Collected and Compiled by Susanta Behera: July 2018

FATIGUE, CREEP AND FRACTURE

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Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)
The aim of this course is to develop an understanding on the mechanics of fatigue, creep and
fracture of engineering materials and structures under static and/or dynamic loading. This
understanding is essential for the assessment of integrity and durability of structures and structural
components in the presence of structural defects, so as to ensure reliability and safety. On
successful completion of this course, students must be able to:

1. Have a solid foundation in the theory, concepts and principles of fatigue, creep and
fracture mechanics,
2. Gain the physical intuition necessary idealize a complicated practical problem
3. Apply basic concepts of fracture mechanics to predict fracture.
4. Understand basic techniques used to predict and control fatigue.
5. Learn about basic mechanisms behind creep and how to model and control creep.
6. Analyze various situations involving structural members subjected to reversing/constant
loads or initial crack defects; and
7. Be able to work independently and as part of a team in order to implement their skills and
knowledge in both theoretical and practical applications

Disclaimer
This material is prepared for non-commercial, personal and academic purposes for the under graduate B. Tech.
students of PMEC, Berhampur, Odisha. As many portions of this course material are reproduced without alteration
of the content from different sources which included text books, reference books and internet, the complete citation is
provided in the last page of this course material. I, as the course instructor, only collected and compiled the content
with some modifications at places.

Dr. Susanta Behera

Course instructor
 Collected and Compiled by Susanta Behera: July 2018

Module II
Fatigue
1. IMPROVEMENT OF FATIGUE STRENGTH BY CHEMICAL OR
METALLURGICAL PROCESSES
Manufacturing procedures used in forming parts induce a wide variety of microstructure,
surface finish, and residual stress. Many of these manufacturing procedures involve thermal
processes such as casting, forging, hot-rolling, extrusion, injection molding, welding, brazing,
quench and tempering, temper stress relief, flame or induction hardening, carburizing, and
nitriding. Residual stresses from these thermal processes may be beneficial or detrimental.
Thermal processes are perhaps the oldest means of improving the fatigue resistance of
components. Surface hardening of steel is the chief example. If it is properly done, it leaves
components with a surface skin (case) that is hard and in compression. The compressive
residual stress can reach the yield strength of the hardened skin; it very effectively prevents the
formation and growth of cracks and thus permits us to realize the gain in fatigue strength that
we would expect from the increased hardness. Surface hardening can be accomplished by
induction hardening, carburizing, nitriding, severe quenching of carbon steel, or similar
methods. [3, p252]

Nitriding: Nitriding (N) and nitrocarburizing (NC) are thermochemical treatments that diffuse
nitrogen and carbon into the surface of metals. Nitriding is used on ferrous, titanium,
aluminum, and molybdenum alloys, and most commonly on low-carbon, low-alloy steels.
Nitrocarburizing is only used on ferrous alloys. They improve surface properties of metal
components and tools such as scuff and corrosion resistance, and increase the fatigue strength.
Nitriding is a lengthy process and, depending on the case depth requirements, may take 4 to 60
hours or more. Nitrocarburizing is much quicker and takes 0.5 to 6 hours. The number of parts
(mass of the load) processed may affect how long it takes the furnace to get up to the required
temperature but does not affect nitriding/soaking time. Surface-dependent properties of
components, such as their bending and torsional and rolling contact fatigue resistance are
increased. Many of the surface improvements stem from increased compressive stresses. These
are due to an increase in the specific volume of steel at the surface from the nitrogen diffusion.
Nitriding can be treated as a final operation in most situations. Post-nitriding polishing is
applied if a super-low surface roughness is required. Nitriding does not change part weight,
but they may grow a little—about 0.001-0.005 mm on a diameter of about 50 to 80 mm. Growth
is predictable and repeatable. [12]

Flame hardening: This process consists of hardening the surface of an object by heating it
above the transformation temperature using a high intensity flame from a specially designed
burner. Directly after the induction heating process, the object has to be quenched, meaning
that it has the be cooled down extremely quickly. To do that, the workpiece is typically placed
 Collected and Compiled by Susanta Behera: July 2018

in a tank of oil or water, although sometimes cold air is used. Quenching ensures that only the
surface is hardened and that heat doesn’t spread into the core of the material, avoiding phase
transformations from arising. Furthermore, the rapid cooling down creates a martensitic or
ferritic-martensitic structure on the surface layer. These structure display higher tensile
strength and low initial yielding stress than a purely ferritic structure. Quenching also reduced
grain size which is a key factor to increasing hardness of materials. The depth of hardened
layer can range from 1 to 10 mm. [13,14,15]

Case carburizing: Case carburisation followed by quench hardening is a process which is well
documented and has occupied a leadership role in surface hardening technology for decades.
It is still the major surface hardening treatment with wide application in the gear industry and
automotive components manufacturing. A tough core and a hard case are the desired attributes
of case-hardened steel components. This combination of properties provides wear resistance
and fatigue strength at the surface, and impact strength in the core. It is achieved by carburizing
the component’s surface, then quenching and tempering the part. Carburized components
include gears of all kind, camshafts, universal joints, driving pinions, link components, axles
and arbours. All these components must resist wear and fatigue, have inherent toughness, and
still be machinable. Improvements in fatigue properties similar to those caused by carburizing
and nitriding may also be produced by flame hardening and induction hardening. It is a general
characteristic of fatigue in surface-hardened parts that the failure initiates at the interface
between the hard case and the softer case, rather than at the surface. [14,16]

2. FATIGUE STRENGTH ENHANCEMENT BY MECHANICAL WORK

Mechanical methods of inducing residual stresses rely on applying external loads that produce
localized inelastic deformation. Upon removal of the external loading, elastic “springback”
occurs that produces both tensile and compressive residual stresses. Both tensile and
compressive residual stresses must be present in order to satisfy all equations of internal force
and moment equilibrium, i.e., ∑ 𝐹 = ∑ 𝑀 = 0

Shot-peening and surface cold-rolling are the two most common mechanical methods for
introducing surface compressive residual stresses. They can increase fatigue limits by more
than a factor of 2, particularly in notched parts. Machining operations most often introduce
surface tensile residual stresses and hence decrease fatigue resistance. Many of the operations
that introduce undesirable surface tensile residual stresses, such as chrome plating or
machining, can have the detrimental aspects reduced or eliminated by additional beneficial
treatments such as shot-peening, cold-rolling, and others.

Shot-peening has been used successfully with steels including stainless and maraging steels,
ductile iron, and aluminum, titanium, and nickel base alloys. Small balls (shot) that range from
0.18 to 3.35 mm (0.007 to 0.132 in.) with 14 different size specifications [S] are thrown or shot
at high velocities against the work pieces. They produce surface dimples and would produce
considerable plastic stretching of the skin of the part if this were not restrained by the elastic
core. Compressive stresses are thus produced in the skin. The depth of the compressive layer
 Collected and Compiled by Susanta Behera: July 2018

and the roughness of the dimpled surface are determined by the material of the work piece and
by the intensity of peening, which depends on shot size, material, velocity or flow rate of the
shot, and time of exposure. The magnitude of the compressive residual stress depends mainly
on the material of the work piece. Other mechanical processes that achieve improvement of
fatigue strength by compressive residual stresses include coining around holes, expansion of
holes, and hammer-peening of welds. [3]

3. EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT ON FATIGUE

Corrosion Fatigue:

References
1. George E. Dieter, Mechanical Metallurgy, - Mc Graw Hill, NY, 1988
2. Joseph Marin, Mechanical Behaviour of Engineering Materials, Prentice Hall of
India, 1966
3. Stephens, R.I. and Fuchs, H.O., Metal Fatigue in Engineering. ,- Wiley, NY 2001
4. Finnie, I. and Heller, W.R., Creep of Engineering Materials, - Mc Graw Hill Book
Co., 1959
5. Prasant Kumar, Fracture Mechanics
6. L.S. Srinath, Advanced Mechanics of Materials, - Tata Mc Graw Hill Ltd., ND, 2009.
7. Norman E, Dowling, Mechanical Behaviour of Materials, - Prentice Hall, NJ, 1999.
8. Lessells, J.M., strength and resistance of materials, - John wiley & sons, 1954
9. Peterson, R.E., Stress Concentration Design Factors,- John Wiley & Sons, 1953
10. Meguid, S.A., Fracture Mechanics,- John Wiley & Sons, 1996
11. Kare Hellan, Introduction to Fracture Mechanics, - Mc Graw Hill Book Co., 1985
12. https://www.machinedesign.com/materials/benefits-nitriding-and-nitrocarburizing
13. https://bortec.de/en/blog/induction-hardening/
14. https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=2199
15. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/flame-hardening
16. https://www.imoa.info/molybdenum-uses/molybdenum-grade-alloy-steels-irons/case-
hardening-steel.php