Saurabh Kulkarni.

(M.Tech - Design)
What is fatigue ?

Fatigue is weakening of material caused by cyclic

loading and unloading that results in structural
damage. This is due to the repeated loading and
unloading.
Stages of fatigue failure ?
 1) CRACK initiation
 2) Crack Propagation
 3) Catastrophic rupture
Basic terms
 Stress (σ)= It is the force applied per unit area.
mathematically,
Stress (σ) = Force/ Area.
= F/A.

 Yield tensile strength (Syt).

 Ultimate tensile strength (Sut).
S-N Curve
The stresses are placed on Y axis.
The number of cycles are placed on X axis.
Low cycle and High cycle fatigue
 In low cycle fatigue, it is applied where the
application demands the finite life of material.
 Generally the low cycle fatigue is under 10 3 cycles.
 The high cycle fatigue is more than 10 3 cycles.
 It ranges from 10 3 cycles to 10 6 cycles.
Methodology for obtaining S-N curve
 Consider the following fig.
 The specimen is fitted to the fatigue testing machine.
 Now by applying the desired load and no of cycles the
obtained stress is plotted accordingly.
 The schematic representation of the machine is as
under.
 The first crack initiates then the actual breakage
occurs . This is catastrophic failure.
 As soon as the specimen fails the no. of cycles are
recorded.
 The same procedure is repeated for all specimens.
 Obtained readings are placed on the log paper.
 In this way S-N diagram is obtained.
Endurance limit
 Endurance limit is defined as the maximum value of
stress that a material can withstand for a finite number
of cycles without a fatigue failure.
 The mathematical representation is given by,

Se= Ka.Kb.Kc.Kd.Se’
 Where,
Ka= Surface finish factor.
Kb= Size factor.
 Kc= Reliability factor.
Kd= Modifying factor.
Surface finish factor (Ka)
 The surface of the specimen should be uniform.
 It is dependant upon how smoothly the surface is
polished.
 It should be polished in axial direction only.
 When the surface finishing is poor it forms the
scratches and geometric irregularities, which serves as
stress raisers and stress concentrations.
Size factor (Kb)
 The theory states that, Larger or grater the size lower
the endurance limit.
 The size factor is inversely proportional to the
endurance limit.
 The mathematical representation is as under,

Size factor (Kb) α 1/Se.

Reliablity(Kc)
 The laboratory values of endurance limit are usually
mean values.
 There is deviation of endurance limit of some
specimens having same load applied and other
conditions.
 The more the specimen survives , more the reliability
increases which leads to lower the reliability factor
 For example, The reliability factor of component is “1”
for 50% reliability factor.
Types of cyclic stresses
 Reversed stresses
 Repeated stresses.
 Fluctuating Stresses.
 But in theoretical the curves obtains are Sinusoidal in
nature.
 In practice conditions the obtained curved are periodic
in nature.
 So the decomposition of periodic to sinusoidal is done
by Fourier analysis.
 The mathematical representation is given by.
F(t)=F0 + ASin ωt + Bcos ωt
Miscellaneous effects
 These are combined factors which affects fatigue
life of materials.
 To overcome the situation we have to minimizes
the following factors,
Mean stresses.
Electrolyte concentrations.
Dissolved oxygen in electrolyte
Material properties and composition.
Temperature.
Fatigue strength under fluctuating stresses
 The phenomenon can be explained by goodmen-
soderbrg line.
Effects of Fatigue failure
 The integrity of structures gets reduced which leads to
either deformation or brakeage of structure.
 When a part is under loading conditions and subjected
to vibration either torsional, axial, transverse due to
fatigue failure the structural vibration may results in
noise.
 Heat generation can be occurred. for example
temperature rise in bearing.
Remedies
 Reduction of stress concentration.
 Use of smart materials.
 Change in properties of material. For example, use of
material with higher yield strength.
Examples of applications
 Rear axel of car.
 Car wheel.
 Brakes of automobile.
 Bicycle crank arm.
 Springs of opening and closing of garage.
 Exercise equipment.
 Broken screws and universal joints etc.