Objective:

-To demonstrate the use of the Instron servohydraulic testing machine for
testing specimens subjected to Cyclic (fatigue) loadings.
- To analytically approximate the fatigue damage accumulated in a part which
is subjected to a known fatigueSpectrum.

Introduction:
Fatigue testing is a specialized form of mechanical testing that is performed by
applying cyclic loading to a coupon or structure. These tests are used either to
generate fatigue life and crack growth data, identify critical locations or
demonstrate the safety of a structure that may be susceptible to fatigue.
Fatigue tests are used on a range of components from coupons through to full
size test articles such as automobiles and aircraft.
Fatigue tests on coupons are typically conducted using servo hydraulic test
machines which are capable of applying large variable amplitude cyclic loads.
Constant amplitude testing can also be applied by simpler oscillating machines.
The fatigue life of a coupon is the number of cycles it takes to break the
coupon. This data can be used for creating stress-life or strain-life curves. The
rate of crack growth in a coupon can also be measured, either during the test
or afterward using fractography. Testing of coupons can also be carried out
inside environmental chambers where the temperature, humidity and
environment that may affect the rate of crack growth can be controlled.

Theory:
When a metal is subjected to repeat cycles of stress or strain, it causes its
structure to Breakdown ultimately leading to fracture. This behavior is called
fatigue. Fatigue is a form of failure that occurs in structures subjected to
dynamic and Fluctuating loads. Under these circumstances, it is possible for
failure to occur at a stress level Considerably lower than the yield strength for
a static load. It generally occurs after a lengthy Period of repeated stress or
strain cycling.
In the moving fatigue testing machine, a rotating specimen is clamped on one
side is loaded With a concentrated force. As a result an alternating bending
stress is created in the Cylindrical specimen. Following a certain number of
load cycles, the specimen will rupture as A result of material fatigue. With this
machine, it is possible to demonstrate the basic Principles of fatigue strength
testing, including the production Stress-No. Of cycles diagram (S-N diagram).
The specimen is subjected to a pure reversed bending stress in the machine.
With different specimen shapes, it is possible to show the influence of the
notch effect and The influence of surface quality on fatigue strength.
 The study of cyclic behavior of materials can divided into three classes:
-Stress-life approach: It is useful when stresses and strains are mostly elastic.
The main drawback of this approach is that we are unable to distinguish
between the initiation and propagation phases of fatigue life.
-Strain-life approach: The strain-life approach is useful when there is a
significant amount of plastic strain.
-Fracture mechanics approach: The cyclic stress intensity factor is used as the
crack driver to estimate the life for propagating a crack from an initial size to
larger size or to the critical size corresponding to failure.

There are three general types of applied fatigue stress: torsional (twisting),
flexural (bending), or axial (tension–compression). And also there are three
different modes of fluctuating stress–time. The first is a sinusoidal regular time
dependence mode schematically represented in Figure (1(a)), with symmetrical
amplitude about the mean zero stress. Alternating of two equal magnitude
stresses (minimum compressive stress (σmin) to a maximum tensile stress
(σmax)) is an example for this mode that is referred to as a reversed stress
cycle. The second type shown in Figure (1(b)) is termed as repeated stress, for
which, the maximum and minimum stresses are asymmetrical related to the
level of zero stress. The third type is a stress level of randomly varied
frequency and amplitude, as shown in Figure (1(c)). [2]
 Fig (1) Stress - time diagrams. (a) Reversed stress cycle. (b) fluctuated stress cycle. (c) Random stress
cycle.

Also several indicated parameters in figure (1(b)) are used for characterization
of the cycle of fluctuating stress. The amplitude of stress oscillates about the
average of the minimum and maximum stresses in this cycle defined as the
mean stress σm[3]

Constant stress range(∆σ): Δσ =σ max – σ min

The process of fatigue failure is characterized by three specifics steps:-

A)Crack initiation. B) Crack propagation. C) Final failure.
 Fig (2) Appearance of typical fatigue fracture surface

Cracks generally start at the surface of the material. As the crack grows, the
two surfaces rub against each other, polishing both surfaces to a dull
metallic finish. The fractured surface shows the sign of plastic deformation
as well as crystalline finish[1].
A fatigue failure begins with a small crack resulting from a tensile stress
at a macro or microscopic flaw. Once started, the crack will develop at a
point of discontinuity in the material, such as change in cross section, a
keyway or a hole. Less obvious points at which fatigue failure is likely to begin
are internal cracks or even irregularities caused by machining processes. In
other words, when a load below yield strength of a material is applied
repeatedly to a metallic specimen, localized hardening occurs. Then a small
crack appears, this crack is a line of stress concentration which causes it to
grow. As the crack grows, the cross sectional area of the material gets smaller
until it can no longer support the load. This loading on which the fracture takes
place is called fatigue loading and the fracture is called fatigue failure.

The Fatigue Life (Nf) 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 = Ni + Np
  Crack Initiation (Ni) - Cycles required to initiate a crack. Generally
results from dislocation pile-ups and/or imperfections such as surface
scratches, voids, etc.
 Crack Growth (Np) - Cycles required to grow the crack in a stable
manner to a critical size. Generally controlled by stress level. Since
most common materials contain flaws, the prediction of crack growth
is the most studied aspect of fatigue.
o Rapid Fracture - Very rapid critical crack growth occurs when the
crack length reaches a critical value, ac. Since Rapid Fracture occurs
quickly, there is no Rapid Fracture term in the Fatigue Life expression.

(S-Nf) Curve
Most Fatigue Tests are conducted at what is referred to as “Constant
Amplitude” which merely refers to the fact that the maximum and minimum
stresses are constant for each cycle of a test. S-Nf refers to a plot of Constant
Amplitude Stress Level (S) verses Number of Cycles to Failure (Nf). S-Nf
Curves are generally plotted on semi-log or log-log paper where each dot
represents the results of a single test specimen. Fatigue tests tend to be time
consuming and expensive; each data point represents many hours of testing.

Fig(3) Stress Amplitude versus Number of Cycles to Failure Curves [Flinn & Trojan, 1990].
Fatigue testing:
Materials Testing to obtain S-Nf Curves is common; several ASTM standards
address stress-based fatigue Testing. The «Rotating Bending Testing Machine»
is similar to the original railroad axle-type Wohler used Where the bending
moment is constant along the beam length. Each point on the Surface of the
Rotating Bend Specimen is subjected to fully-reversed cycling (σm = 0) and the
tests are generally Constant Amplitude.

Fig (4): Rotating Bending Testing Machine [Callister, 1994].

Apparatus :
The machine type is (GUNT HUMBURG WP 140) made by (G.U.N.T Gerätebau
GmbH company, Germany) as shown in fig(5) and here it's components:
1. Proximity sensor.
2. Spindle with specimen receptacle.
3. Floating Bearing.
4. Scale.
5. Spring Balance.
6. Hand Wheel.
7. Proximity Switch.
8. Protective Hood.
9. Drive Motor.
10. Emergency off switch.
11. Counter.
12. Connection socket. (optional)
13. Motor Protection switch.
14. Set of Specimen (mild steel)
Fig (5):the machine used in fatigue test
Specimen:
The standard specimen of the used rotating bending fatigue instrument is
shown in fig (6) according to its technical description

Figure (6): Standard specimen of (WP 140) instrument

Procedure:
1) First of all fold up the protective hood.
2) Relieve the load device using the hand wheel by moving the floating
bearing down to the bottom. Remove any specimens which may be in
position.
3) Lightly tighten the union nut on the collets chuck.
4) Fold down the protective hood and loosen the emergency off switch.
5) Reset the counter using the RST button. The counter must display zero.
6) After checking all these parameters, the experiment can begin.
7) Make sure that the floating bearing must be at the height of the spindle.
8) Insert the test bar in the floating bearing of the load device.
9) Afterwards insert the test bar in the collate chuck and push in as far as
the end stop and carefully tighten the collets chuck using a wrench.
10) Now check the concentricity of the specimen by rotating the spindle by
hand and fold down the protective hood. (Remember the unit can only
be placed in operation if the protective hood is correctly closed)
11) Loosen the emergency off switch and quickly apply the load by rotating
the hand wheel.
12) Read off the load from the scale on the spring balance.
13) Reset the counter using the RST button in order to begin counting.
 14) The motor stops automatically when the specimen ruptures. Read off
the number of load cycles from the counter and record it in the
observation table.
15) Repeat the experiment for the next specimen.
16) The stresses are entered over the endurance in the semi-logarithmic
diagram i.e. the attached worksheet and draw the graph between stress
and no. of cycles. This graph is called S-N diagram.

Results:

From the diagram above we get this fatigue limit equation:

− ( 0.356 )
Y =5251.4 x

As the specimen we used in the test is mild steel (ferous material)

The x for it will be 106 and so we get:

y = 38.3950