2010

Study and operation of Fatigue test This test show the fatigue phenomenon in metal
Fatigue is the condition whereby a material cracks or fails as a result of repeated (cyclic) stresses applied below the ultimate strength of the material.

Study and operation of fatigue test

K.M.Mostafizur Rahman SUST 7/10/2010

Name of the experiment: Study and operation of fatigue test.

Objectives:
1) Perform the fatigue test on the given specimens using the Fatigue tester machine to predict the fatigue life. 2) Determine the safe stress level for the specimens. 3) To analytically approximate the fatigue damage accumulated in a part which is subjected to a known fatigue spectrum.

Introduction: A perusal of the broken parts in almost any scrap yard will reveal that
the majority of failures occur at stresses below the yield strength. This is a result of the phenomenon called fatigue which has been estimated to be responsible for up to 90% of the in-service part failures which occur in industry. If a bar of steel is repeatedly loaded and unloaded at say 85% of its yield strength, it will ultimately fail in fatigue if it is loaded through enough cycles. Also, even though steel ordinarily elongates approximately 30% in a typical tensile test, almost no elongation is evident in the appearance of fatigue fractures. Basic fatigue testing involves the preparation of carefully polished test specimens (surface flaws are stress concentrators) which are cycled to failure at various values of constant amplitud e alternating stress levels. The data are condensed into an alternating Stress, S, verses Number of cycles to failure, N, curve which is generally referred to as a materials S-N curve. As one would expect, the curves clearly show that a low number of cycles are needed to cause fatigue failures at high stress levels while low stress levels can resulting sudden, unexpected failures after a large number of cycles.

Background:
Definition: Fatigue is the condition whereby a material cracks or fails as a result of repeated (cyclic) stresses applied below the ultimate strength of the material. Fatigue failures generally involve three stages: 1.) Crack Initiation, 2.) Crack Propagation, and 3.) Fast Fracture Fatigue failures often occur quite suddenly with catastrophic (disastrous) results and although most insidious for metals, polymers and ceramics (except for glasses) are also susceptible to sudden fatigue failures. Fatigue causes occurring prior to fracture. The process occurs by the initiation and propagation of cracks and, ordinarily, the fracture surface is close to perpendicular to the direction of maximum tensile stress.

Applied stresses may be axial (tension-compression), flexural (bending) or tensional (twisting) in nature. In general there are three possible fluctuating stress-time modes possible. The simplest is completely reversed constant amplitude where the alternating stress varies from a maximum tensile stress to a minimum compressive stress of equal magnitude. The second type, termed repeated constant amplitude, occurs when the maxima and minima are asymmetrical relative to the zero stress level. Lastly, the stress level may vary randomly in amplitude and frequency which is merely termed random cycling.

Figure: Schematic Illustrating Cyclic Loading Parameters The following parameters are utilized to identify fluctuating stress cycles:

Tensile stresses are normally considered positive and compressive stresses are considered negative. The Fatigue Life (N f) of a component is defined by the total number of stress cycles required to cause failure. Fatigue Life can be separated into three stages where Nf = N i + Np Crack Initiation (Ni): Cycles required initiating a crack. Generally results from dislocation pile- ups and/or imperfections such as surface scratches, voids, etc. Crack Growth (Np): Cycles required growing the crack in a stable manner to a critical size. Since most common materials contain flaws, the pred iction of crack growth is the most studied aspect of fatigue.

Rapid Fracture: Very rapid critical crack growth occurs when the crack length reaches a critical value, Since Rapid Fracture occurs quickly, there is no Rapid Fracture term in the Fatigue Life expression.

Description of the apparatus:

Fatigue tester shown bellow is driven by an induction squirrel cage motor at 3000rpm. Power supply provided is 220V single phase. The motor is connected on one side to a counter mechanism, which can record 7 figure numbers. Attached to the shaft at the other end is a fixture. The loading device consists of a spherical ball bearing and a micro switch, which automatically switches off the motor when the fracture occurs. By turning the loading wheel clockwise the loading on the test piece can be increased. A cell load which a digital read out measures the loading value.

Figure: Fatigue testing machine

Experimental procedure:
1. At first we measured the diameter at the neck of the specimen.

13.6 mm

7.2 mm

3.2 cm

1.8 cm

11 cm

2. Then we slide one end of the specimen into the adapter at the shaft end and slide the other end into the adapter at the load end.

3. We measured the distance from the neck to the specimens contact surface with the bearing. 4. Then we applied about 300 N force in order to have a precise bending loading condition. 300 N

5. We set the revolution counter to zero and started the motor. 6. The test terminates itself through the fracture of the specimen opening the micro switch and hence stopping the motor. 7. We collected the results and plot them as they occur on a graph of stress range, , against logl0 number of reversals N. Note that in the case of a rotating cantilever the stress range is twice the applied bending stress.

Figure: Cross section of specimen after fatigue failure

Calculation:
In our experiment it takes about 43 minutes to break the specimen and in this time the specimen rotates about 12876 rev. The apparatus is supplied with a recommended standard specimen. The bending stress for a load P (N) is, L * P * 32 N [ ] * d 3 mm 2 Where, Distance from neck to specimens contact point with bearing , L = 110 mm Diameter of the neck, D = 7.2 mm Load applied (measured by digital read out), P = 300 N Putting those values weve got = 900.56 MPa.

 (S-Nf) Curve: A prediction of failure for various stress levels can be made by studying a materials S-Nf curve. The most important part of the curve is often the portion to the right of the bend (or knee) in the curve that identifies What is termed the Endurance Limit or the Fatigue Limit. The Endurance Limit defines the stress level below Which the material will theoretically withstand an infinite number (~10 8 ) of stress cycles without fracture.

Stress, 1000 ksi

Number of cycle Figure: S-N curve Discussion: Realize that most fatigue is NOT actually constant amplitude, but methods have been developed for utilizing constant amplitude S-Nf results to predict failure under varying load histories. This area of fatigue is referred to as Cumulative Damage. However the test was very exciting and realistic. We are very much thankful to our teacher to give us such an opportunity to perform the test.

Conclusion: During fatigue testing special care should be taken. The specimen
should clean enough. Load and revolution should apply carefully. There are many fields where we need to know the fatigue accurately. As it is important for us so we should learn the fatigue testing operation very carefully

Edited by Sobuj SUST Dept of Industrial & Production Engineering Registration No: 2008334053 k.sobuz@gmail.com