EME 4353 Advanced Engineering Materials

Lecture 7 :

Fatigue and Creep

PowerPoint® Slides
by Dr Lai MK

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 Learning Objectives
 To define fatigue loading and failure in materials
 To describe the parameters to characterize fluctuating stresses and
enumerate factors that affect fatigue strength
 To describe creep, creep test and the use of Larsen-Miller parameter for
determination of time to stress rupture

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 Fatigue
• Fatigue is a form of failure
that occurs in structures
subjected to dynamic and
fluctuating stresses

• Example of fatigue failure:

bridges, aircraft, and
machine components

• Fatigue is catastrophic and

insidious, occurring very Fatigue failure of a bridge
suddenly and without
warning.
 Fatigue
• Fatigue failure is brittle in
nature even in normally ductile
metals

• The process occurs by the

initiation and propagation of
cracks

• Failure normally occurs after a

lengthy period of repeated Fatigue cracking in a bridge
stress or strain cycling.

• Failure may occur at stress level

lower than YS and TS
Cyclic stress
•Theapplied stress may be axial (tension–compression), flexural
(bending), or torsional (twisting) in nature.

Reversed Stress Cycle:

Regular and sinusoidal time dependence.

Amplitude is symmetrical about a mean
zero stress level

Repeated Stress Cycle:

Amplitude is asymmetrical about a mean

zero stress level.

Random Stress Cycle:

Stess level vary randomly in amplitude

and frequency.

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Cyclic Stress
• The stress amplitude alternates about a mean stress , defined as the
average of the maximum and minimum stresses in the cycle, or

• Stress amplitude:

• Fatigue lifetime of a material is determined by the mean stress and

stress amplitude. Lower stress amplitude and mean stress indicates
higher lifetime.
A 12.5-mm diameter cylindrical rod fabricated from a 2014-T6 alloy
(Figure 1) is subjected to a repeated tension–compression load cycling
along its axis. Compute the maximum and minimum loads that will be
applied to yield a fatigue life of 1.0 x 10^7 cycles. Assume that the
stress plotted on the vertical axis is stress amplitude, and data were
taken for a mean stress of 50 MPa.

Figure 1
Fatigue test – S-N Curve
• Fatigue properties of materials can be determined from laboratory
simulation tests.

• Compression and tensile stresses are imposed on the specimen as it is

simultaneously bent and rotated. The number of cycles to failure (N) is
counted.

• Data are plotted as stress (S) versus the logarithm of the number (N) of
cycles to failure for each of the specimens.

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Rotating-bending test apparatus
Fatigue test – S-N Curve
• The higher the magnitude of the
stress, the smaller the number
of cycles the material is capable
of sustaining before failure

• Fatigue limit (also sometimes the

endurance limit) - below this
limit, fatigue failure will not
occur. Ex: steels

• Fatigue strength, which is

defined as the stress level at
which failure will occur for some
specified number of cycles. Ex:
most non-ferrous alloys.

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Fatigue Crack Propagation
Process of fatigue:

• Crack initiation  Crack propagation  failure

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Factors that affect fatigue life
• Mean Stress
• The dependence of fatigue life on stress amplitude is represented on
the S–N plot. Increasing the mean stress level leads to a decrease in
fatigue life.

• Design Factors
• Any notch or geometrical discontinuity can act as a stress raiser and
fatigue crack initiation site; Example: grooves, holes, keyways,
threads

Grooves Hole
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Factors that affect fatigue life
• Environmental Factors
• Thermal fatigue - induced at elevated temperatures by fluctuating
thermal stresses; mechanical stresses from an external source need
not be present.

• Corrosion Fatigue - Failure that occurs by the simultaneous action of

a cyclic stress and chemical attack.

Corrosion fatigue Thermal fatigue on a disk brake

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Creep
• Defined as the time-dependent and permanent deformation of
materials when subjected to a constant load or stress (temperature
> 0.4Tm)

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Stages of creep

• Primary creep
• Material is experiencing an increase in creep resistance or
strain hardening. Deformation becomes more difficult as the
material is strained.

• Secondary creep
• Balance between the competing processes of strain
hardening and recovery, recovery being the process whereby
a material becomes softer and retains its ability to
experience deformation.

• Tertiary creep
• Creep rate accelerates due to necking and formation of voids
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Creep Failure

Creep deformation on a turbine blade

Creep failure on a power plant pipe

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 Effects of temperature and stress on creep
When stress or
temperature increased:

• The instantaneous
strain at the time of
stress application
increases.
• The steady-state
creep rate is
increased. Effects of Stress and temperature on
• The rupture lifetime is creep behavior

diminished.
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