Chapter 8 Failure (Fatigue and creep)

Fatigue
Fatigue life and design
Fatigue mechanisms
Factors that affect fracture life
Generalized creep behavior
Stress and temperature effects

Fatigue
Fatigue = failure under cyclic
stress.
compression on top
specimen
bearing

bearing

counter

motor

flex coupling
tension on bottom

Stress varies with time.

m

--key parameters are S and

Key points: Fatigue...

max
m

min

--can cause part failure, even though max < c.

--causes ~ 90% of mechanical engineering failures.

time

Fatigue life
Stress amplitude (S) versus number of cycles to fatigue failure
max=2/3
Fatigue limits =35-60% of tensile strength
Fatigue life

Fatigue design parameters

Fatigue limit, Sfat:

S = stress amplitude

--no fatigue if S < Sfat

unsafe
Sfat
103

Sometimes, the
fatigue limit is zero!

safe
105
107
109
N = Cycles to failure

S = stress amplitude
unsafe
safe
103

case for
steel (typ.)

105
107
109
N = Cycles to failure

case for
Al (typ.)

Fatigue mechanism
Crack grows incrementally

( )

typ. 1 to 6

m
da
= K
dN
~

( )a

increase in crack length per loading cycle

Failed rotating shaft

--crack grew even though
Kmax < Kc
--crack grows faster if
increases
crack gets longer
loading freq. increases.

crack origin

Improving fatigue life

Impose a compressive
surface stress

S = stress amplitude

(to suppress surface

cracks from growing)

Adapted from
Fig. 8.22, Callister 6e.

near zero or compressive

moderate tensile m
larger tensile m
N = Cycles to failure

--Method 1: shot peening

shot

put
surface
into
compression

Remove stress
concentrators

--Method 2: carburizing
C-rich gas

Factors that affect fatigue life

Mean stress
Surface effects
Design factors
Surface treatments
Case hardening

Carburized
steel

Core steel

Environmental effects

Thermal fatigue: induced at elevated temperatures by fluctuating

thermal stresses.

= lET
Corrosion fatigue: failure occurs by the simultaneous action of a
cyclic stress and chemical attack

Generalized creep behavior

Conditions for creep to

occur
elevated temperature
static mechanical stresses

Creep behavior

primary creep
steady-state creep
tertiary creep
rupture

Creep

Occurs at elevated temperature, T > 0.4 Tmelt

Deformation changes with time.

strain,

INCREASING T

tertiary

t
primary

secondary

elastic
0

T < 0.4 Tm

time
Adapted from
Figs. 8.26 and 8.27,

Callister 6e.

Creep Failure

Most of component life spent here.

Strain rate is constant at a given T,
--strain hardening is balanced by
stress exponent (material parameter)
recovery
Q

s = K 2 n exp c activation energy for creep

RT (material parameter)
strain rate
material const.
applied stress

Strain rate
increases
for larger T,

200
100
40
20
10

Stress (MPa)
427C
538 C

649 C

1
10-2
10-1
Steady state creep rate s (%/1000hr)

Examples

Failure:

Estimate rupture time

S 590 Iron, T = 800C, = 20
ksi

along grain
boundaries.
g.b. cavities
applied
stress

20
10
data for
S-590 Iron

Time to rupture,
tr T(20 + log t r ) = L
temperature

function of
applied stress
time to failure (rupture)

Stress, ksi

100

1
12 16 20 24 28
L(103K-log hr)

24x103 K-log hr

T(20 + log t r ) = L
1073K

Ans: tr = 233hr

Summary

Failure type depends on T and stress:

- for noncyclic and T < 0.4Tm, failure stress decreases with:
increased maximum flaw size,
decreased T,
increased rate of loading.

- for cyclic :

cycles to fail decreases as increases.

- for higher T (T > 0.4Tm):
time to fail decreases as or T increases.