Research into Applicability of Wöhler Curve Method for Low-Cycle Fatigue of Metallic Materials

Recently,a description on a practicability of the Wöhler Curve Method for low-cycle fatigue of metals was given by the author.By the description and the low cycle fatigue test data of 16 MnR steel,it is important to show that,for low cycle fatigue of metals,such a way that a stress-based intensity parameter calculated by the linear-elastic analysis is taken to be a stress intensity parameter,S,to establish a relationship between the stress intensity parameter,S,and the fatigue life,N,is practicable.In this paper,many metallic materials from the literature are given to show that the Wöhler Curve Method is well suitable for low-cycle fatigue analysis of metals.

INFLUENCE OF DWELL TIME ON HIGH TEM-PERATURE LOW CYCLE FATIGUE (HTLCF) BEHAVIOR IN AN Nd-BEARING NEAR-α TITANIUM ALLOY

The influences of strain amplitude ranges and dwell time at peak strains on the low cycle fatigue (LCF) properties at 600℃ of a new near α high temperature titanium alloy containing rare earth Nd are investigated. The creep fatigue interaction behavior is discussed in this paper in terms of a creep fatigue interaction cumulative law and fatigue crack propagation model. The results show that the creep fatigue interaction is largely dependent on the strain amplitude range, and the tensile dwell periods, as well as compressive dwell periods, have a great influence on the LCF life of this alloy.

INVESTIGATION OF LOW CYCLE FATIGUE BEHAVIOROF BUILDING STRUCTURAL STEELS UNDEREARTHQUAKE LOADING

Based on the failure model of building structural steels under earthquake loading, the low cycle fatigue test at constant strain, the stochastical fatigue test under real earthquake load spectrum and the structural fatigue test are carried out. The experimental results show that microalloying of V Ti and Nb can improve the anti-seismic propersties of steel bars. In the high strain and shori life range, both the static strength and ductility of steels are very important to increasing the low cycle fatigue resistance of steels.

Effects of recrystallization on the low cycle fatigue behavior of directionally solidified superalloy DZ40M

The effects of recrystallization on low cycle fatigue behavior were investigated on directionally solidified Co-base superalloy DZ40M. Optical microscopy and SEM were used to examine the microstructure and fracture surface of the specimens. The mechanical testing results demonstrated that the low cycle fatigue property of DZ40M significantly decreased with the partial recrystallization. Fatigue cracks initiate near the carbides and the grain boundaries with slip-bands. Both the fatigue crack initiation and propagation can be accelerated with the occurrences of recrystallized grain boundaries.

Microstructure Variation and Hardness Diminution During Low Cycle Fatigue of 55NiCrMoV7 Steel

The influence of temperature and hardness level on the cyclic behavior of 55NiCrMoV7 steel, and the mierostrueture variation and hardness diminution during low cycle fatigue behavior were investigated. By means of SEM and XRD, the modality of carbides and the full width half-maximum （FWHM） of martensite （211） [M（211）] of Xray diffraction spectrum in fatigue specimen were studied. The results showed that the cyclic stress response behav ior generally showed an initial exponential softening for the first few cycles, followed by a gradual softening without cyclic softening saturation. The fatigue behavior of the steel is closely related to the hardness level. The hardness diminution and the variation of half-width M（211） are remarkably influenced by the interaction between the cyclic plastic deformation and the thermal loading when the fatigue temperature exceeds the tempering temperature of the steel.

TEMPERATURE EFFECT ON LOW-CYCLE FATIGUE BEHAVIOR OF NICKEL-BASED SINGLE CRYSTALLINE SUPERALLOY

The low-cycle fatigue （LCF） behavior of a nickel-based single crystal superalloy with [001] orientation was studied at an intermediate temperature of T0℃ and a higher temperature of To ＋ 250℃ under a constant low strain rate of 10^-3 s^-1 in ambient atmosphere. The superalloy exhibited cyclic tension-compression asymmetry which is dependent on the temperature and applied strain amplitude. Analysis on the fracture surfaces showed that the surface and subsurface casting micropores were the major crack initiation sites. Interior Ta-rich carbides were frequently observed in all specimens. Two distinct types of fracture were suggested by fractogaphy. One type was characterized by Mode-I cracking with a microscopically rough surface at To ＋ 250℃. Whereas the other type at lower temperature T0℃ favored either one or several of the octahedral {111} planes, in contrast to the normal Mode-I growth mode typically observed at low loading frequencies （several Hz）. The failure mechanisms for two cracking modes are shearing of γ＇ precipitates together with the matrix at T0℃ and cracking confined in the matrix and the γ/γ＇interface at To - 250℃.

Low cycle fatigue behavior of the extruded AZ80 magnesium alloy under different strain amplitudes and strain rates

Low cycle fatigue behavior of extruded AZ80 magnesium alloy was investigated under uniaxial tension-compression at different strain amplitudes and strain rates.The results show that the extruded AZ80 magnesium alloy exhibits cyclic hardening at strain amplitudes ranging from 0.4%to 1.0%,the asymmetry of hysteresis loops becomes increasingly obvious when the strain amplitude increases.Higher strain rates correspond to higher stress amplitudes,high mean stresses and short fatigue life.{10–12}extension twins play a role in the cyclic deformation under higher strain amplitudes(0.8%,1.0%).The relationship between total strain energy density and fatigue life can be described by the modified Morrow model.The effect of strain rate on the fatigue life can also be predicted by the model.

HIGH-TEMPERATURE LOW-CYCLE FATIGUE BEHAVIOR OF NICKEL-BASED SUPERALLOY GH4049

The cyclic stress response and lowcycle fatigue life for wrought nickelbased superalloy GH4049 were investigated in the temperature range from 500 to 800 The relationship between the strain amplitude and the number of stress reversals was given. The behavior of cyclic hardening was observed for higher strain amplitudes at all testing temperatures and the lowcycle fatigue life generally decreased with increasing testing temperature for the same strain range. In addition, fracture surfaces of the fatigued samples were examined by using a scanning electron microscope.

Low Cycle Fatigue and Strengthening Mechanism of Cold Extruded Large Diameter Internal Thread of Q460 Steel

large diameter internal thread of high-strength steel（LDITHSS） manufactured by traditional methods always has the problems of low accuracy and short life. Compared with traditional methods, the cold extrusion process is an effective means to realize higher accuracy and longer life. The low-cycle fatigue properties of LDITHSS are obtained by experiments, and the initiation and propagation of fatigue cracks are observed by scanning electron microscope（SEM）. Based on the mechanical properties, surface microstructure and residual stress, the strengthening mechanism of cold extruded large diameter internal thread（LDIT） is discussed. The results show that new grains or sub-grains can be formed on the surface of LDIT due to grain segmentation and grain refinement during cold extrusion. The fibrous structures appear as elongated and streamlined along the normal direction of the tooth surface which leads to residual compressive stress on the extruded surface. The maximum tension stress of LDIT after cold extrusion is found to be 192.55 k N. Under low stress cycling, the yield stress on thread increases, the propagation rate of crack reduces, the fatigue life is thus improved significantly with decreasing surface grain diameter and the average fatigue life increases to 45.539×10~3 cycle when the maximum applied load decreases to 120 k N. The low cycle fatigue and strengthening mechanism of cold extruded LDIT revealed by this research has significant importance to promote application of internal thread by cold extrusion processing.

RELIABILITY ANALYSIS FOR AN AERO ENGINE TURBINE DISK UNDER LOW CYCLE FATIGUE CONDITION

Reliability analysis methods based on the linear damage accumulation law (LDAL) and load-life interference model are studied in this paper. According to the equal probability rule, the equivalent loads are derived, and the reliability analysis method based on load-life interference model and recurrence formula is constructed. In conjunction with finite element analysis (FEA) program, the reliability of an aero engine turbine disk under low cycle fatigue (LCF) condition has been analyzed. The results show the turbine disk is safety and the above reliability analysis methods are feasible.

Effects of Hydrogen on Behaviour of Low Cycle Fatigue of 2.25Cr-1Mo Steel

The effects of hydrogen atoms on behaviour of low cycle fatigue of 2.25Cr-1Mo steel have been investigated in present work. The results indicate that the cyclic softening rate and low cycle fatigue life are respectively increased and reduced remarkably by hydrogen atoms. In addition, hydrogen atoms make the original stress amplitude of low cycle fatigue increase, which is because of the drag effect of hydrogen atoms on the moving dislocations. Analyses using electron microscopy show that hydrogen atoms accelerate crack initiation of low cycle fatigue from inclusion and transfer the source of low cycle fatigue crack from the surface of specimen to the inclusion, which results in the marked decrease of low cycle fatigue life. The increase of cyclic softening rate for hydrogen charged specimen is due to hydrogen atoms accelerating the initiating and growing of microvoids from the secondary phase particles in the steel. The reducing of the drag effect of hydrogen atoms on moving dislocations is also helpful to the increase of the cyclic softening rate.

EFFECT OF DYNAMIC STRAIN AGING ON LOW CYCLE FATIGUE BEHAVIOUR OF 18-8 AUSTENITIC STAINLESS STEEL

Studies were made of the symmetric tensile-compressive low cycle fatigue behaviour and the influence of dynamic strain aging(DSA)pre-treatment of 18-8 austenitic stainless steel. Within the testing amplitude range of strain.±0.5 % to±1.5 %,the three processes of cyclic hardening,cyclic saturation and cyclic softening were observed.In the same amplitude of strain,the peak stress of the samples pre-treated by DSA is higher than that of solid-solu- tion and cold working pre-treatment,but no remarkable differences of the fatigue lives of them were found.TEM observation shows that the uniform and stable dislocation networks with high density form after DSA pre-treatment,which increases the cyclic peak stress.The cyclic softening results from the low dislocation density and elongated cell structure with low energy.

Low cycle fatigue behavior of die cast Mg-Al-Mn-Ce magnesium alloy

Fatigue failure is a main failure mode for magnesium and other alloys. It is beneficial for fatigue design and fatigue life improvement to investigate the low cycle fatigue behavior of magnesium alloys. In order to investigate the low cycle fatigue behavior of die cast Mg-Al-Mn-Ce magnesium alloy, the strain controlled fatigue experiments were performed at room temperature and fatigue fracture surfaces of specimens were observed with scanning election microscopy for the alloys under die-cast and aged states. Cyclic stress response curves, strain amplitude versus reversals to failure curve, total strain amplitude versus fatigue life curves and cyclic stress-strain curves of Mg-Al-Mn-Ce alloys were analyzed. The results show that the Mg-Al-Mn-Ce alloys under die-cast(F) and aged(T5) states exhibit cyclic strain hardening under the applied total strain amplitudes, and aging treatment could greatly increase the cyclic stress amplitudes of die cast Mg-Al-Mn-Ce alloys. The relationships between the plastic strain amplitude, the elastic strain amplitude and reversals to failure of Mg-Al-Mn-Ce magnesium alloy under different treatment states could be described by Coffin-Manson and Basquin equations, respectively. Observations on the fatigue fracture surface of specimens reveal that the fatigue cracks initiate on the surface of specimens and propagate transgranularly.

Low-cycle Fatigue Properties of an Ultrafine-grained Magnesium Alloy Processed by Equal-channel Angular Pressing

Magnesium alloy Mg-3%Al-1%Zn （AZ31） billets prepared from equal channel angular pressing （ECAP） were utilized in low-cycle fatigue tests in order to investigate their fatigue life. Fully reversed strain-controlled tension-compression fatigue tests were conducted at the frequency of 1 Hz in ambient air. The microstructures were examined by optical microscopy （OM） and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. The hysteresis loops of the ECAP processed and conventionally extruded samples display obviously different shapes in the total strain amplitude range from 0.2% to 0.6%. Accordingly, the low cycle fatigue lives of ECAP processed samples are found to be longer than those of extruded samples, which can be attributed to the different in the hysteresis energy incorporating tensile strain energy.

LOW CYCLE FATIGUE IN TITANIUM ALUMINIUM FORMED BY CENTRIFUGAL SPRAY DEPOSITION

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HIGH-TEMPERATURE LOW CYCLE FATIGUE BEHAVIOR OF NICKEL BASE SUPERALLOY GH536

Low cycle fatigue tests on nickel base superalloy GH536 were performed at 600, 700 and 800℃. The strain-life and cyclic stress-strain relationship were given at various temperatures. The change in fatigue life behavior and fatigue parameters with tem- perature increasing was discussed. At low and intermediate total strain amplitudes, the fatigue life was found to decrease with increasing temperature.

Low cycle fatigue properties and cyclic deformation behavior of as-extruded AZ31 magnesium alloy

The low cycle fatigue(LCF)properties of as-extruded AZ31 Mg alloy were investigated under total strain amplitudes in the range of 0.4%-1.2%with strain rate of 1×10- 2s -1.Due to the twinning effect in compression during loading and the detwinning effect during unloading,the alloy showed an asymmetric hysteresis loop.The cyclic stress response exhibited cyclic hardening at high total strain amplitudes.The cyclic deformation behaviors were discussed using the Coffin-Manson plot,which divided the plastic strain amplitudes into the tension side and the compression side.Through the LCF tests that were started from either tension or compression under a total strain amplitude of 1.0%,the interaction between the twinning effect and dislocation was analyzed.The twinning effect during the LCF test and the variation of the dislocation density were investigated using optical microscopy and transmission electron microscopy,respectively.

Low Cycle Fatigue Life Estimation and Tracking for Industrial Gas Turbine Blades Using Fatigue Factor Approach

Low cycle fatigue life consumption analysis was carried out in this work. Fatigue cycles accumulation method suitable even if engine is not often shut down was applied together with the modified universal sloped method for estimating fatigue cycles to failure. Damage summation rule was applied to estimate the fatigue damage accumulated over a given period of engine operation. The concept of fatigue factor which indicates how well engine is operated was introduced to make engine life tracking feasible. The developed fatigue life tracking method was incorporated in PYTHIA, Cranfield University in-house software and applied to 8 months of engine operation. The results obtained are similar to those of real engine operation. At a set power level, fatigue life decreases with increase in ambient temperature with the magnitude of decrease greater at higher power levels. The fatigue life tracking methodology developed could serve as a useful tool to engine operators.

PROBABILISTIC METHODOLOGY OF LOW CYCLE FATIGUE ANALYSIS

The cyclic stress-strain responses (CSSR), Neuber's rule (NR) and cyclic strain-life relation (CSLR) are treated as probabilistic curves in local stress and strain method of low cycle fatigue analysis. The randomness of loading and the theory of fatigue damage accumulation (TOFDA) are considered. The probabilistic analysis of local stress, local strain and fatigue life are constructed based on the first-order Taylor's series expansions. Through this method proposed fatigue reliability analysis can be accomplished.

Effect of Reinforcement Clustering on Crack Initiation Mechanism in a Cast Hybrid Metal Matrix Composite during Low Cycle Fatigue

The reinforcement distribution of metal matrix composites (MMCs) plays an important role in low cycle fatigue. Thus, it is essential to study the effect of reinforcement clustering on the crack initiation mechanism of MMCs. In this study, the effect of reinforcement clustering on the microcrack initiation mechanism in a cast hybrid MMC reinforced with SiC particles and Al2O3 whiskers was investigated experimentally and numerically. Experimental results showed that microcracks always initiated in the particle-matrix interface, located in the cluster of the reinforcements. The interface debonding occurred in the fracture which created additional secondary microcracks due to continued fatigue cycling. The microcrack coalesced with other nearby microcracks caused the final fracture. To validate the experimental results on the microcrack initiation, three dimensional unit cell models using finite element method (FEM) were developed. The stress distribution in both the reinforcement clustering and non-clustering regions was analyzed. The numerical analysis showed that high stresses were developed on the reinforcements located in the clustering region and stress concentration occurred on the particle-matrix interface. The high volume fraction reinforced hybrid clustering region experienced greater stresses than that of the SiC particulate reinforced clustering region and low volume fraction reinforced hybrid clustering region. Besides, the stresses developed on the non-clustering region with particle-whisker series orientation were reasonably higher than that of the non-clustering region with particle-whisker parallel orientation. The high volume fraction reinforced hybrid clustering region is found to be highly vulnerable to initiate crack in cast hybrid MMC during low cycle fatigue.