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.

About the role of residual stresses and surface work hardening on fatigue ΔKth of a nitrided and shot peened low-alloy steel

Abstract: Nitriding and shot peening are surface treatments widely used to improve the fatigue strength of mechanical and structural components. Both treatments enhance the mechanical properties of the surface layer of material: nitriding mainly by means of chemical transformations and formation of a very hard case, shot peening mainly due to compressive residual stress field in the sub-surface layer of material. The combined application of nitriding and shot peening has not been adequately investigated in literature and the known data do not allow to define a general criterion to assess if and when shot peening application after nitriding can be useful. In this paper the effect of nitriding plus shot peening on fatigue strength of a low-alloy steel is investigated by means of experimental tests carried out on specimens containing a micro-hole, acting as a pre-crack. To analyse the role played by shot peening induced residual stresses, a series of specimens was heat-treated after shot peening, being the aim the partial removal of residual stresses without strongly modifying the mechanical properties of the surface layer of material. After a critical discussion of the results in terms of residual stress, micro-hardness trend and fatigue strength, an original fracture mechanics based approach is proposed to predict the threshold value of the stress intensity factor of nitrided and shot peened steels. The results are in good agreement with the experimental evidence.

Sensing delamination in a carbon fiber polymer-matrix composite during fatigue by electrical resistance measurement

Abstract: Delamination in a crossply [0/90] continuous carbon fiber polymer-matrix composite was sensed in real time during fatigue by measuring the electrical resistance of the composite in the through-thickness direction. Upon 0° tension-tension fatigue at a maximum stress of 57% of the fracture stress, the resistance irreversibly increased both in spurts and continuously, because of delamination, which started at 33% of the fatigue life. The resistance increased upon loading and decreased upon subsequent unloading in every cycle, thereby allowing strain sensing. The minimum resistance at the end of a cycle irreversibly increased during the first 0.1% of the fatigue life. The resistance became noisy starting at 62% of the fatigue life, at which delamination occurred rapidly and the fraction of laminate area delaminated reached 4.3%.