Fatigue limit

About: Fatigue limit is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 20489 publications have been published within this topic receiving 305744 citations. The topic is also known as: endurance limit & fatigue strength.

A novel formulation of the theory of critical distances to estimate lifetime of notched components in the medium-cycle fatigue regime

Abstract: In the present paper, the theory of critical distances (TCD) is reformulated in order to make it suitable for predicting fatigue lifetime of notched components in the medium-cycle fatigue regime. This extension of the TCD takes as its starting point the idea that the material characteristic length, L, changes as the number of cycles to failure, N f , changes. In order to define the L versus N f relationship two different strategies were investigated. Initially, we attempted to determine it by using the L values calculated considering material properties defined at the two extremes, namely static failure and the fatigue limit. This strategy, though correct from a philosophical point of view, contained some problems in its practical application. We subsequently attempted to determine the L versus N f relationship by means of two calibration fatigue curves; (one generated by testing plain specimens and the second one generated by testing notched specimens). This second strategy was found to be much more simple to apply to practical problems, resulting in estimations characterized by a higher accuracy. The reliability of the devised method was systematically checked by using experimental results generated by testing notched specimens of low-carbon steel containing different geometrical features and tested using various loading types, stress ratios and specimen thicknesses. The accuracy of the method was further verified by using several data sets taken from the literature. Our method was seen to be successful giving predictions falling always within the scatter band of the data from the parent material. These results are very interesting, especially considering that the TCD is very easy to use because it requires only a linear-elastic stress analysis.

A state-of-the-art review on fatigue life prediction methods for metal structures

Abstract: Metals are the most widely used materials in engineering structures, and one of the most common failure modes of metal structures is fatigue failure. Although metal fatigue has been studied for more than 160 years, many problems still remain unsolved. In this article, a state-of-the-art review of metal fatigue is carried out, with particular emphasis on the latest developments in fatigue life prediction methods. All factors which affect the fatigue life of metal structures are grouped into four categories: material, structure, loading, and environment. The effects of these factors on fatigue behavior are also addressed. Finally, potential problems to be resolved in the near future are pointed out.

High– and low–cycle fatigue crack initiation using polycrystal plasticity

Abstract: A polycrystal plasticity finite–element model has been developed for nickel–base alloy C263. That is, a representative region of the material, containing about 60 grains, has been modelled using crystal plasticity, taking account of grain morphology and crystallographic orientation. With just a single material property (in addition to standard elastic properties), namely, the critical resolved shear stress, the model is shown to be capable of predicting correctly a wide range of cyclic plasticity behaviour in face–centred cubic nickel alloy C263. A fatigue crack initiation criterion is proposed, based simply on a critical accumulated slip. When this critical slip is achieved within the microstructure, crack initiation is taken to have occurred. The model predicts the development of persistent slip bands within individual grains with a width of ca. 10 μm. The model also predicts that crack initiation can occur preferentially at grain triple points under both low– (LCF) and high–cycle fatigue (HCF). For the case of HCF, this also corresponds to a free surface. The polycrystal plasticity model combined with the fatigue crack initiation criterion are shown to predict correctly the standard Basquin and Goodman correlations in HCF, and the Coffin–Manson correlation in LCF. The model predictions are based on just two material properties: the critical resolved shear stress and the critical accumulated slip. Just one experimental test is required to determine these properties, for a given temperature, which have been obtained for nickel alloy C263. Predictions of life for nickel alloy C263 are then made over a broad range of loading conditions covering both LCF and HCF. Good agreement with experiments is achieved, despite the simplicity of the proposed ‘two–parameter’ model. A simple three–dimensional form of the model has provided an estimate of the fatigue limit for HCF crack initiation in C263.

Improvement of fatigue life of Ti–6Al–4V alloy by laser shock peening

Abstract: The aim of this paper was to address the effects of multiple laser peening and laser peening intensity used in laser shock peening (LSP) on the residual stress, micro-hardness and three-point bending fatigue performance of Ti–6Al–4V alloy. The multiple laser peening was accomplished by using the successive laser shocks at the same spot and the laser peening intensity was changed through changing the number of overlapped laser spots. The microstructure, which was characterized by highly tangled and dense dislocation arrangements due to high strain rate, can be found near the surface of the laser-peened specimen. By comparing with the as-received specimen, high micro-hardness and compressive residual stress were introduced at the surface of the laser-peened specimen. With increasing the number of overlapped laser spots, the fatigue life of the laser-peened specimen increased, reached a local maximum and then decreased. The specimen treated by using three overlapped laser spots exhibited the highest fatigue life. When the number of overlapped laser spots was kept to be three, the LSP treatments with one single laser shock and two successive laser shocks respectively provided a 22.2% and 41.7% increase in the fatigue strength as compared with the as-received specimens.