Mechanical

properties of
materials
Samir Fernando Castilla Acevedo
Chem E., M. Eng., Ph.D. Student
 Fatigue

It is the failure of a material due to

repetitive stress, which can be above or
below the yield strength.

The possibility of fatigue failure is the

primary reason most equipment
components have finite life.
 Fatigue
• A small crack is initiated or nucleated due to some
imperfection (usually near the surface).
• The crack propagates gradually as the load
continues to cycle.
• Sudden fracture of the material when the
remaining cross section of the material is too small
to support the applied load.
• Components fail due to fatigue even when the
stress is well below the elastic limit.

"Beach markings always suggest fatigue

failure, but the absence of beach markings
does not rule out fatigue failure."
Fatigue
It is usually dealt with by fatigue in metallic and
polymeric materials. Ceramics are designed for a
static and non-cyclical load, so there is no talk of
fatigue in them.
In polymeric materials as they are subjected to
repetitive stresses, considerable heating can occur
near the tips of the cracks and the interrelationships
between fatigue and another mechanism known as
creep.
Fatigue test
 Fatigue test

Viga rotatoria o voladizo

A load is applied to a specimen (cylindrical part). The

machine measures the number of turns that the specimen
supports applying that load until it breaks. The specimen
undergoes both tensile and compressive forces as it turns.
•   maximum stress acting on the specimen is given by:
The

Where:
M: Bending moment in cross section
d: Diameter of the sample
The results are presented as an S-N
curve (also known as a Wöhler curve)
Therefore:
with the stress (S) plotted as a function
of the number of cycles (N) to failure.

Where L is the length of the specimen. F is the charge and d is

the diameter.

Fatigue test
The fatigue test can indicate how long a part can survive or the maximum allowable loads that can be
applied without causing failure.
 The limit of resistance to fatigue or resistance to fatigue:

Fatigue
it is the maximum effort for which fatigue will not occur
within a particular number of cycles, such as 500,000,000
Fatigue life indicates how long a component survives a
particular stress. Ex: if the steel in the previous figure is

test subjected to a load of 90,000 psi in a cyclical manner, the

fatigue life will be 100,000 cycles, if the time associated
with a cycle is known, the useful life of the material can
be calculated.
 • 

Fatigue
Test In some materials including steels, the strength limit is
approximately half the tensile strength. The ratio between the
fatigue strength limit and the tensile strength is known as the
strength ratio. It enables the fatigue properties to be calculated
from the stress test.
Fatigue test
Look for:
Application of the fatigue test
Pág: 271 - 274
Creep test
Time-dependent deformation under constant load and
high temperatures is known as creep. Diffusion, slippage,
or increased dislocations or slippage of grain boundaries
can contribute to slippage of metallic materials.
 A material is considered creep failure
even if it has not yet fractured.
Creep test Ductile failures.
Fragile defects.
 A constant stress is applied to a heated specimen.
Evaluation of As soon as force is applied to the specimen, it is
the behavior of stretched elastically a small amount 𝜀0.

the creep test During the creep test, the strain is plotted as a
function of time to obtain the creep curve.
Evaluation of the
behavior of the
creep test
 • Rise of dislocations: high temperatures allow dislocations to
rise. The atoms move to and from the dislocation lines.
• Stationary state: The speed at which dislocations climb away
Evaluation of from obstacles is equal to the speed at which dislocations are
blocked by other imperfections. This leads to a steady state.
the behavior of • Recess formation: As the recess begins, the stress over the
the creep now smaller cross-sectional area increases and the specimen
deforms at an accelerated rate until failure occurs (hence the
slope is steeper). The time required for the failure to occur is
"A greater stress or a higher the breakdown time.
temperature reduces the time
of rupture and increases the
speed of creep"
 Evaluation of the behavior of the
termofluencia
Creep speed and breakdown time are followed by an Arrhenius relationship that takes into account the
combined influence of applied stress and temperature.
Activation energy for creep

  𝑄𝑐
𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 (𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑜𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑎 )=𝐶 σ exp −
𝑅𝑇
𝑛
( )
  𝑄𝑟
𝑚
𝑡 𝑟=𝐾 σ exp
𝑅𝑇 ( ) Ctes
Ctes
Temp (K)

Cte ideal gases

Ctes
Ctes strength
Temp (K)
strength
Cte ideal gases Activation energy for rupture
 Use of creep test
• 
Stress-rupture curves calculate the expected lifetime of a component for a
particular combination of stress and temperature. The Larson-Miller parameter is
used to consolidate the stress-temperature-time to break relationship into a
single curve. The Larson-Miller (L.M.) parameter is:

Where T is in Kelvin, t is time in hours, and A and B are constants for the
material.
Use of the creep test