4-74 API Recommended Practice 571

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4.2.16 Mechanical Fatigue
4.2.16.1 Description of Damage
a) Fatigue cracking is a mechanical form of degradation that occurs when a component is exposed to
cyclical stresses for an extended period, often resulting in sudden, unexpected failure.
b) These stresses can arise from either mechanical loading or thermal cycling and are typically well
below the yield strength of the material.
4.2.16.2 Affected Materials
All engineering alloys are subject to fatigue cracking although the stress levels and number of cycles
necessary to cause failure vary by material.
4.2.16.3 Critical Factors
Geometry, stress level, number of cycles, and material properties (strength, hardness, microstructure) are
the predominant factors in determining the fatigue resistance of a component.
a) Design: Fatigue cracks usually initiate on the surface at notches or stress raisers under cyclic
loading. For this reason, design of a component is the most important factor in determining a
components resistance to fatigue cracking. Several common surface features can lead to the
initiation of fatigue cracks as they can act as stress concentrations. Some of these common features
are:
1) Mechanical notches (sharp corners or groves);
2) Key holes on drive shafts of rotating equipment;
3) Weld joint, flaws and/or mismatches;
4) Quench nozzle areas;
5) Tool markings;
6) Grinding marks;
7) Lips on drilled holes;
8) Thread root notches;
9) Corrosion.
b) Metallurgical Issues and Microstructure
1) For some materials such as titanium, carbon steel and low alloy steel, the number of cycles to
fatigue fracture decreases with stress amplitude until an endurance limit reached. Below this
stress endurance limit, fatigue cracking will not occur, regardless of the number of cycles.
2) For alloys with endurance limits, there is a correlation between Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS)
and the minimum stress amplitude necessary to initiate fatigue cracking. The ratio of endurance
limit over UTS is typically between 0.4 and 0.5. Materials like austenitic stainless steels and
aluminum that do not have an endurance limit will have a fatigue limit defined by the number of
cycles at a given stress amplitude.
3) Inclusions found in metal can have an accelerating effect on fatigue cracking. This is of
importance when dealing with older, dirty steels or weldments, as these often have inclusions
and discontinuities that can degrade fatigue resistance.
4) Heat treatment can have a significant effect on the toughness and hence fatigue resistance of a
metal. In general, finer grained microstructures tend to perform better than coarse grained.
Heat treatments such as quenching and tempering, can improve fatigue resistance of carbon
and low alloy steels.
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