Mechanical Failure of

Materials

Failure by Fatigue

MMME1034
Materials and Manufacturing
Learning Outcomes

▪ Understanding on the process of fatigue mechanism, involving crack growth

under constant loading and cyclic loading.

▪ Awareness of the consequences and common causes of fatigue failure.

▪ Capability to relate a material’s fatigue life to its initial crack dimension,

loading magnitude or amplitude, as well as loading frequency.

▪ Capability to solve fatigue related problems through appropriate material

selection and design.
 Failure by Fatigue

𝐾 ≥ 𝐾𝑐
▪ We have looked at fast fracture in the presence of cracks 𝑌𝜎 𝜋𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑥 ≥ 𝐾𝑐
larger than the critical crack size, 𝑎𝑐 . Does that suggest
smaller cracks aren’t worth worrying about?

▪ Unfortunately, that isn’t the case.

▪ New cracks can form while small cracks can grow to critical
length (followed by fast fracture) under low loads if stress is
continuously applied or the stress is cycled. This happens
by the process of slow crack growth called fatigue.

▪ This process causes many failures in structures. Examples

are connecting rods in engines and aircraft wings.

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Design for Strength:
Constant Load

MMME1034 Materials and Manufacturing

 Design for Strength: Constant load

Paris Law
For many polymers, the rate of crack grow can be described by Paris law:

da
= C1  K I
n
C1 and n are constants
dt

Substituting 𝐾𝐼: da
dt
( n
= C1 Y      a 
da
dt
)
= C1 (Y   )  (  a ) 2
n n

Integrate the above gives critical time, 𝑡𝑐 , required for an  1−

n
1− 
n
2 a0 2 − ac 2 
initial crack size, 𝑎0 , to growth to the critical crack size, 𝑎𝑐 :
tc =  
(n − 2) C1 (Y    )
n

This equation can be used to determine
▪ design stress for a particular service life OR
▪ service life for an applied stress
 Design for Strength: Constant load

Material intrinsic flaw size

2a0 is the initial flaw size  1−

n
1− 
n
2 a0 2 − ac 2 
tc =  
E.g. manufactured intrinsic defects
(n − 2) C1 (Y    )
n

uPVC 430 μm

PMMA 146 μm

Nylon 66 (dry) 192 μm

Acetal copolymer (POM) 720 μm

LDPE 326 μm
Design for Strength:
Cyclic Loading

MMME1034 Materials and Manufacturing

 Fatigue under Cyclic Loading

▪ Fatigue failure under cyclic stress Fatigue testing

➢ Can cause part failure, although 𝜎𝑚𝑎𝑥 < 𝜎𝑦
specimen
compression on
compression top𝝈𝒎𝒊𝒏
ontop,
➢ Cause ≈ 90% of mechanical engineering
failures bearing motor counter
bearing
flex coupling
tension on bottom
tension on bottom, 𝝈𝒎𝒂𝒙
▪ Stress varies with time: key parameters are 𝑺 and 𝝈𝒎

Stress range 𝝈𝒓 = 𝝈𝒎𝒂𝒙 − 𝝈𝒎𝒊𝒏

𝝈𝒎𝒂𝒙 + 𝝈𝒎𝒊𝒏
Mean stress 𝝈𝒎 =
𝟐

Stress 𝝈𝒎𝒂𝒙 − 𝝈𝒎𝒊𝒏

amplitude 𝝈𝒂 =
𝟐

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 Example of Cyclic Loading

▪ Cyclic stresses can be from mechanical or thermal loading.

HIP implant
Computer chip
→ Cyclic mechanical
→ Cyclic thermal
loading from
loading
walking

▪ Fatigue can occur from both cracked and uncracked components.

➢ Uncracked component  crack initiation from stress raising sites i.e. sharp corners.
➢ Cracked component (usually from weld defects)  dominated by crack propagation.

bad better

bad better

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 Tragedy Due to Cyclic Fatigue Failure

▪ de Havilland Comet passenger jet tragedy in 1954, killing all those

on board.

▪ Cause of failure:
➢ Explosive decompression at altitude due to repeated pressurisation and de-pressurisation of the
aircraft cabin.
➢ Crack initiation at sharp corners of plane's forward antenna window grew under fatigue loading
until they were large enough to cause fast fracture of the fuselage.
Direction of
propagation of
main failures

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 Fatigue Initiation

▪ Fatigue can be induced by crack initiation, in regions of stress concentration (i.e. sharp
corners at the join of the head and shank of a bolt).

Careful manufacture of small

engineering components (e.g. gears,
axles, connecting rods) can ensure that
they are free from crack initiation sites.

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 Fatigue Crack Growth

▪ Fatigue cracks grow in ductile materials by opening of the crack tip during tensile
part of the cycle (creating a new surface) and closing on the compressive part.
This advances the crack a small amount (perhaps only a few atom spacing) over
each stress cycle.

▪ Slow rates of crack advance mean that the number of cycles to failure is often very high.

▪ The rate of advance is a function of stress amplitude.

Incremental increase in crack length

𝒂 (𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒔𝒊𝒛𝒆)
fast fracture
▪ Fast fracture will occur when the crack grows to reach the
critical length 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑥 , for the given stress 𝜎.

▪ We need to know the safe life of a structure with a

given defect size !

𝑵 (𝒄𝒚𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒔)
 Number of cycles to failure, 𝑁𝑓

If 𝝈𝒎𝒂𝒙 < 𝝈𝒚 (the maximum stress, 𝜎𝑚𝑎𝑥 is below yield stress, 𝜎𝑦 ), which tends to be the case in
vibrating systems, the number of cycles to failure, 𝑁𝑓 is inversely proportional to the cyclic
stress, ∆𝜎, follow an equation of the form:

𝒂 𝑪
𝑵𝒇 =
∆𝝈
where 𝑎 and 𝐶 are constants. Yield stress, 𝜎𝑦
(NB: for cyclic load about a zero means stress). Max stress, 𝜎𝑚𝑎𝑥
No fracture

𝑎0 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑥

𝑁𝑓 that causes crack grow from 𝑎0 to 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑥

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 Fatigue Life (𝑆-𝑁 curves)

▪ By testing at lots of different stress amplitudes we can find out how many cycles a material (uncracked)
can be cycled before it breaks.

▪ In some materials, there is a fatigue limit (endurance limit), a stress limit below which fatigue failure will
not occur.

With fatigue limit: no fatigue failure if 𝝈 < 𝝈𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕 Without fatigue limit: 𝝈 ↑ ; 𝑵𝒇 ↓
Ferrous (steel Non-ferrous

Stress amplitude
Stress amplitude

and titanium alloys (Al, Cu,

alloys) unsafe Mg)
unsafe
𝜎𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑡
35-60% tensile
strength safe safe

103 105 107 109 103 105 107 109

N = Cycles to failure N = Cycles to failure

▪ For material without fatigue limit, it is useful to specify a fatigue strength, 𝜎𝑓 for a given number of
cycles, 𝑁; or a fatigue life, 𝑁𝑓 for a given stress amplitude, 𝜎
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 Fatigue Crack Growth
Fast
▪ Crack grows follow modified Paris law equation fracture

Threshold

Steady
constant

state
typically 1 to 6
da
= A(K )
m

~ ( ) a
dN
only the tensile part

increase in crack length per loading cycle (steady state region)

▪ Failed rotating shaft

➢ crack grew even though
𝐾𝑚𝑎𝑥 < 𝐾𝐶 crack origin

➢ crack grows faster if fast

• ∆𝜎 increases fracture
• Crack gets longer growth
• Loading frequency increases

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 Fatigue Crack Growth

To estimate the number of cycle to failure, 𝑁𝑓 , we need to integrate the Paris equation.

da
= A(K )n K =  a
dN
Only the tensile part of the cycle contributes to crack growth, hence we assume the stress varies from 0
to some maximum stress, 𝜎𝑚𝑎𝑥 , and ∆𝜎 = 𝜎𝑚𝑎𝑥 .
If 𝑛 = 4 then expanding gives:

da
dN
= A  max a( )
4

Nf
Assume that a surface crack of size 𝑎 grows to become of critical length 𝑎𝑓 and 1
af
1
the number of cycles is 𝑁𝑓 . Separating the variables and setting these limits gives:  dN = A( 4 2  2
 ) a
da
0 max a

Integrating gives: 1 1 1 
1
 an =  a
−n
=
a − n +1
:
1 a −1 − 1
=
− n + 1 a2 − 1 a
=
Nf =
( )
4 2 
A  max   a
− 
af 
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 Case Study: Fatigue Crack in an Aircraft Wing

We can use this approach to determine the safe life for an edge crack in an aluminium aircraft component.

If a component is subjected to an alternating stress of range 160𝑀𝑃𝑎 about a mean stress of 50𝑀𝑃𝑎, then the maximum
1
stress, 𝜎𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 130𝑀𝑃𝑎 and 𝜎𝑚𝑖𝑛 = −30𝑀𝑃𝑎. If the fracture toughness of the alloy, 𝐾𝐼𝐶 = 35𝑀𝑃𝑎 ∙ 𝑚 Τ2 .

1. What is the critical crack length for fast fracture? (Ans: 𝑎𝑓 = 19𝑚𝑚)
1Τ −4
2. Assuming 𝑛 = 4, 𝐴 = 5 × 10−12 𝑚 𝑀𝑃𝑎 ∙ 𝑚 2 and the initial crack, 𝑎0 = 2𝑚𝑚. What is the number of cycle to
failure for fast fracture? (Ans: 𝑁𝑓 = 31,741 𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠)

 
max
80
50 a
min time

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 Case Study: Fatigue Crack in an Aircraft Wing

Given initial crack size 𝑎 = 2𝑚𝑚 (often found by non-destructive testing), we can determine the number of
cycles to failure e.g. the wing can survive before the crack grows to critical crack length (𝑎𝑓 = 19𝑚𝑚).

1 1 1 
Nf =
( 
) − 
−12 1Τ −4
Given 𝑛 = 4, 𝐴 = 5 × 10 𝑚 𝑀𝑃𝑎 ∙ 𝑚 2 and 4 2 
A  max   a af 

𝜎𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 130𝑀𝑃𝑎 (keep in MPa to be compatible with the units for 𝐴)

1  1 1 
Nf = −
(
5  10 −12 130 4  2 ) 
 2  10 −3 −3
19  10 


The number of cycles to failure, 𝑁𝑓 is 31,741.

The frequency of the oscillation will determine the actual life in hours (or more properly flying hours) before
failure.

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 Summary

• Small cracks can initiate and grow under cyclic stresses by the process
of fatigue. This can be catastrophic as small cracks can grow to
become larger than the critical length, 𝑎𝑐 for fast fracture.

• 𝑆 − 𝑁 curves can be used to determine the number of cycles to failure,

𝑁𝑓 for a given cyclic stress. The fatigue life decrease as the cyclic
stress increases. (𝜎 ↑ and 𝑁𝑓 ↓).

• For some materials there is a stress below which crack initiation and
growth cannot occur (fatigue limit).

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