Strength of Materials

SUBJECT :
A REPORT ABOUT

FATIGUE TEST
 Supervised By :
Ass. Lec.
Abdulmajeed A. Mohamad

Prepared By :
1-Mahamad Hiwa
2-Baxtiar Tahir
 Introduction

 Fatigue testing is a specialised form of mechanical

testing that is performed by applying cyclic loading to
a specimen or structure.

 It causes progressive localized permanent structural

change in a material because of fluctuating stresses
and strains at some point or points and that may result
in cracks or complete fracture after a sufficient number
of fluctuations.
 Introduction

 Cyclic fatigue tests produce repeated loading and

unloading in tension, compression, bending, torsion or
combinations of these stresses.
 Introduction

 Usually the purposes of a fatigue test are to :

1-Expect the lifespan of a material subjected to cyclic loading.
2-Determine the maximum load that a specimen can
withstand for a specified number of cycles.
3-Obtain material data such as fatigue strength, crack
resistance and the rate of growth of a fatigue crack.
4-Identify critical locations such as holes and fittings.

 All of these characteristics are extremely important in any

industry.
 Introduction

 Fatigue tests are used on a range components from

specimens through to full size test articles such as
automobiles and aircraft.

Fatigue test of the

Airbus A380 wing
 Introduction

 Types of materials for fatigue tests:

Nearly all materials may experience fatigue in one way

or another during their lifespan.
However, in applications where fatigue is a factor it is
common to find components made from metals or
composites. These materials have a higher fatigue limit
than others because of the rigidity and ductility, which
are characteristics that tend to increase fatigue strength.
 Introduction

Other materials, such as, polymers, ceramics and wood

may experience fatigue and also need to be tested to
understand how they will respond to these unique stress
combinations.
 Related Nomenclatures

 Fatigue life is defined as the number of loading (stress)

cycles that a specimen sustains before failure.

 The fatigue limit: also known as the (endurance limit)

or (fatigue strength), is the stress level below which an
infinite number of loading cycles can be applied to a
material without causing fatigue failure.
 Procedure

 The process of fatigue consists of three stages:

1-Initial fatigue damage: leading to crack nucleation and

crack initiation.
2-Progressive cyclic growth of a crack (crack
propagation) : until the remaining uncracked cross
section of a part becomes too weak to withstand the
loads applied.
3-Final (sudden) fracture of the remaining cross section.
 Procedure

 To perform a fatigue test a specimen is loaded into a

fatigue test machine and loaded using the pre-
determined test stress, then unloaded to either zero
load or an opposite load. This cycle of loading and
unloading is repeated until the end of the test is
reached. The test may be run to a pre-determined
number of cycles or until the sample has failed
depending on the parameters of the test.
 Procedure

 Instrumentation such as load cells and strain gauges

are installed on the structure to ensure the correct
loading has been applied.

 A load cell is used to monitor the applied loads

(stresses) during the test.
 Discussion

 Types of fatigue failure :

Mechanical fatigue: fatigue damage develops as a result
of exposure to external cyclic stresses for an extended
period of time.

Thermo-mechanical fatigue : is the cyclical mechanical

loading, that leads to fatigue of a material, with a cyclical
thermal loading. Thermo-mechanical fatigue is an
important point that needs to be considered, when
constructing turbine engines or gas turbines.
 Discussion

Creep Fatigue: Deformation of a material under repeated

stresses at high temperature.

Corrosion fatigue: occurs from the simultaneous actions

of chemical attack and mechanical fatigue. Corrosive
environments are known for damaging metals.

Fretting fatigue: Cyclic loads combined with frictional

sliding.
 Discussion

 Factors affecting fatigue limit :

 A-Primary factors :
1-The general shape of the specimen.
2-The size of the specimen.
3-The outer surface of the specimen.
4-The internal structure of the material.
 B-External factors :
1-The surrounding Temperature.
2-Stress specifications.
 Discussion

 The cyclic stresses are normally well below the yield

strength of the material.

 Fatigue cracks typically initiate from high stress

concentration regions like holes and fittings or
material and manufacturing defects.
 Discussion

 Because of the size and unique shape of full size test

articles, special test rigs are built to apply loads
through a series of hydraulic or electric actuators.
Actuators aim to reproduce the significant loads
experienced by a structure, which in the case of
aircraft, may consist of manoeuvre, gust and ground-
air-ground loading.
 Discussion

 Types of Fatigue Testing Machine :