Fatigue

Overview

The concept of fatigue is very simple, when a motion is repeated, the object that is doing
the work becomes weak. For example, when you run, your leg and other muscles of your
body become weak, not always to the point where you can't move them anymore, but
there is a noticeable decrease in quality output. This same principle is seen in materials.
Fatigue occurs when a material is subject to alternating stresses, over a long period of
time. Examples of where Fatigue may occur are: springs, turbine blades, airplane wings,
bridges and bones.

Cyclic Stresses
There are three common ways in
which stresses may be applied: axial,
torsional, and flexural. Examples of
these are seen in Fig. 1.
There are also three stress cycles with
which loads may be applied to the
sample.
1. Reversed stress cycle: The is Figure 1 Visual examples of axial stress, torsional
stress, and flexural stress.
the simplest form of fatigue and
is merely a sine wave where the maximum stress and minimum stress differ by a
negative sign. An example of this type of stress cycle would be in an axle, where
every half turn or half period as in the case of the sine wave, the stress on a point
would be reversed.
2. Repeated stress cycle: This is the most common type of cycle found in engineering
applications, where the maximum stress (σ max) and minimum stress (σ min) are
asymmetric (the curve is a sine wave) not equal and opposite.
3. A final type of cycle mode is where stress and frequency vary randomly. An
example of this would be automobile shocks, where the frequency magnitude of
imperfections in the road will produce varying minimum and maximum stresses.
The S-N Curve
A very useful way to visualize time to failure for a specific material is with the S-N curve.
The "S-N" means stress verse cycles to failure, which when plotted uses the stress
amplitude, σa plotted on the vertical axis and the logarithm of the number of cycles to
failure. An important characteristic to this plot as
seen in Fig. 2 is the fatigue limit.

The significance of the fatigue limit is that if the

material is loaded below this stress, then it will not
fail, regardless of the number of times it is loaded.
Material such as aluminum, copper and
magnesium do not show a fatigue limit, therefore
Figure 2 A S-N Plot for an aluminum
alloy they will fail at any stress and number of cycles.
Other important terms are fatigue strength and fatigue life. The stress at which failure
occurs for a given number of cycles is the fatigue strength. The number of cycles required
for a material to fail at a certain stress in fatigue life.

Crack Initiation and Propagation

Failure of a material due to fatigue may be viewed on a microscopic level in three steps:

1. Crack Initiation: The initial crack occurs in this stage. The crack may be caused by surface
scratches caused by handling, or tooling of the material; threads ( as in a screw or bolt); slip
bands or dislocations intersecting the surface as a result of previous cyclic loading or work
hardening.
2. Crack Propagation: The crack continues to grow during this stage as a result of continuously
applied stresses
3. Failure: Failure occurs when the material that has not been affected by the crack cannot
withstand the applied stress. This stage happens very quickly.

Figure 3 A diagram showing location of the three steps in a fatigue fracture

 under axial stress
One can determine that a material failed by fatigue by examining the fracture sight. A
fatigue fracture will have two distinct regions; One being smooth or burnished as a result of
the rubbing of the bottom and top of the crack( steps 1 & 2 ); The second is granular, due
to the rapid failure of the material. These visual
clues may be seen in Fig. 4:

Other features of a fatigue fracture are Beachmarks

and Striations. Beachmarks, or clamshell marks,
may be seen in fatigue failures of materials that are
used for a period of time, allowed to rest for an
equivalent time period and the loaded again as in
Figure 4
A diagram showing the surface of a factory usage. Striations are thought to be steps in
fatigue fracture. Notice that the rough
crack propagation, were the distance depends on
surface indicates brittle failure, while
the smooth surface represents crack the stress range. Beachmarks may contain
thousands of striations. Visual Examples of Beachmarks and Striations are seen below in
Fig. 5 and 6:

Figure 5
An example of beachmarks or "clamshell pattern" associated with stress cycles that vary in
magnitude and time as in factory machinery

Figure 6
An example of the striations found in fatigue fracture. Each striation is thought to be the
advancement of the crack. There may be thousands of striations in a beachmark
Demonstration of Crack Propagation Due to Fatigue

The figure above illustrates the various ways in which cracks are initiated and the stages
that occur after they start. This is extremely important since these cracks will ultimately
lead to failure of the material if not detected and recognized. The material shown is pulled
in tension with a cyclic stress in the y ,or horizontal, direction. Cracks can be initiated by
several different causes, the three that will be discussed here are nucleating slip planes,
notches. and internal flaws. This figure is an image map so all the crack types and stages
are clickable.

Propagation Rate
The rate at which a crack grows has considerable importance in determining the life of a
material. The propagation of a crack occurs during the second step of fatigue failure. As a
crack begins to propagate, the size of the crack also begins to grow. The rate at which the
crack continues to grow depends on the stress level applied. The rate at which a crack
grows can be seen mathematically in equation:

Eq. 1
The variables A and m are properties of the material, da is the change in crack length, and
dN is the change in the number of cycles. K is the change in the stress intensity factor or

by equation 8.17(a & b): Eq. 2

Rearrangement and integration of Eq. 1 gives us the relation of the number of cycles of
failure, Nf, to the size of the initial flaw length, ao, and the critical crack length, ac , and Eq.
2:

Eq. 3
Note: Nf is an estimate of the number of cycles to failure

Factors That Affect Fatigue Life and Solutions

The Mean Stress is defined as:

Eq. 4
The Mean stress has the affect that as the mean stress is increased, fatigue life
decreases. This occurs because the stress applies is greater.
I mentioned previously that scratches and other imperfections on the surface will cause a
decrease in the life of a material. Therefore making an effort to reduce these imperfections
by reducing sharp corners, eliminating unnecessary drilling and stamping, shot peening,
and most of all careful fabrication and handling of the material.
Another Surface treatment is called case hardening, which increases surface hardness
and fatigue life. This is achieved by exposing the component to a carbon-rich atmosphere
at high temperatures. Carbon diffuses into the material filling interstisties and other
vacancies in the material, up to 1 mm in depth.

Figure 7 A case hardened steel gear. Notice the effect of diffusion of Carbon into the material
produces a "case" around the gear.
Exposing a material to high temperatures is another cause of fatigue in materials. Thermal
expansion, and contraction will weaken bonds in a material as well as bonds between two
different materials. For example, in space shuttle heat shield tiles, the outer covering of
silicon tetraboride (SiB 4) has a different coefficient of thermal expansion than the Carbon-
Carbon Composite. Upon re-entry into the earth's atmosphere, this thermal mismatch will
cause the protective covering to weaken, and eventually fail with repeated cycles.
Another environmental affect on a material is chemical attack, or corrosion. Small pits may
form on the surface of the material, similar to the effect etching has when trying to find
dislocations.

Figure 8 Example of pits formed by corrosion on the surface of LiF. The "chemical" attacks weak
spots on the surface of the material, especially where dislocations intersect the surface.

This chemical attack on a material can be seen in unprotected surface of an automobile,

whether it be by road salt in the winter time or exhaust fumes. This problem can be solved
by adding protective coatings to the material to resist chemical attack.