Fatigue Life Prediction under Service Load Considering Strengthening Effect of Loads below Fatigue Limit

Lightweight design requires an accurate life prediction for structures and components under service loading histories. However, predicted life with the existing methods seems too conservative in some cases, leading to a heavy structure. Because these methods are established on the basis that load cycles would only cause fatigue damage, ignore the strengthening effect of loads. Based on Palmgren-Miner Rule （PMR）, this paper introduces a new method for fatigue life prediction under service loadings by taking into account the strengthening effect of loads below the fatigue limit. In this method, the service loadings are classified into three categories： damaging load, strengthening load and none-effect load, and the process for fatigue life prediction is divided into two stages： stage I and stage II, according to the best strengthening number of cycles. During stage I, fatigue damage is calculated considering both the strengthening and damaging effect of load cycles. While during stage II, only the damaging effect is considered. To validate this method, fatigue lives of automobile half shaft and torsion beam rear axle are calculated based on the new method and traditional methods, such as PMR and Modified Miner Rule （MMR）, and fatigue tests of the two components are conducted under service loading histories. The tests results show that the percentage errors of the predicted life with the new method to mean life of tests for the two components are –3.78% and –1.76% separately, much lesser than that with PMR and MMR. By considering the strengthening effect of loads below the fatigue limit, the new method can significantly improve the accuracy for fatigue life prediction. Thus lightweight design can be fully realized in the design stage.

STUDY ON FATIGUE DAMAGE BELOW THE FATIGUE LIMIT AND THE COAXING EFFECTS

Rotary bending fatigue tests were carried out for smooth specimens of a mediumcarbon steel with two different grain sizes near the fatigue limit. The process of fatigue damagewas observed by replication method, and the effects of grain size,stress level and microstructure on surface damage were studied. The effect of following cycle stress level on the coaxing effects was also discussed. The fatigue limit is the maximum stress at which the short fatigue crack initiates and becomes a non-propagating crack.. The length of non-propagating crack is related to grain sizes and stress level. The coaxing effects disappear when the following stress level is greater than the critical value.

Fatigue limit assessment of a 6061 aluminum alloy based on infrared thermography and steady ratcheting effect

To quickly predict the fatigue limit of 6061 aluminum alloy,two assessment methods based on the temperature evolution and the steady ratcheting strain difference under cyclic loading,respectively,were proposed.The temperature evolutions during static and cyclic loadings were both measured by infrared thermography.Fatigue tests show that the temperature evolution was closely related to the cyclic loading,and the cyclic loading range can be divided into three sections according to the regular of temperature evolution in different section.The mechanism of temperature evolution under different cyclic loadings was also analyzed due to the thermoelastic,viscous,and thermoplastic effects.Additionally,ratcheting strain under cyclic loading was also measured,and the results show that the evolution of the ratcheting strain under cyclic loading above the fatigue limit undergone three stages:the first increasing stage,the second steady state,and the final abrupt increase stage.The fatigue limit of the 6061 aluminum alloy was quickly estimated based on transition point of linear fitting of temperature increase and the steady value of ratcheting strain difference.Besides,it is feasible and quick of the two methods by the proof of the traditional S-N curve.

SURFACE YIELD STRENGTH AND FATIGUE LIMIT FOR STEELS

The surface yield strength(σ_(ms))for various carbon steels was studied by means of X-ray diffraction method.The results showed that it is.far below the bulk yield strength,and is the resistance against plastic deformation in the surface layer.The smooth fatigue limit is associ- ated with crack initiation which is a result of accumulation of plastic deformation.Experimen- tal results showed the relation of smooth fatigue limit for 50% survival with σ_(ms)is σ_(ms)=0.81 tO 1.02 σ_(-1)for different steels.The smooth fatigue limit of a medium carbon steel for 99.9% survival with σ_(ms)is σ_(ms)=0.98 tO 1.10 σ_(-1).It is less expensive and time consuming to measure σ_(ms)than σ_(-1).

GENERALIZED FATIGUE CONSTANT LIFE CURVE AND TWO-DIMENSIONAL PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION OF FATIGUE LIMIT

According to the traditional fatigue constant life curve, the concept and the universal expression of the generalized fatigue constant life curve were proposed. Then, on the basis of the optimization method of the correlation coefficient, the parameter estimation formulas were induced and the generalized fatigue constant life curve with the reliability level p was given. From P-S-a-S-m curve, the two-dimensional probability distribution of the fatigue limit was derived. After then, three se, of tests of LY11 CZ corresponding to the different average stress were carried out in terms of the two-dimensional up-down method. Finally, the methods are used to analyze the test results, and it is found that the analyzed results with the high precision may be obtained.

Estimation of the Fatigue Endurance Limit of HMAC for Perpetual Pavements

A simplified procedure was described to estimate the FEL of three kinds of hot-mix asphalt concrete （HMAC） without doing any fatigue tests. The procedure required two fundamental properties of HMAC, tensile strength under different temperatures and strain rates, and flexural stiffness under different stain levels. This information can reliably be obtained in simple tests, which are the monotonic uniaxial tensile test （MUTT） and the four-point bending test （FPBT）. A new parameter, the initial stress ratio Rinitial, was introduced to connect these two tests, which was defined as the ratio of applied initial stress and tensile strength of the specimen. At last the FEL can be expressed as a function of the initial flexural stiffness, frequency and temperature. Obviously, this procedure has the potential to be very useful in view of long-life pavement design and time consuming traditional fatigue tests.

Corrosion fatigue behavior of epoxy-coated Mg-3Al-1Zn alloy in gear oil

The corrosion fatigue behavior of epoxy-coated Mg-3Al-1Zn alloy in gear oil was investigated. The corrosion and the fracture surfaces after fatigue test were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and the corrosion compositions were measured by energy-dispersive spectrometry(EDS). The fatigue properties and the crack initiation mechanisms of the specimens before and after epoxy coating treatment were discussed. The results indicate that the fatigue limit after epoxy coating treatment in gear oil is higher than that of the uncoated specimens. The epoxy coating is an excellent way to prevent direct contact between the Mg-3Al-1Zn alloy and surrounding environments. The mechanical properties of the epoxy coating layer are lower than that of magnesium alloy, which is the main reason for the fatigue crack initiation on the epoxy coating layer. In addition, the gear oil lubrication could lead to the flaking off of the epoxy-coated layer.

Study on the high-temperature properties of heat-resistant steel 309S

The properties of heat-resistant steel 309S at elevated properties were investigated.The results revealed a rapid decrease in the short-time tensile strength at elevated temperatures.At 1 000 ℃,the yield strength and tensile strength are 14% and 7% of their respective values at room temperature,respectively.The creep rupture strength was inferred in terms of the relationship between stress and duration time at high temperatures.After 1 000 h,the creep rupture strength is 37.98 MPa at 800 ℃,12.63 MPa at 900 ℃,and 7.27 MPa at 1 000 ℃.The fractures occurring at these high temperatures were intergranular in nature.Under the experimental condition,the fatigue limit stress is 25 MPa.The number of fatigue cycles and crack growth time decrease with increasing stress.Fracture morphology analysis shows that the fatigue cracks initiate on the surface of the sample and propagate through transgranular expansion.

Fatigue life prediction of aviation aluminium alloy based on quantitative pre-corrosion damage analysis

A new method of quantitative pre-corrosion damage of aviation aluminium(Al-Cu-Mg)alloy was proposed,whichregarded corrosion pits as equivalent semi-elliptical surface cracks.An analytical model was formulated to describe the entire regionof fatigue crack propagation(FCP).The relationship between the model parameters and the fatigue testing data obtained in thepre-corroded experiments,crack propagation experiments and S-N fatigue experiments was discussed.The equivalent crack sizesand the FCP equation were used to calculate the fatigue life through numerical integration based on MATLAB/GUI.The resultsconfirm that the sigmoidal curve fitted by the FCP model expresses the whole change from Region I to Region III.In addition,thepredicted curves indicate the actual trend of fatigue life and the conservative result of fatigue limit.Thus,the new analytical methodcan estimate the residual life of pre-corroded Al-Cu-Mg alloy,especially smooth specimens.

Current understanding of ultra-high cycle fatigue

The fatigue life of numerous aerospace,locomotive,automotive and biomedical structures may go beyond 10~8 cycles.Determination of long life fatigue behavior becomes extremely important for better understanding and design of the components and structures.Initially,before the invention of ultrasonic fatigue testing,most of the engineering materials were supposed to exhibit fatigue life up to 10~7 cycles or less.This paper reviews current understanding of some fundamental aspects on the development of accelerated fatigue testing method and its application in ultra-high cycle fatigue,crack initiation and growth mechanisms of internal fracture,S-N diagram,fatigue limit and life prediction, etc.

INFLUENCE OF RESIDUAL STRESS AND SURFACE MORPHOLOGY ON FATIGUE PROPERTIES OF STEEL 60Mn

Influence of residual stress and surface morphology induced by shot-peening on fatigue behav- ior of a medium temperature tempered spring steel 60 Mn has been studied.The compressive residual stress induced in the near-surface region may improve fatigue limit from 930 to 1010 MPa,and the very high tensile residual stress in the interior may reduce it from 1010 to 940 MPa,whereas the severe surface damage may cause a drop-off of it from 1010 down to 800 MPa.Fatigue cracks initiated in such position where the equivalent Mises stress,including residual stress,exceeded the local strength of the material.The compressive residual stress, induced by shot-peening,may intensify the effect of crack closure,so as to decrease the crack growth rate.

Effect of Loading Frequency on the High Cycle Fatigue Strength of Flax Fiber Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites

Among natural fibers,flax fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites show excellent dynamic/fatigue properties due to its excellent damping properties.Knowledge about fatigue limit and effect of loading frequency on fatigue limit is very crucial to know before being used a member as a structural component.Fatigue limit of fiber reinforced composite is measured through high cycle fatigue strength(HCFS).The effect of loading frequency on the HCFS of flax fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites was investigated using stabilized specimen surface temperature based thermographic and dissipated energy per cycle-based approaches.Specimens of unidirectional flax fiber reinforced thermoset composites were tested under cyclic loading at different percentages of applied stresses for the loading frequencies of 5,7,10,and 15 Hz in order to determine the stabilized surface temperature of the specimen and dissipated energy per fatigue cycle.Both approaches predicted similar fatigue limits(HCFS)which showed a good agreement with experimental results from Literature.HCFS of flax fiber reinforced composites decrease little with increasing loading frequency.Furthermore,effect of loading frequency on stabilized specimen temperature and dissipated energy per fatigue cycle was also investigated.Although specimen surface temperature increases with loading frequency,dissipated energy per-cycle does not change with loading frequency.Thermal degradation at higher loading frequencies may play a significant role in decreasing HCFS with increasing loading frequency.

Damage and Fatigue Failure of Conventional and Bulk-Filled Resin Composites

Objectives: Resin-based composites are the most widely used dental restorative materials. Bulk-fill resin composites are of rising interest as they can be clinically applied in thicker increments compared to conventional composites. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the flexural fatigue strength of a conventional and bulk-filled resin composite placed incrementally or non-incrementally. Methods: Resin composite specimens were fabricated using either a conventional (Brilliant EverGlow?) or a bulk-fill (Fill-Up!TM) resin composite by either non-incremental filling (2 × 2 × 25 mm3) or in increments of (1 × 2 × 25 mm3). Specimens were stored in distilled water for 24 h or thermocycled for 5000 cycles. The static flexural strength (σ), flexural fatigue limit (FFL) after 105 cycles and post-fatigue flexural strength (PFσ) were measured. Data were analyzed using ANOVA, with a post-hoc Tukey’s test to compare mean FFL (p σ and PFσ compared to conventional composites regardless of incremental cure or thermocycling (p σ and FFL for conventional composites but not bulk-filled composites. There was no significant difference in PFσ compared to σ after 24 h storage, but a significant increase in PFσ after thermocycling (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The type of composite rather than incremental placement had a greater effect on flexural strength, suggesting that operator placement technique had less influence than material selection. Thermocycling in combination with cyclic loading caused a strengthening effect in the composites, likely due to the absorption and dissipation of stresses, thereby enhancing resistance to fracture.

Theory and Practice of Oxide Inclusion Composition and Morphology Control in Spring Steel Production

In order to control the composition,morphology and size distribution of oxide inclusions in spring steel,the relationship between the content or activity of aluminum and calcium in molten steel and compositions of oxide inclusion precipitated at different temperatures was determined based on thermodynamic equilibrium for spring steel 60Si2 MnA,and has been verified by practice.The size distribution of non-metallic inclusions electrolytically extracted from specimens of hot rolled spring steel was determined by image analyzer.The results show that there are a great deal of large inclusions in spring steel produced by the conventional process,and the quantity and the size of large inclusions in spring steel produced by new process are largely reduced.As a result,the fatigue properties of the spring steel produced by new process are highly improved,and the ratio ofσ-1/σbis raised from 0.451 to 0.468.

Microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of heat treated LCB titanium alloy

The influence of ageing time on microstructure and mechanical properties of low-cost beta （LCB） titanium alloy with a chemical composition of Ti-6.6Mo-4.5Fe-1.5Al was investigated. The correlation between microstructure and fatigue crack initiation and growth was also studied. Increasing ageing time tended to increase the volume fraction of the secondary α-precipitates, β-grain size and partial spheroidization of primary α-phase. The maximum tensile strength （1565 MPa） and fatigue limit （750 MPa） were obtained for the samples aged at 500 °C for 0.5 h, while the minimum ones of 1515 MPa and 625 MPa, respectively, were reported for the samples aged at 500 °C for 4 h. The samples aged at 500 °C for 4 h showed a transgranular fracture mode. However, the samples aged at 500 °C for 0.5 h revealed a mixture fracture mode of transgranular and intergranular. The formed cracks on the outer surface of the fatigue samples were found to propagate through the β-grains connecting the primary α-particles existing at the β-grain boundaries.

VIV analysis of pipelines under complex span conditions

Spans occur when a pipeline is laid on a rough undulating seabed or when upheaval buckling occurs due to constrained thermal expansion. This not only results in static and dynamic loads on the flowline at span sections,but also generates vortex induced vibration (VIV),which can lead to fatigue issues. The phenomenon,if not predicted and controlled properly,will negatively affect pipeline integrity,leading to expensive remediation and intervention work. Span analysis can be complicated by:long span lengths,a large number of spans caused by a rough seabed,and multi-span interactions. In addition,the complexity can be more onerous and challenging when soil uncertainty,concrete degradation and unknown residual lay tension are considered in the analysis. This paper describes the latest developments and a'state-of-the-art' finite element analysis program that has been developed to simulate the span response of a flowline under complex boundary and loading conditions. Both VIV and direct wave loading are captured in the analysis and the results are sequentially used for the ultimate limit state (ULS) check and fatigue life calculation.

Development and evaluation of a hot-rolled 780 MPa steel sheet with an ultra-high expansion ratio

This paper explores the development of a 780 MPa hot-rolled high-strength steel with an ultra-high hole expansion ratio(HER) by using a nanoprecipitation-controlled technology.Systematic analysis and evaluation of an industrially produced steel sheet have been performed to investigate the microstructure, nanoprecipitates, tensile properties, HER,bendability, and forming limit diagram.The newly developed 780 MPa hot-rolled high-strength steel sheet is composed of a fully ferritic microstructure of approximately 5 μm with precipitates of approximately 4-5 nm in ferrite grain interiors.The yield strength and tensile strength can reach above 700 and 780 MPa, respectively.Moreover, the fractured elongation is higher than 19% in the transversal direction, and the average HER exceeds 70%.Furthermore, the newly developed 780 MPa high-strength steel has good bendability reaching R/t=0.2 at 90°.Compared with the conventional 780 MPa high-strength steel, the newly developed 780 MPa high-strength steel exhibits superior forming ability, which is suitable for the production of complex components.High-cycle fatigue indicates that the fatigue limit of the newly developed high-strength steel is 430 MPa under a stress ratio of r=-1,indicating good fatigue properties.The excellent combined mechanical properties of the newly developed 780 MPa high-strength steel are attributed to the grain-refined ferritic microstructure with nanoprecipitates in ferrite grain interiors.

STUDY ON THE THRESHOLD VALUE OF CERAMIC MICROCRACK PROPAGATION

The fat;igue, behavior of alumina and silicon car-bide has been investigated in this paper. Once visiable macro crack on ceramic materials appears,the specimen ruptures due to the high speed of crack propagation and small ultimate strain. It is indicated that the bending fatigue limit is equal to the threshod value of surface micro crack propagation and is deter-mined by the original defects and grain boundary force of mate-rials. For ceramic materials, the crack grmuth is controlled by the applied stress. By measuring the macroscopic residual strength,we can determine whether the micro-crack is expand-ing and calculate the growth rate of micro-crack.

Mechanical Properties of Resistance Spot Welded Components of High Strength Austenitic Stainless Steel

Resistance multi-spot welding （MSW） in column, triangle and tetragonal symmetry arrangements was prepared using cold-rolled 301L high-strength sheets, and their static and fatigue properties were in- vestigated. The effects of spot welds on the fracture strengths and fatigue limits were discussed. The results show that the static strengths can be estimated using an inherent linear relationship formula of the load versus the welding area. It was based on the 28%-33% volume fraction of α′ martensite induced at the interfacial spot weld fracture because of the failure deformation. The fatigue limits of the MSW nonlin- early increase with the number of spot welds. The arrangement of spot welds in the MSW significantly affects the average fatigue limit of each spot weld; its 26% maximum reduction occurred in the triangle, and the interaction stress between spot welds led to its 18% reduction in the tetragonal symmetry. The calculated fatigue stress of all MSW loadings with their mean fatigue limits was 230-270 MPa.