Failure Modes: brittle failure under oscillating loads (Fatigue)

MECH2300 Materials Lecture 11 R. W. Truss Materials Engineering R.Truss@uq.edu.au

Brittle failure
under static load, crack grow when: f = K1c / Ya BUT can get crack growth at lower if: 1) the stress is cycled (fatigue), and / or 2) the environment affects the material (stress corrosion cracking /environmental stress cracking discussed later)

examples of oscillating stress

most components see cyclic loading: rotating shaft under load pedal of bicycle pumped pressure pipe thermal expansion and contraction of rails etc

Example: fracture in rotating shaft

Macroscopically brittle Origin at stress concentration Beach marks Region of slow crack growth Fast final rupture

Definition : FATIGUE
component or structure subjected to repeated stress cycles may fail at stresses < uts and often with < y

Fatigue failure: how does it happen?

Fatigue failures have three stages: 1) initiation of the crack 2) slow propagation of the crack 3) fast fracture (usually in one cycle)

Fatigue failures
stage I: crack is at 45 to tensile stress axis stage II: crack is normal to stress stage III: rough cleavage fracture

fatigue crack initiation (high cycle fatigue)

no bulk plasticity But: local plasticity at stress concentrations inherent - microstructure, 2nd phase, ppt,etc extraneous - inclusions, gas/shrinkage pores,etc design -small radius change of section

Fatigue mechanisms
Initiation repeated slip gives surface intrusion- a crack Stage 1: crack at 45 to applied stress (shear) Propagation repeated slip at crack tip gives incremental crack advance Stage II: crack perpendicular to applied stress

Fatigue initiation

propagation Fatigue life Nf = Ni + Np Nf = number of cycles to failure Ni = cycles for initiation Np = cycles for crack propagation

Designing against fatigue: data collection

fatigue testing
for stress varying sinusoidally max = maximum stress min = minimum stress m = mean stress = (max + min)/2 = stress range = max - min a = stress amplitude = (max - min)/2

Pure bending

Designing against fatigue S-N curves

stress amplitude or stress range verses number of cycles to failure S-N curves

failure safe

S-N curves
generally two regions of behaviour Low cycle fatigue high cycle fatigue

low cycle fatigue (Nf < 104) maximum stress > yield stress bulk plastic deformation cycles to failure depends on plastic strain, pl pl Nf b = C2 note: pl not linearly related to (curvature in log v. log Nf curve)

high cycle fatigue (Nf > 104) stress < yield stress deformation in bulk of material elastic Nf a = C1 linear relationship between log and log Nf

Fatigue threshold
in some materials (e.g. Fe alloys, Ti alloys) asymptote in S-N Curve at low stress amplitude ie as stress amplitude decreases, cycles to failure Fatigue threshold Note: not present in all materials
safe

failure

Example: Fatigue failure of rotating shaft

S-N curve for a typical shaft steel

500

Shaft lifetimes
Loads on pulleys give bending moment Rotation of shaft generates oscillating stress What is fatigue life for stress amplitudes - 450 MPa ? - 310 MP ? - 275 MPa ?

stress amplitude (MPa)

400 300 200 100 0 1.0E+03 1.0E+04 1.0E+05 1.0E+06 1.0E+07 1.0E+08

N ( cycles to failure)

500

Fatigue lifetimes
Stress amplitude 450MPa Cycles to failure ~ 2 x 104 ~8 x 105

stress amplitude (MPa)

400 300 200 100 0 1.0E+03 1.0E+04 1.0E+05 1.0E+06 1.0E+07 1.0E+08

310 MPa 275 MPa

N ( cycles to failure)

Rotating shafts
If Shaft rotating at 2900 rpm 1.74 x 105 cycles / hr 4.2 x 106 cycles / day Large number of cycles in short time period DESIGN FOR OPERATION BELOW THRESHOLD !

Effect of m
for S - N curves - stress cycled about zero ie m = 0 if m not zero - Nf decreases as m increases to maintain given Nf must decrease stress range,

Goodmans rule
Empirical relationship m = 0 {1 - (|m| / ts)} 0 = stress range giving Nf when m = 0 m =stress range giving Nf when m = m if stress range is zero, then failure occurs at tensile strength ts

Miners rule
often complex loading cycles i.e. change during the service life assume: a) the damage is cumulative b) can add the fractional lifetimes under each conditions

example suppose a component undergoes N1 cycles at stress range 1 for which fatigue life is Nf1 fraction of lifetime under these conditions is N1 / Nf1

if the stress range changes to 2 for N2 cycles, component will expend a fraction of its fatigue life under these conditions, N2 / Nf2 failure will occur when

Ni =1 N fi

fatigue of cracked components

pre-existing cracks: weld defects inclusions of hard particles voids machining and surface defects points of stress concentration

Paris Law
crack growth rate, da/dN, related to stress intensity factor range, K da/dN = A Km A and m are constants

counter measures against fatigue

initial flaw size is a0 final failure occurs at af , fatigue life obtained by integration
af

Nf =

a0

AK

da

Remember = f (a) ! ( = Y(a)1/2

1) increase strength e.g. finer grain size y 1/d ; heat treatment; materials selection 2) reduce stress raisers eg: reduce surface roughness radius corners, removal of weld bead

counter measures against fatigue (cont.) 3) introduce compressive stresses into surface e.g. shot peen 4) design e.g. reduce the stress amplitude

counter measures against fatigue Two elements: design and materials note: measures that inhibit slip in metals can also make them more brittle ie the critical flaw size decreases fast fracture occurs after less fatigue crack growth