THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO

ENGR 2112/229
Experiment 6: Fatigue Test

Submitted by: Cherif Youssef Chokeir

SID: 900140712

Date of Submission: 2/11/2015

Dr. Djihan Hassan

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Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine the fatigue behavior of two brass specimens: .
The determination of fatigue properties such as endurance limit and fatigue limit, is an
essential engineering approach, since these characteristics indicates the allowable
conditions of loading and the response of the materials to increasing loads and the
corresponding deformations. This is an important step in the design of many
engineering structures. After subjecting the specimens to fatigue test, the S-N curves for
brass were obtained. The examination of these curves showed that when the stress
amplitude is high, low number of cycles is required to cause fatigue failure, this number
increase with the decrease of the stress amplitude . The examination of surface of
fracture of the specimens showed that the inner rough surface showing the brittle failure
is more important for higher loads. The discussion of different types of fatigue loading
and how to minimize their effects is an essential engineering approach.

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Table of Contents
List of figures...4
List of tables.5
Introduction..6
Objectives.8
Methodology..9
Results and Discussion .13
Conclusions and Recommendation..20

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List of figures
Fig.1 Brass Specimen....9

Fig.2 Fatigue Testing Machine.10

Fig.3 Rotating Bending Fatigue Testing Machine..11

Fig.4 S-N curve trend for Brass Specimen......13

Fig.5Surface of fracture for 160 N (left) and 140N (right) for the brass specimens.14

Fig.6 Surface of fracture under fatigue loading...15

Fig.7 Repeated Fatigue.16

Fig.8 Fluctuating Fatigue.17

Fig.9 A rotating shaft under bending is a typical example of fully reversing fatigue load.18
Fig.10 Fully Reversing Fatigue.19

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List of Tables
Table.1 Data for the rotating fatigue test...13

Introduction

Mechanics of materials is the branch of engineering which studies the mechanical

behavior of the different materials under loading conditions. The importance of the
subject is related to the fact that the determination of the mechanical properties of the
materials like their capacity to withstand a specific load for a certain amount of time is
an essential engineering approach. Essential because the design of structures like
bridges, beams and cables is based on the determination of an appropriate material and
with appropriate design considerations like the length or diameters, the geometry of the

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object etc. But also essential because it is important to predict the deformations and the
response of the material to increasing loads. Therefore, engineers usually perform
strength tests on specimens in order to determine their mechanical properties. An
important test that is always performed on specimens is fatigue test.

Fatigue could be defined as a rapidly fluctuating load applied to a material causing it to

failure at a value of stress that is much less than the ultimate stress of the material. A
main idea behind discovering fatigue is that most structures appear to fail at values of
stresses that are less than their ultimate strengths.

There are three main steps in a fatigue life cycle: initiation of crack, propagation along
the member and failure. It is important to note that most mechanical components fail
under fatigue.
There are three main types of fatigue: zero-to-max, fully reversing and fluctuating
fatigue loading. The minimization of such loading is important in order to prevent
failure of mechanical components in dangerous situations such as plane flights.
To understand fatigue concept, two brass specimens were subjected to a fatigue test
using a fully reversing fatigue testing machine which applies bending load to the
specimen while rotation of the shaft causing variation of compressive and tensile
specimen. This could help to obtain S-N curve for brass specimen.
The examination of the surface of fracture of the specimen is also important in order to
understand fatigue behavior.

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Objectives

a. Understand and discuss different types of fatigue loadings and how to minimize

their effects

b. Obtain S-N curve for brass specimen

c. Comment on the fracture surface of the specimens to understand fatigue failure

Methodology
1. Material:

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The Fatigue test was conducted on two identical brass specimens (=8mm,
L=110mm) (fig.) in order to obtain the S-N curve for brass which measures the
amplitude of stress vs. number of cycles and to understand mechanical behavior
of brass under fatigue loading

Fig.1 Brass Specimen

2. Equipment:
The fatigue test was conducted using a Fatigue Testing Machine (MT205), (figs.2
and.3)

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Fig.2 Fatigue Testing Machine
It consists mainly of a motor that rotates a shaft. The shaft of the motor is coupled
with the shaft that will hold the specimen by a coupling. The presence of two
bearings help to align the shaft with the specimen and the motors shaft but also to
fix the shaft. The Fatigue machine also contains a counter that determines the
number of rotation of the shaft and thus the number of cycles for which the load
was applied. The switch controls the rotation of the motor in order for the counter
to determine the number of cycles at the time when the specimen breaks.

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 Fig.3 Rotating Bending Fatigue Testing Machine

This type of fatigue testing method is called rotating-bending fatigue method. It is

based on a constant rotation of the motor. The application of a constant load by
the scale of load causes a bending moment. This bending moment when applied to
the rotating specimen leads to an increase of the tensile stress on a part of the
specimen and a compressive stress on the other part. While rotating these parts
change: the part subjected to tension is then subjected to compression and vice-
versa. This change in the nature of stress that is repeated rapidly an important
number of times is causing fatigue to the specimen. Under this fatigue, the
specimen breaks at a certain time. The determination of the number of rotations
by the counter at the time of failure lead to the determination of the no of cycles
for brass specimen (Adeyinka, 2013)

3. Procedure:

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a) Choose Appropriate loading conditions(140 N and 160 N) and adjust the load
scale
b) Place the specimen between the terminal of the shaft and the balls
c) Adjust the counter
d) Turn on the switch causing rotation of the shaft and thus the specimen
e) The switch turns off when the specimen breaks
f) Obtain the number of cycles from the counter
g) Repeat the above steps for the other specimen with load = 160N

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Results and Discussion:

At first, the number of cycles obtained from the counter as well as the values of the load
and the corresponding strength amplitude are tabulated (Table.1)

Load (N) Diameter (mm) Stress Amplitude (MPa) Number of cycles

140 8 =(140/((/4)*(8*10^-3)^2=2.79 325*10=3250
160 8 3.18 82*10=820

Table.1 Data for the rotating fatigue test

From table.1 it is possible to obtain the S-N curve for the specimens (fig.)

Fig.4 S-N curve trend for Brass Specimen

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The S-N curve obtained in figure representing the stress amplitude S vs. the number of
cycles N shows that if the stress amplitude is high, only a small number of cycles is
required to cause failure of the specimen. Then as the stress amplitude decreases the
number of cycles needed to cause failure increases.

In the case of some ferrous materials like steel, the number of cycles continues to
increase with the decrease in stress until a value of stress, called the endurance limit,
below which the specimen wont be subjected to any fatigue no matter how the number
of cycles is increased.

However, in the case of non-ferrous metals such as brass studied in this experiment, the
value of stress continues to decrease with the increase in the number of loading cycles.
In this case, scientists define the fatigue limit, which is the value of stress at failure after
a given number of loading cycles.(Beer, Johnston, DeWolf & Mazurek, 2012)

Now observing the surfaces of fracture for the two brass specimens (fig.) it appear that
they both consist of two main parts: an inner dark and rough surface and an outer
smooth and bright surface . The rough surface is the surface of brittle fracture while the
smooth surface indicates the crack propagation. (fig.)

Fig.5Surface of fracture for 160 N (left) and 140N (right) for the brass specimens

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Fig.6 Surface of fracture under fatigue loading

Comparing the surface of fracture for the two specimens, it appears that the 160 N
specimen presented a darker and bigger inner rough surface than the 140 N specimen.
This shows that more the inner dark and rough region is important the more the load
applied to the specimen is important since this surface indicates the surface of brittle
failure. Thus for a constant area the surface of failure is more important for a higher
stress and thus a higher load.

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It is now important to discuss different types of fatigue loading, their significance and
precautions that need to be taken to minimize its effect.
There are three main types of fatigue loading one encounters in the strength of
materials:
1. Repeated Fatigue Loading: In this type, a structure which is initially unloaded is
subjected to a load. Then the load is removed causing the specimen to go to its
initial unloaded condition. Then the specimen is loaded again and so on. A
practical example of this type are the chains that pulls the tree behind tractors in
farms

Fig.7 Repeated Fatigue

2. Fluctuating Fatigue Loading or Varying load superimposed on constant load:

In this type of fatigue loading, a structure is subjected to a constant load but is

frequently subjected to a dynamic or varying load. This type of fatigue is usually
occurring in bridges where the supports have constant load (weight of the bridge) and
are subjected frequently to a varying load, when cars pass on it.

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Fig.8 Fluctuating Fatigue

3. Fully reversing load:

This is the most dangerous fatigue load. In this type of fatigue load, the member is
subjected to a tension stress in a part, then this stress is removed and then apply an
equally compressive stress to same part and then removed and so on.

A practical example of fully-reversing fatigue load occurs in the shafts of motors, where
the rotation of the member under bending loading causes the tensile stress applied at
one end to reverse to a compressive stress at the same end and vice-versa. The idea
behind fatigue test used in this experiment used this type of reversing fatigue
loading(fig.)

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Fig.9 A rotating shaft under bending is a typical example of fully reversing fatigue load

(Metal Fatigue)

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Fig.10 Fully Reversing Fatigue
Now it is important to understand what factors affect fatigue and are involved in this
phenomenon in order to understand how to minimize its effects

The surface quality of the material is an important factor. Smooth surfaces are
more strong that rough. Thus a mean of reducing fatigue is the use of materials
which do not contain impurities in order to resist more to repeated load.

The environment of the structure is also an important factor, in fact corrosion,

hard conditions of temperature affect the fatigue limit and the endurance of the
material or its resistance to fatigue. Thus to minimize these effects, one should
use method of treatment of corrosion by ultrasonic systems. In the case of
extreme environmental conditions, it is important to use a material that has a high
fatigue limit in order to support conditions of loading.

The residual stresses that occur in the machine components such as shafts and so
on also affect the fatigue limit of the material. To minimize these stresses
treatment methods including the use of ultrasound waves is also possible.

Geometry of the specimen which affects its ability to resist fatigue. To minimize
the effect, it is possible to limitate the importance of stress near initiation of
cracks

(Preventing Fatigue Failure with Ultrasonic Impact Treatment)

Conclusion and Recommendations

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 To sum up, the main objective of this study was to perform the fatigue test on
two brass specimens in order to obtain their S-N curves and to examine their surface of
fracture to understand fatigue failure
After subjecting the specimens to fatigue test using a fatigue testing machine
which is based on fully reversing fatigue load, the number of cycles was obtained from
the counter. From this value and the values of the loading, it had been possible to obtain
the S-N curve, which shows that the number of cycles is inversely proportional to stress
amplitude: less cycles are required to cause failure to a structure under high stress and
vice-versa.
The examination of the surface of fracture of the two specimens showed that the
inner dark and rough surface indicating brittle failure is more important under higher
loading conditions.
The discussion of different types of fatigue loading showed there are three main
types: zero-to-max, fully reversing and fluctuating.
However, the study did not take into account important factors affecting fatigue
like temperature and geometry of object or surface. As a recommendation, it is possible
to understand the effect of these parameters by comparing different specimens.
The examination of fatigue behavior is important to prevent dangerous failures of
mechanical components like in planes etc.

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References:

https://publications.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/59698/ABASS_ADEYINKA.pdf
?sequence=1

http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/12/4/3901/htm
http://www.me.udel.edu/meeg304/06/fatigue.pdf
http://www.epi-eng.com/mechanical_engineering_basics/fatigue_in_metals.htm

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