presenceofcreeporenvironmentalinteractions.

AsimilarrelationshipformaterialssuchasZirconium,isusedinthenuclearindustry.
[15]
Theaccountaboveispurelyempiricaland,thoughitallowslifepredictionanddesignassurance,life
improvementordesignoptimisationcanbeenhancedusingFracturemechanics.Itcanbedeveloped
infourstages.
Cracknucleation; 1.
StageIcrackgrowth; 2.
StageIIcrackgrowth;and 3.
Ultimateductilefailure. 4.
Cyclicstressstate:Dependingonthecomplexityofthegeometryandtheloading,oneormore
propertiesofthestressstateneedtobeconsidered,suchasstressamplitude,meanstress,
biaxiality,inphaseoroutofphaseshearstress,andloadsequence,
Geometry:Notchesandvariationincrosssectionthroughoutapartleadtostress
concentrationswherefatiguecracksinitiate.
Surfacequality:Surfaceroughnesscancausemicroscopicstressconcentrationsthatlowerthe
fatiguestrength.Compressiveresidualstressescanbeintroducedinthesurfacebye.g.shot
peeningtoincreasefatiguelife.Suchtechniquesforproducingsurfacestressareoftenreferred
toaspeening,whateverthemechanismusedtoproducethestress.Lowplasticityburnishing,
laserpeening,andultrasonicimpacttreatmentcanalsoproducethissurfacecompressivestress
andcanincreasethefatiguelifeofthecomponent.Thisimprovementisnormallyobservedonly
forhighcyclefatigue.
MaterialType:Fatiguelife,aswellasthebehaviorduringcyclicloading,varieswidelyfor
differentmaterials,e.g.compositesandpolymersdiffermarkedlyfrommetals.
Residualstresses:Welding,cutting,casting,grinding,andothermanufacturingprocesses
involvingheatordeformationcanproducehighlevelsoftensileresidualstress,whichdecreases
thefatiguestrength.
Sizeanddistributionofinternaldefects:Castingdefectssuchasgasporosityvoids,
nonmetallicinclusionsandshrinkagevoidscansignificantlyreducefatiguestrength.
AirorVacuum:CertainmaterialslikeMetalsaremorepronetofatigueinairthaninavacuum.
Dependinguponthelevelofhumidityandtemperature,thelifetimeformetalssuchasaluminum
orironmightbeasmuchas5to10timesgreaterinavacuum.Thisismostlyduetotheeffectof
Fatigue(material)Wikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatigue_(material)
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