appreciable time

until finally the material fails.

In region III the fatigue crack growth rates are very high as they approach instability,

and little fatigue crack growth life is involved. This region is controlled primarily by

fracture toughness KIC of the material.

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 I II III

Log da/dN

Paris region
da/dN = C Km

Kth Log K KIC

Figure 1.2 Typical fatigue crack growth curve

For a given material and environment, the fatigue crack growth behavior is essentially

the same for different specimens or components because the stress intensity factor

range is the principal controlling factor in fatigue crack growth [2]. Thus the fatigue

crack growth rate (da/dN) versus K data obtained on simple specimen

configurations, under constant amplitude conditions, can be used for engineering

design. Knowing the stress intensity factor expression, K, for a given component and

loading conditions, the fatigue crack growth life of the component can be assessed by

integrating the sigmoidal curve between the limits of initial crack size and final crack

size. Schematic in Fig. 1.3 shows a constant amplitude load cycle with zero mean

stress.

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 + max

Stress 0 m

- min

Time

Fig. 1.3 Alternating stress cycle with zero mean stress

The related terminology is as under:

Stress range = max - min (1.3)

Stress amplitude u =( max - min)/2 (1.4)

Mean stress m =( max + min)/2 (1.5)

Stress ratio R = min / max (1.6)

In a structure with crack size „a‟, the stress intensity factor is defined as:

Stress intensity factor K = a . F(a) (1.7)

and

Stress intensity factor range K = a . F(a) (1.8)

where F(a) is the shape factor related to the geometry of the component.

Fig. 1.4 shows the crack tip stress field and the schematic of the three crack

deformation modes.

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 Mode I Mode II Mode III
Opening Sliding Tearing

Fig. 1.4 Crack tip stress field and crack deformation modes

Many fatigue crack growth data have been obtained under constant load amplitude

test conditions using sharp cracked specimens. Mode I fatigue crack growth has

received the greatest attention because this is the predominant mode of macroscopic

fatigue crack growth. KII and KIII usually have only second order effects on both crack

initiation and crack growth rates.

1.1.3 Fatigue crack propagation

The second stage of fatigue fracture is crack growth or propagation. A crack forms on

the slip plane of a persistent slip band and initially propagates as a stage I crack.

Beyond a grain or two it becomes a stage II crack, propagating on a plane

perpendicular to the principal tensile stress until the member breaks in a rapid tensile

fracture mode. During stage II propagation, striations or ripples are formed on

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portions of the fatigue crack surface perpendicular to the tensile direction. The growth

of the crack from intrusion to the stage II propagation is a rapidly accelerated process.

Hence, the fatigue crack growth process is strongly controlled by the initiation of the

intrusion.

Fig. 1.5 is a schematic showing the nucleation and propagation stages during fatigue.

In this second stage, initially the crack will grow along lines of maximal shear and

later on, when the crack has grown, along the lines of maximal tensile stress. At this

stage, the „micro-crack‟ becomes a „macro-crack‟; the growth depends solely on the

properties of the bulk material and not on the microscopic or the local properties. In

the crack growth process, the crack tip experiences a succession of tensile and

compressive stresses. As compression changes to tension the crack opens and a

system of shear stresses begins to operate at the crack tip. As the tensile stress

increases plastic deformation also increases and ductile blunting of the crack tip takes

place leading to crack growth. When the cycle enters the compressive phase the shear

stresses are reversed and the state of maximum compression closes the crack almost

completely; in the process the plastic flow reverses. The process induces a striation on

the fracture surface. Subsequent tensile stress reopens the crack. The process repeats

itself thereby generating striations on the fracture surface as shown schematically in

Fig. 1.6. Crack closure also effect the fatigue crack growth and various sources of

closure have been identified, such as plasticity, oxide or debris,

roughness/microstructure, residual stress, viscous fluid penetration, phase

transformation, etc. Plasticity-induced crack closure has been one of the most widely

studied research topics in the area of fatigue crack growth. During loading, large

tensile plastic strains are developed near the crack tip, which are not fully reversed

upon unloading. This leads to the formation of a plastic wake behind the crack tip and

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subsequently reduces the driving force for fatigue crack growth. However, crack

closure may not be as important in stage II as in near-threshold range. The second

stage, commonly known as the „Paris regime‟ prevails for an appreciable time until

finally the material fails in stage III.

Crack

Loading
direction
Free
surface

Stage I Stage II
Nucleation Propagation

Fig. 1.5 Schematic showing the nucleation (I) and propagation (II) stages
during fatigue in a polycrystalline material

(a)
Striations

(c)

S (b)
(b)

(c)
(d)

(a) (e)
(d)
t

(e)

Fig. 1.6 Illustration of Stage II crack growth showing the formation of striations [21]

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The fatigue life of a member is affected by many factors e.g.;

1. The type of load (uniaxial, bending, torsion)

2. The nature of the load-displacement curve (linear, nonlinear)

3. The frequency of load repetitions or cycling

4. The load history (cyclic load with constant or variable amplitude, random

load, etc)

5. The size of the member

6. The material flaws

7. The grain size and microstructure

8. The manufacturing method (surface roughness, notches).

9. The localized surface irregularities (e.g. stamping) can be the point of high

stress concentration

10. The operating temperatures (creep due to high temperature, brittleness due to

low temperature)

11. The environmental operating conditions (corrosion, vacuum)

1.1.4 Study of the fractured surface (fractography)

The information stored in specimen during fracture becomes the subject of study [22]

even after the specimen undergoes fatigue failure. Sometimes, it is possible to

determine the exact location of crack initiation and one can locate the source of crack

initiation.

A fatigue fracture surface is distinctive in appearance and consists of three regions;

these are (i) a smooth portion, often possessing the nucleation site (ii) beach markings

showing the growth of the fatigue crack up to the moment of final failure and (iii) the

cleavage or shear which is the final fracture region.

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The initiation and propagation phase normally generates a cracked surface that is

fairly flat. In an electron microscope, it is possible to distinguish tiny ripples on the

surface; each ripple actually corresponds a loading cycle – very similar to the growth

rings of a tree. A scanning electron micrograph depicting striations on the fractured

surface of a fighter aircraft turbine blade that failed due to fatigue is shown in Fig.

1.7. A crack growth rate of ~ 0.5 x 10-6 meter per loading cycle can be obtained from

the micrograph at high magnification. Furthermore, it is possible to determine

„seasonal‟ differences, which reflect, for instance, change in the amplitude of loading.

The final fracture zone can be smooth and shiny in case of brittle materials or may

have a lustrous structure indicating ductile failure.

20 μm 2 μm

(a) (b)

Fig. 1.7. Scanning electron micrographs depicting striations on the fractured turbine
blade a) low magnification b) high magnification

1.2 Thick-walled cylinders

Thick-walled cylinders (TWC) in the form of boilers, gun barrels, nuclear reactors,

pipelines and high-pressure containers are essential structural members for many

industries. These include chemical, petroleum, nuclear, armament and food industries.

The general function of these cylinders is to retain the processes, gas, fluids or

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machinery inside them and isolate it from the surroundings. In many applications the

cylinders are prone to cyclic stresses during their normal operation. The origin of

these stresses may be the fluctuating pressures inside the pressure vessel, the pipe

containing fluid, or instead, the vibrations of the rotating machinery inside them.

Large internal pressures produce high tension hoop stresses along the inner surface of

the cylinder; the latter may result in the nucleation of the internal surface cracks due

to cyclic action of high-pressure pulses. Cracks nucleate at the surface of the bore,

grow into arrays of longitudinal and/or radial cracks and reduce the strength of the

structure resulting in premature failure at pressures which are even lower than the

design capacity. Catastrophic service failures result in loss to human life and have

significant impact on the economy. For this reason, proper material and precision in

design is necessary to ensure integrity of the cylinder during the service life.

Defects in the thick-walled cylinders may be generated during manufacturing or

during the service; these defects are the potential site of crack initiation. In addition,

during the normal operation, thick-walled cylinders may suffer from a number of

degradation mechanisms including stress corrosion cracking, creep etc. Initiation of

cracks can never be ruled out during the normal operation and must be considered

while analyzing against fatigue failure. If the primary crack growth mechanism is

slow, the cracks will be detected during routine maintenance by non-destructive

testing (NDT) so that corrective measures can be taken before crack growth moves

into a high risk regime. It is thus quite necessary to analyze, in detail, the crack

propagation behavior in industrial applications.

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1.3 Problem description and research strategy

1.3.1 Extruded cylinders

In present work, the component being studied is a thick-walled extruded cylinder

under fatigue loading. In industries of a wide variety, the thick-walled cylinders are

the main critical components. The cylinders are manufactured through extrusion; the

most popular extrusion procedure is based on splitting the ingot to be extruded in

three or four segments, which subsequently get welded together upon passage through

a specially designed die. The cylinder produced in the process has seams in the wall

parallel to the extrusion direction. After the final heat treatment processes, the seams

become an integral part of the cylinder. However, the probability of certain

manufacturing defects may not be entirely ruled out; for instance lack of precise

control of the processing parameters may result in incomplete welding of the

segments creating a crack usually on the inner surface. The length of the crack so

generated may be small or could extend the entire length of the cylinder as shown in

Fig. 1.8. To avoid seams the double action extrusion process is used; see the

schematic of the process in Annexure I.

1.3.2 Fatigue process in thick-walled cylinders

A fatigue crack passes through three major stages and these are crack initiation, stable

crack propagation and final rapid fracture. Normally, the first stage takes quite a long

time but in a cylinder which already contains internal surface cracks, the first stage is

assumed to be already completed and fatigue consideration in the design is of crucial

importance. Under fatigue loading conditions the cracks present on the inner surface

of the cylinder may grow outwards in the radial direction and result in the complete

failure of the cylinder. Therefore a comprehensive study of these cylinders under the

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conditions described above is indispensable. In this work the crack growth design

problem associated with a thick-walled cylinder is being studied.

1.3.3 Definition of the problem being studied

The component which is the subject of present study is an extruded cylinder of an

aluminum alloy AA 6061 in T6 heat treatment condition. Repeated pressure applied

to the cylinder from the inner surface produces cyclic stresses in the cylinder body.

The objective of the work is to predict the life of the cylinder in the presence of

fatigue loading with internal surface cracks along the cylinder axis. The problem is

analyzed with the help of finite element method (FEM) using the commercial

structural analysis ANSYS programme. The results may be used to avoid failure of

cylinders under the conditions studied as well as to derive life extension strategies.

Axial crack

Pressure

Fig. 1.8 Section of the thick-walled cylinder with internal surface crack
along the cylinder axis

1.3.4 Research strategy

The first, rather difficult but important, step of a fatigue analysis is the accurate

determination of the material‟s resistance to fatigue loading. Normally, a fatigue

analyst first looks for the accurate fatigue data and more than often decides to create

data relevant to his own research task [23]. In the present work, the research strategy

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was based on the development of the fatigue data of the cylinder under investigation.

Since the full-scale fatigue crack growth test of the thick-walled cylinder subjected to

internal pressure involves a significant amount of time and cost, middle tension M(T)

samples taken from the cylinder were alternatively used for the fatigue crack growth

simulation of the actual cylinder [24].

Samples from two different orientations, representing the axial and the hoop stresses

in the cylinder, were subjected to various stress levels and crack growth rates and

fatigue life of the samples thus accomplished. The experimental work was replicated

through modeling and simulation of the same geometry with the help of commercially

available structural analysis software ANSYS. Research undertaken proceeded as

follows:

1. Material‟s characterization including metallurgical aspects and mechanical testing

under uniaxial tension

2. Experimental fatigue crack growth testing of the TWC and determination of the

material fatigue properties using M(T) specimens

3. Numerical simulation of fatigue crack propagation using finite element analysis of

the experimental geometries under fatigue conditions

4. Finite element analysis of the thick-walled cylinder under static loading and

fatigue conditions using the experimental fatigue data and specified boundary

conditions

5. Interpretation of the results

1.3.5 Research objectives

Material defects due to manufacturing processes in the presence of aggressive

environment under cyclic loadings can trigger the failure of the cylinder; this may

subsequently result in safety concerns and expensive outages. This thesis deals with

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the aspect of fatigue crack propagation in a TWC. The objective of this research work

is to carry out theoretical and experimental investigations of an aluminum alloy thick-

walled cylinder under fatigue loadings. The study is performed to comprehend the

fatigue process, from the macroscopic stress-strain relations to microscopic fatigue

crack growth mechanisms, predict the fatigue life and suggest measures to improve

the fatigue properties. The research objective was achieved through material

characterization, cyclic testing, and numeric modeling.

1.4 Overview of the thesis

Chapter 1 Introduction covers the basic concepts of the fatigue process, introduction

to thick-walled cylinders, the problem description and the objective of the present

research.

Chapter 2 provides the historical review of fatigue and a brief literature review

relevant to this dissertation.

Chapter 3 gives the details of the experimental work conducted during this study.

This includes the equipments, standard methods, material characterization technique

and the details of the tests to determine the monotonic tensile properties and fatigue

crack growth rate data of the alloy. Finally the detail of the fractographic study in

scanning electron microscope (SEM) is provided.

Chapter 4 Thick-Walled Cylinder; Material and Structural Characterization provides

metallurgical and mechanical characterization of the TWC. The chapter presents the

findings from the procedures employed (EDX analysis, light microscopy and

scanning electron microscopy) to better understand the material and the

manufacturing characteristics of the extruded TWC as well as their monotonic

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properties. Post fracture analysis provides the micro-mechanism of the fracture

process under monotonic loading.

Chapter 5 Experimental Fatigue Crack Growth Study presents the results of the crack

growth experiments of the TWC in two orientations. The fatigue life of the specimens

and the crack growth rate data of the material at different stress levels are given. The

fractographs showing the topographical variations with parametric change are also

presented.

Chapter 6 Numerical Simulation of Fatigue Crack Propagation presents the results of

modeling and simulation of the experimental geometries under fatigue conditions

using finite element analysis.

Chapter 7 provides a detailed finite element analysis of the TWC under static and

fatigue loading.

Chapter 8 Summary and Conclusions presents the conclusions of the research study

and based on the results recommendations for further research are suggested.

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