Jordan University of Science and Technology

Faculty of Engineering

Industrial Engineering Department

Engineering Materials Laboratory

Exp. #4 Fatigue Test

Student's name: Mateel Yasser Hanna Haddad

Student's No.: 20130029011

Teacher: Dr. Omar Bataineh

Teacher assistant : Mo'men Rbabah

Date of the experiment : 9-3-2016

Due date :16-3-2016

section : 4

1
: Table Of Contents

Page number Description

Page 1 Objective , introduction
Page 2 Setups
Page 3 procedure
Page 4 Calculations

Page 5 S-N curves for cold worked steel and

aluminum
Page 6 Discussion
Page 7 Conclusion and references

2
Objectives :

1-To understand the behavior of different materials under fluctuating (cyclic or periodic)
loads in service.
2-To differentiate the appearance of fatigue fracture from other types of fractures.

: Introduction
Fatigue is is a progressive and localized structural damage occurs when the components are
subjected to fluctuating or cyclic loading such as suspended bridges, rails, or airplane wings.
Though the fluctuating load is normally less than the yield strength of the materials, it results
in fracture behaviour which is more severe than that achieved from static loading.

Fatigue failures are therefore unpredictable, and provide high-risk situations, if the operators
are not aware of material behaviour when subjected to fatigue loading.

Fatigue failures can be easily observed from its unique characteristics of fracture surfaces,
revealing as a beach mark pattern as shown in fig.1 (a), fatigue failures are also driven by
severe environment. For example, corrosion fatigue is a combined situation of fatigue
loading in a corrosive environment as illustrated in fig 1 (b). Fatigue life is influenced by a
variety of factors, such as temperature, surface finish, microstructure, presence of oxidizing
or inert chemicals, residual stresses, contact (fretting), etc.

Fig.1 : a) Fatigue surface b) corrosion Fatigue

surface

3
: Setups

: Fatigue testing machine-1

One of the machines used to determine the fatigue limit is the fatigue testing machine. In
this machine a standard specimen is used where it is supported in a rotating chuck at one end
and at the other end with a load (p) applied through a ball race. In this type of cantilever
loading each point in the circumference of the specimen is subjected to alternate stress
between tension and compression. To find the fatigue limit, different specimens are tested at
.different loading till failure occurs

Fig.2: Fatigue testing machine

2- Test specimens :

Two materials are tested , one shows a fatigue limit (ferrous metal, cold work steel ) and the
other does not show this limit (non-ferrous metal, cold work Aluminum ).

Fig.3 cold work aluminum Fig.2 cold work steel

:Procedure
4
1-Select two materials, one shows a fatigue limit (ferrous metal) and the other does not show
this limit (non-ferrous metal).

2-Take at least two standard specimens from each material.

3-Mount the specimen in the machine and fix it properly, then apply the required load by the
loading system.

4-Make sure, that the reading of the revolution counter is zero, and then start the machine.

5-When the specimen is broken, read the number of revolutions (cycles), as indicated by the
revolution counter of the machine.
MY
σ=
6-Determine the applied stress from the relation I as explained above.
7-Tabulate the obtained results, together with the given results from previous tests.

8-From these results, plot the S-N diagram for each tested material, on the same graph paper.

9-Compare the obtained S-N diagram with the diagram given in the lab handout and
10-Examine the appearance of the fracture for each sample with the pictures also provided in
the handout .

Fig4: Fatigue test procedure using fatigue

testing machine

5
: Calculation

After performing the fatigue test, maximum stress that was obtained that caused the sample
:to break will be calculated using the formula

σ M
=
y I

Where M is the bending moment (N.m) and I is the second moment of inertia (I =
4
πD
(m4 )
64 ) and y half the thickness of the sample (y=D/2 (m))

After calculating the Max stress it is plotted against number of cycles till failure occurred
.and S-N curve is obtained where the endurance limit (fatigue limit) is obtained

Fig.5 : S-N curve

Using Steel standard specimen with diameter D= 9.57 mm. convert this diameter to
inches and convert all dimensions to inches because the moment calculated in lb.in from the
. .machine
.Converted t 9.57mm to inches is equal 0.38 in

D 0.38
y= = =0.19 :The distance from the neutral surface
2 2
4
π D4 π (0.38 )
I= = =0.001023 :The second moment of area of the section
64 64
MC ( 240 ) (0.19)
σ= = =44574.78 :The applied stress to the first moment
I 0.001023

.Same calculation are applied to all readings but change the value of moment

6
 : S-N curves for cold worked steel and aluminum

Cold worked steel is a ferrous metal so we have a definite fatigue limit approximately in the
.upper graph

oW dloC rof evruC N-S

00007
00006
00005
00004
00003 leets dekroW dloC rof evruC N-S
00002
00001
0
(isp) sserts mumixaM

5.4 5 5.5 6 5.6 7 5.7 8

selcyc fo rebmun gol

Fig.6 : S-N curve for cold worked steel

Cold Worked Aluminum is a non-ferrous metal so, we note that we don’t have a definite
6
fatigue limit, so the fatigue limit in this case specified by 10 ×10 cycle and the
S N ≅ corresponding

w dloc roF evruC N-S

00004
00053
00003
00052
00002 dekrow dloc roF evruC N-S
munimulA
00051
00001
0005
(isp) sserts mumixaM

0
4 5.4 5 5.5 6 5.6
selcyc fo rebmun gol

Fig.7 : S-N curve for cold worked

aluminum

7
Discussion :
The aim of this experiment is to understand the behavior of different materials under
alternating (cyclic) loading, plus to learn how to differentiate the appearance of the fatigue
fracture shape from other types of fractures caused by other types of loadings. Moreover, we
are able to determine the brittleness and ductility of the material from the shape of its fatigue
.fracture and learned how the Ductility and Brittleness are related to fatigue

We fined when we increase the moment on the specimen the stress on the specimen increase
and the number of cycles to failure occurs decrease .we know that the stress is tension in top
of the specimen and compression in other side of the specimen the stress in both side is the
same value. This difference in tension and compression stress makes surface cracks and then
.the cracks propagate and failure occurs

And we can notice from the S-N curve that as we increase the stress, the number of cycles
.endured before failure will decrease

The fatigue test takes long time because we need to break different specimen each time at
different load and wait until fracture occur to get one point on S-N diagram which is the
main and the important result of the fatigue test. To draw the S-N diagram minimum we need
.50 points thus, 50 specimens and 50 fractures so it may take years to do that

The fatigue test is also expensive if we compare it with other destructive tests that we did in
the lab fatigue test need electrical power for long time to achieve our goal (S-N diagram) but
it’s an important test to know the ability of the material in fatigue when we use it in a
.specific service work that may exposed to alternating loads

Also we noticed that the cold worked steel have a definite fatigue limit while the cold
. .worked Aluminum don’t have a definite fatigue limit

8
Conclusion :

1- Fatigue is a normal phenomenon that will cause a material to fail eventually under
alternate loading, regardless of the number of cycles.

2- Fatigue is tested using the fatigue testing machine and its value is obtained from
MY
σ=
plotting the S-N curve, where stress is calculated using the formula I

3- Fatigue affected by design, surface quality, material type, grain size, direction of
loading, grain size and temperature and other factors.

4- Cold working increases the fatigue strength.

5- Ductile materials have a lower fatigue limit than brittle materials.

6- Fatigue fracture shape differs

in structure from other
fractures used from other types
of failures, as it consist of three
zones ( initial crack zone,
propagation zone and
final fracture zone)

7- In ductile materials the

propagation zone is
larger than that of the brittle
materials.

Fig.8: crack propagation

References :

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatigue_(material)
9
2. Draper, John (2008). Modern Metal Fatigue Analysis. EMAS

3. Experiment # 4 Lab handout.

10