Lab Session 8

To develop and understanding about fatigue and to draw S-N curve for the given
specimen:

I. Steel

Theory:
Fatigue:

In materials science, when a material fails at stresses below the yield point, fatigue is structural
damage that occurs when a material is subjected to cyclic loading.
How fatigue occurs:
When you apply cyclic load on the material, material cracks microscopically and as you
keep on cycling, the crack begins to propagate in a stable manner and when a limit is reached there
will be unstable crack propagation (more like a brittle fracture) and material fails.
Characteristics of fatigue:
Fatigue life is influenced by a variety of factors, such as temperature, surface finish,
microstructure, presence of oxidizing or inert chemicals, residual stresses, etc.

Failure of a material due to fatigue

Failure may be viewed on a microscopic level in three steps:

1) Crack Initiation: The initial crack occurs in this stage. The crack may be Caused by surface
scratches caused by handling, or tooling of the material threads ( as in a screw or bolt)
2) Crack Propagation: The crack continues to grow during this stage as a result of continuously
applied stresses
3) Failure: Failure occurs when the material that has not been affected by the crack cannot withstand
the applied stress. This stage happens very quickly.
What is S-N curve?

The S-N curve is very useful way to visualize time to failure for a specific material . The "S-N"
means stress verse cycles to failure.
S-N curve properties:

I. S – N curve is concerned chiefly with fatigue failure at high number of cycles

(N>105 cycle) high cycle fatigue (HCF).
II. N<104 or 105 cycles low cycle fatigue (LCF).
III. N increases with decreasing stress level.
IV. Fatigue limit is normally defined at 106 or 108 cycles. Below this limit, the material
presumably can endure an infinite number of cycles before failure.

Cyclic Stresses

The following parameters are utilized to identify fluctuating stress cycles:

s +s
max min

σm =
Mean Stress (σm): 2
σ =σ -σ
Stress Range (σr): r max min
s −s
max min
Stress Amplitude (σa): σa =
2
s
min

Stress Ratio (R): R= s max

Tensile stresses are normally considered positive and compressive stresses are considered negative.
Experimental Section:
Requirements for the experiment
a) Specimen with the correct design
b) Vernier calipers
c) Dead weight as load
d) Wrench for tightening the bolt of specimen holder

Apparatus Diagram:

Procedure:
1. Adjust the spring balance so that the load application assembly is hung freely on the spring
balance.
2. Lift the load application bearing and insert the specimen into the bearing, then insert the
large end into the specimen grip and tighten the grip with wrench.
3. Apply the desired load by tightening the load adjusting screw.
4. Set the revolution counter to read “0” by pressing the reset button.
5. There are two coil spring around the columns to protect the spring balance when specimen
fails. Free the set screws above the coil springs on the columns.
6. Reset the set screw on the columns such that the coil spring is not compressed.
7. Turn on the motor by pressing the green button.
8. When specimen fails, record the number of revolution from the speed/counter indicator.
9. Test should begin at a high load such as 30kg in order to know the specimen fatigue
strength the gradually reduce the load.
Table:
Sr. # Load (N) Stress (N/mm2) No. of cycle (N)
1 294.15 61.49 1981
2 196.1 60.99 10861
3 176.49 36.89 19065
4 166.685 39.89 49327

Graph: