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The Journal of Strain Analysis for Engineering

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Low cycle fatigue of steels under biaxial straining


K J Pascoe and J W R de Villiers
The Journal of Strain Analysis for Engineering Design 1967 2: 117
DOI: 10.1243/03093247V022117

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LOW CYCLE FATIGUE OF STEELS
UNDER BIAXIAL STRAINING

K. J. PASCOE Engineering Laboratory, Cambridge University


J . W . R. de VlLLIERS Stellenbosch University*

A cruciform test specimen and a loading rig are described, by which any combination of biaxial strains can be
applied to a specimen. With the pressurizing equipment so far available, three states of strains have been
investigated for two steels. In the mild steel used, large inclusions oriented in the roll direction aided fracture
propagation when a maximum shear plane coincided with the roll direction. When not influenced by inclusions,
fatigue life is related to total strain range by Coffin’s law
<Nu = C
The values of a and C are different for different states of strains. Empirical formulae are given to predict
results for other states of strains.

INTRODUCTION not conflict with a Coffin law relationship over a limited


IN THE LAST F E W YEARS, there has been an increased range of lives.
interest in low-cycle fatigue, by which is understood For a structure or component thereof which is subject
fatigue failure of materials in lifetimes of less than lo5 to more than one loading during its life, but is not ex-
cycles. The stresses required are usually above the initial pected to have a long life, and particularly where weight-
yield strength of the metal and this, associated with the saving in important, the results of low-cycle fatigue tests
Bauschinger effect, means that plastic deformation is in- are needed in design. However, the stress system is usually
volved at every stress reversal. It has been found most not simply uniaxial and the chance of failure may be
convenient to relate the life under such conditions to the greatest where the stress system is complex. Hence the
strain range, rather than to the stress range, the relation- designer also needs to know something of fatigue behaviour
ship following the Coffin law under such complex stressing.
EN‘ = C Various workers have investigated fatigue life for certain
conditions of biaxial stressing or straining, and again the
where E = strain range, N = cycles to failure, and a: and
results have usually been given in terms of the strain
C are constants. ranges imposed. The type of loading is conveniently
For simple uniaxial specimens, Coffin ( ~ found) t that a
+
value of for the exponent cc fitted the results for most described by the state of strains at the surface where
fatigue cracking starts. If el and c2 are the ranges of the
metals when the plastic strain range cp was considered.
Other workers ( 2 ) (3) (4) have found that higher values of principal strains in the plane of the surface and q, is the
strain range in the direction perpendicular to the surface,
a: were applicable, but that a value of 0.5 was appropriate
then the state of strains is expressed as (el, c2, c3). For
when the total strain range ct was considered.
Manson (5) (6) has investigated the strain range-cycles uniaxial loading of a specimen with axial symmetry,
€ 2 = €3 = - y e 1 , where v is Poisson’s ratio in the elastic
to failure relationship for a large number of metals for
lives in the range 1-lo6 cycles. He found that both the range and has the value 0.5 in the plastic range when
elastic and the plastic components of the total strain range volume remains constant. For the low-cycle uniaxial
separately obeyed Coffin law types of relationship, the tests described above, the state of strains is therefore
(6, -0.56, -0.5~).
plastic component having an average value of 0.6 for the
Various workers (7) (8) (9) examined the bending of wide
exponent a and the elastic component having a much
cantilevers, in which, due to lateral restraint, the surface
smaller value which was in the range 0.06-0.16. For short
strain is almost uniaxial, the state of strains being (c, 0, -6).
lives, the plastic component predominates, while for long
They found for a range of steels and various classes
lives, the elastic component is the dominant factor. On a
of non-ferrous alloys that Coffin’s law was applicable.
logarithmic plot, the total strain-cycles to failure line would
When considered on a basis of total strain range, all the
be curved. Over a more limited range of lives, as examined
in this paper, the portion of the curve could be approxi- materials gave very nearly the same values of cc and C,but
on a basis of plastic strain range there was a large spread
mated within the limits of experimental scatter by a
of values. In the case of the steels, the material which
straight line, i.e. Manson’s results for total strain range do
deviated most from the mean on a basis of total strain
The M S . of this paper was first received at the Institution of range was a very high strength steel, for which two of the
Mechanical Engineers on 1st July 1966 and in its revised form, as three specimens investigated failed at less than loo00
accepted by the Councilfor publication, on 29th September 1966.23
* Formerly at Engineering Laboratory, Cambridge University. cycles with no plastic deformation.
t References are given in the Appendix. Tests in torsion, which give a state of strains (c, -6, 0),

JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 2 N O 2 1967 117


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K. J. PASCOE AND J. W. R. DE VILLIERS

have been carried out by Yokobori et al. (10) on mild in the arms and are uniform over a considerable area.
steel and by Halford and Morrow (11) on aluminium, Under fatigue loading, failure always starts at the centre.
brass and steel. Their results are quoted only in terms of This form was arrived at after various static loading
plastic strain range and gave values for a in the range tests with photo-elastic models and steel specimens,
0.50460. Ives et al. (12) have carried out equibiaxial followed by dynamic tests on steel specimens. The first
tests on three different pressure vessel steels by testing form tried had on each side a flat-bottomed recess with a
circular plates bent laterally by hydraulic loading. The conical transition to the full thickness, but was rejected
state of strains was ( E , E , - 2 ~ )and the slope, a, of the log E- because fatigue cracks started at the boundary of the flat
log N curve was 0.3. In all cases it was found that Coffin's area. The spherical recess form was then tried. At first, a
law was obeyed, but the values of a and C varied with the specimen with a larger radius of curvature and a thicker
method of loading.
Ives et al. (12)proposed a method of correlating results
from uniaxial and multiaxial tests on the basis of equiva-
lent strain, assuming that the state of strains satisfied the
assumption of constant volume. The work described in
this paper shows that this is not sufficient and a further

h
term has to be taken into account.
Although a reasonable amount of work has been done
with different states of strain in the low-cycle field, it was
carried out with different types of specimen and on
different testing machines and usually with different - -1in
materials. Hence any comparison between the results is
complicated and attended with a mass of doubts.
In the work described in this paper, a form of specimen
has been developed and a loading rig constructed, by
which a wide range of different states of biaxial stress or .-
strain can be imposed on the same form of specimen so c
c/
0
0
that the behaviour under these different states can be
compared directly, differences in other variables being
eliminated. An attempt has been made to develop para-
meters which define the state of strains and which can be
used to give empirical forecasts of results for untested
states of strains.
SPECIMEN
The form of specimen which was finally adopted is shown +I

in Fig. 1. It is cruciform-shaped with spherical recesses on P


0
both sides of the central region. When pulled on either or 0
both pairs of arms, the stresses at the centre are higher than Fig, 1. Final form of specimen

1000 1 Y

\
\
\

/ DISTANCE FROM SPECIMEN CENTRE - inches


x-cy ON YY
e-El ON XX
@---Ey ON XX
o----E, ON YY

Fig. 2. Strain distribution due to loading in one direction within elastic range

118 JOURNAL O F STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 2 N O 2 1967


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LOW CYCLE FATIGUE OF STEELS UNDER BIAXIAL STRAINING

test section than that shown in Fig. 1 was used. This did THE LOADING FRAME
not give a sufficiently high ratio for stress at the test The specimens were tested in the rig shown diagrammatic-
section compared with that in the arms, so that plastic ally in Fig. 3. Each arm is gripped by serrated jaws clamped
yielding was taking place other than at the central region. in a holder as shown in Fig. 4. Tensile load is transmitted
Hence a thinner section was adopted. Then under very by the jaws and compressive load by the contact where
high biaxial compressive strain buckling occurred. This the specimen bears directly on to the curved surface in the
was overcome by a reduction in the radius of curvature. end of the centre shaft of the jaw assembly. A tubular
Under uniaxial loading in the elastic range, the strain connection piece is screwed to each jaw assembly, passes
distribution along each of the principal axes is as shown in through a well-aligned brass bush in the main frame and
Fig. 2. For loading simultaneously in the directions of is screwed to the piston rod of a double-acting hydraulic
both sets of arms, it was found that, in the elastic range, cylinder. Each of these has cylinders of 5 in internal
the strains could be obtained from the results in Fig. 2 by diameter and a thrust rod and tail rod of 2+ in diameter.
the principle of superposition. Hence the force exerted in either direction is the same for
the same pressure difference between the fluid on the two
sides of the piston. One connecting piece between jaw
A R
assembly and piston rod for each direction has a reduced
section on which electric resistance strain gauges are
fitted and serves as a load cell.
The equipment has been designed for a maximum fluid
pressure of 3000 lbf/in2 which gives a load in each arm of
19.5 tonf.

THE PRESSURIZING EQUIPMENT


Oil under pressure is supplied by means of a variable
delivery C.A.V. fuel injection pump which is submersed
in a tank of oil and is driven by an electric motor. The oil
is supplied to the hydraulic cylinders through a four-way
Flutrol valve, which can switch the pressure from one
pipeline to the other. The pressures in the pipelines are
measured by two Budenberg gauges. Each gauge has an
adjustable electrical contact which, when touched by the
needle, actuates the four-way valve. The gauges thus
control the loads on the specimen, and the contacts can be
set so that the loads vary about zero or a non-zero mean.
By modificationsto the piping, either all four jacks apply
equal tensile loads alternating with equal compressive
loads or one pair apply loads equal but in the opposite
sense to the other pair. Also, by closing valves, only one
pair of cylinders can be used. By use of a pressure trans-
former, unequal loads can be applied to the two pairs of
Fig.3. Diagram of loading rig and pressurizing system. arms.
Piping arrangement is for shear loading An overload relief valve incorporated in the system
provides a certain measure of safety should the four-way
valve fail to operate. Also micro-switches are set to shut
down the electric motor supply if the strain in either
direction exceeds a predetermined limit.
DESCRIPTION OF THE MATERIAL
The tests have been carried out on two types of steel
supplied as plate approximately 4 in thick. One was a mild
steel and the other was a heat-treated steel with a yield
point stress of 45 tonf/in2referred to as Q T 35. The analyses
5 4 '3 '2 1 and tensile properties of these steels are given in Table 1.
It will be seen that there is very little variation of the
mechanical properties for specimens taken in different
directions from the plate.
TESTING PROCEDURE
1 CENTRE SHAFT
2 END PLUG Specimens of the shape shown in Fig. 1 were machined
3 JAW HOLDER
4 CLAMPING JAWS from the material supplied. The majority of the specimens
5 SPECIMEN were made with the arms parallel and perpendicular to the
roll direction and the remainder with the arms at 45" to
the roll direction. The spherical recesses were turned to a
Fig. 4. Jaw gripping arm of specimen fine finish and then polished with 000 emery paper. Two
J O U R N A L OF S T R A l N A N A L Y S I S VOL 2 N O 2 1967 119
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K. J. PASCOE AND J. W. R. DE VILLIERS

1 Si I M n ) P 1 Cu
1
1 S 1 Ni 1 Cr I M o V
Mild steel
QT35
. .I
. . .
0.15
0.115 ~
0.05
0.18 ~
0.64
1.04 ~

_
0.031
0.031
_ _
~

_ ~~~
0.08
0.15
~ ~
1
I
0.032
0.014 ~
0.05
1.04 I
1 0.08
0.84 I < 0.05
0.83 0.05
-

Mechanical properties

Test direction
relative to
I Young's modulus,
Ibf/in2
Poisson's ratio ' Yield stress,
Ibf/inz
Ultimate tensile
stress,
roll direction 1
Mild steel Parallel 28.9x lo6 0.265 37 000 60 000
Perpendicular 27.9 0.265 38 000 59 900
45" 293 0.266 37 500 59 900
QT 35 Parallel 29.4 0.260 100 000 109 900
Perpendicular ~ 29.8 0.260 100 800 111 500
45" 1 29.4 0.265
~
100 000 110 500

post-yield foil strain gauges were attached to each speci- Failure of the specimen was considered to be the stage
men at the centre of the test section, one on each side and at which the crack has propagated sufficiently for relative
with one parallel to each set of arms. These would thus movement (sliding or opening) between the two sides of
measure the principal strains in the two directions. the surface crack to be observed by means of the micro-
T M L YL-5 gauges were used, which of those tried were scope. Although it entailed a continuous observation of
found to give the longest life under high strain repeated the specimen surface, no difficulty was encountered in
loading conditions. observing the first sign of relative movement. The cracks
The specimen was placed in the loading rig, taking at this stage are referred to as primary cracks and after any
especial care that the axes were in line with the axes of the further spread due to continued fatigue loading are called
loading cylinders. The strain gauges on the specimen and secondary cracks.
those in the load cells were connected to visual display
strain gauge bridges. While it was desired to test the
specimens under constant strain range conditions, this TYPES OF LOADING CONDITION
could not be done directly because the pressure gauge The results required are the variation of life with strain
contacts operate at values which depend upon the fluid range for different ratios of principal strains at the test
pressure and hence on the load. For constant strain limits, section. The strain ratios available with the equipment are
the limits of the load range vary but become fairly steady at present restricted to values determined by the types of
after a few cycles with very little variation thereafter. For loading that can be employed. Three types of loading have
the first ten cycles the pressure was applied slowly, one of been used so far.
the strains in the specimen being monitored. The direction
of loading was changed when the strain value reached each Shear loading
of the prescribed limits. During this time the contacts on Equal and opposite loads are applied in the two loading
the pressure gauges were set to the correct operating directions, so that the principal strains at the centre of and
values and then testing was allowed to proceed automatic- in the plane of the specimen are equal and opposite, i.e. the
ally at a faster rate. At intervals, the strain range was state of strains is (6, -6, 0). This loading condition there-
monitored and the pressure gauge contact settings modi- fore gives pure shear on the planes inclined at 45" to the
fied if necessary. The strain gauges always ceased to fmc- loading directions.
tion at some time during the test and were then removed.
For the remainder of the test the specimen was cycled
between load limits, as registered by the load cells, at the Uniaxial loading
final values recorded before the strain gauge failure. It was The load is applied to one pair of arms only. The stress at
hoped that the strain range would also stay constant, an the centre is not however uniaxial because of the geometry
assumption justifiable from the behaviour of the specimen of the specimen. Under elastic conditions (see Fig. 2) the
up to strain gauge failure. cross strain is -0.525 of the maximum principal strain.
The surfaces of the specimen were observed with a Under plastic deformation, as occurred in all specimens
microscope using a magnificationof x 120 and the number tested to failure, this factor became -0.625 for the mild
of cycles was registered when any surface cracks were steel specimens and - 0 5 4 for the Q T 35 specimens, which
visible. These surface cracks formed very early in the had a higher yield stress. The states of strain are thus
fatigue life of the specimen and could be observed clearly (c, -0.6256, -0.3756) and (6, -0.546, -0.46~) respec-
with a microscope as distinct lines on the surface. tively.

120 JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS V O L 2 NO 2 1967

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LOW CYCLE FATIGUE OF STEELS UNDER BIAXIAL STRAINING

Equibiaxial loading The values of total strain range are plotted against
Equal loads of the same sign are applied in both directions cycles to surface cracking and cycles to failure in Fig. 6.
simultaneously. Hence the principal strains at the centre
are equal and there is no shear strain in the plane of the Mild steel
specimen. However there will be maximum shear on planes It will be seen that the points for shear and uniaxial loading
at 45" to the surface as will be discussed later. The state of in mild steel fall into two groups. The specimens with one
strains is (E, E, -26). of the loading directions parallel to the roll direction give
For the shear loading and equibiaxial loading, the pres- values which fall very close to straight lines, while those
sure range was controlled by monitoring the strain in the with the loading arms at 45" to the loading direction gave
vertical direction. For the uniaxial loading conditions, the shorter lives and a greater scatter. For equibiaxial loading
major principal strain was monitored. The other measured on mild steel, the different roll directions made no dif-
strain was also recorded and sometimes was found to vary ference, the results showing a greater degree of scatter. I n
in the early part of the test. all cases the points agreed with Coffin's law.
For both shear and uniaxial loading, surface cracks
RESULTS O F T E S T S formed early in the life of the specimen (as early as 5 per
In all, 31 specimens of mild steel and 21 specimens of cent of the life for the highest strain ranges employed and
Q T 35 steel have been tested. For each mode of loading, as late as 50 per cent for the lowest). The directions
very consistent results were obtained from different speci- followed by these cracks were independent of any surface
mens for the strain at yield and for the ratio of plastic scratches but were along the directions of maximum shear
strain range to total strain range. strain, i.e. at 45" to the loading arms. They formed a
For straining within the elastic range, there is for each square network (Fig. 7), their density increasing with
state of strains a definite ratio between the mean stresses in number of cycles. Some of these surface cracks propagated
the arms and the principal stresses at the centre of the into the depth of the material to the stage when relative
test section. However, when plastic yielding occurs in the sliding was visible under the microscope, so that the
central region, this is no longer true, there being a redis- primary cracks (criterion of failure) also formed a square
tribution of stress. A higher but unknown proportion of the network. The propagation of these cracks through the
load will be carried by the outer thick ring which surrounds thickness of the material was slow, after which they pro-
the test region and is still elastic. The stresses at the test pagated further along shear planes, occasionally switching
region are then unknown, the only measurable quantity from one principal shear plane to the other, thus forming
being the total strains. a saw-tooth fatigue crack with the ultimate tendency t o
A typical load-strain hysteresis loop is shown in Fig. 5. follow the roll direction of the plate.
It might be inferred that the plastic strain range would be If one of the maximum shear planes coincides with the
given by AB, i.e. assuming that the stress at the test region roll direction, the fatigue life is about one quarter of that
has become zero when the load is zero. However, owing for specimens with the maximum shear planes at 45"to the
to the stiffness of the outer thick ring, this is not neces- roll direction. These shorter lives are due to inclusions
sarily true, so that the plastic strain cannot be determined. which lie in the roll direction. They also exhibit more
Hence only total strain has been considered in this paper. scatter from a straight line on a log r-log N plot, which is

ty 30

/
0 0
I I I
-6000 -4000 // -2000 4000 6000

/
S T R A I N -pin/in
dI '0
mx /
P' .10 .c
-
--- PRINCIPAL STRAIN ( Y Y )
PRINCIPAL STRAIN ( X X )

Fig. 5. Typical load-strain hysteresis loop for shear loading

JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 2 N O 2 1967 121


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K. J. PASCOE AND J. W. R. DE VILLIERS

due to the different positions of inclusions in different For equibiaxial loading, the surface cracks also formed
specimens. early in the fatigue life of the specimen (14-47 per cent),
Some specimens were sectioned and examined micro- but their directions were at random and did not propagate
scopically to establish the depths of the surface and according to a regular pattern. The primary cracks
primary cracks which had been detected by the micro- (Fig. 8) were shorter on the surface than for the other two
scope at x 120 magnification. Surface cracks with depths loading conditions, but propagated faster through the
varying from 0.0008 to 0.002 in were noted and primary thickness of the material. The secondary crack was always
cracks varied from 0.0025 to 0.0045 in depth. Cracks were in the roll direction. As the primary crack may form in any
found on both surfaces of the specimens, showing that the direction, the orientation of the loading arms to the plate
strains on the two surfaces must have been equal. The roll direction has little effect on fatigue life. But the cracks
cracks sometimes followed grain boundaries, but also which lie parallel and adjacent to inclusions are likely to
propagated through grains in a direction almost per- propagate faster. Hence all specimens give points which
pendicular to the specimen surface. lie near a single curve but with considerable scatter.

M I L D STEEL OT 35

NUMBER O F 'CYCLES
SURFACE PRIMARY
CRACKS CRACKS
SPECIMEN ARMS PARALLEL AND PERPENDICULAR TO ROLL DIRECTION - - -f - - +
SPECIMEN ARMS AT 45' TO ROLL DIRECTION ----y--- -0-

Fig. 6. Log €-log N plots for three states of strains


122 JOURNAL OF STRAIN ANALYSIS v o L 2 NO 2 1967
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LOW CYCLE FATIGUE OF STEELS UNDER BIAXIAL STRAINING

x 120
x 120
Fig. 8. Primary cracks in mild steel due to equibiaxial
Fig. 7. Surface cracks in mild steel due to shear loading loading

These again are to be expected if there are no inclusions


If testing was continued beyond the detection of pri-
which influence crack propagation.
mary cracking, then the cracks propagated through the
thickness in a saw-tooth manner (Fig. 9) following the
C O M P A R I S O N OF T H E S T A T E S OF S T R A I N
principal shear planes which are at 45" to the surface.
I n making a comparison between the two steels, the curves
for mild steel which are uninfluenced by the inclusions
QT 35 steel have been used. Then both for shear and for uniaxial
For each of the three types of loading, the points tend to loading the differences in the fatigue curves of life versus
fall on a single line (Fig. 6). There is no evidence of in- total strain for the two steels are negligible. For equibiaxial
clusions shortening the lives of specimens when the plane loading, the curve for mild steel was influenced by the
of maximum shear strain coincides with the roll direction presence of inclusions and so cannnot be compared.
and micrographic examination did in fact show that However, the curve for Q T 35 agrees very well with those
inclusions were small and few relative to those in the mild found by Ives et al. (10)for three different steels. This
steel and were oriented in a random manner. supports the findings of Gross (7) that for one particular
Much higher loads were necessary than for mild steel state of strain a single line can represent a wide range of
to give the same total strain ranges. However, log c-log N materials.
lines for the shear and uniaxial loading almost coincidewith The values of Coffin's law constants derived from the
the corresponding ones for mild steel which were un- plotted points for each case are given in Table 2. The
influenced by inclusions. The line for equibiaxial loading values of C will depend upon the definition of failure.
was higher than the one for mild steel but it is thought Usually, this is taken as complete or extensive fracture,
that it might coincide with one for a mild steel that did which would correspond to longer lives than those
not have large oriented inclusions. necessary to give primary cracking as described here.
Otherwise, the observations were similar to those made Hence values of C from this work could be smaller than
for mild steel, except for the secondary cracks. In shear, those found by other workers.
this was like mild steel, i.e. a saw-tooth crack alternately The curves for the three states of strains are compared
following the principal strain directions (Fig. 10a), but in Fig. 11, from which it will be seen that in the range
in the uniaxial loading test the secondary crack followed 102-104 cycles the equibiaxial loading is the most danger-
the minor principal strain direction (Fig. lob) and in the ous for fatigue failure and shear loading is the least
equibiaxial test followed a random direction (Fig. 1Oc). dangerous.

JOURNAL O F STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 2 N O 2 1967 123


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K. J. PASCOE AND J. W. R. DE VILLIERS

While cracks are initiated on planes of maximum shear and C for all states of strain. The first relates a to the
strain, the life is dependent not only upon the range of equivalent strain ceq which is given by
this maximum shear strain but also upon the state of d2
strains. Empirical rules are suggested to give values of a Eeq 3 1/[(€i-Qd2+(%-%)’ + ( % - E d 2 ]
=-
The ratio E~ of this equivalent strain to the maximum
principal strain parallel to the surface depends only upon
the state of strains
€eq
Cr =-
€1
and is termed the state of strains factor. The slopes of the
fatigue curves for the various states of strain agree closely
with the values calculated from the empirical formula

lo5:

E
1 c
1

I
lo4:
.

\- \
-SHEAR
--- UNIAXIAL
LOADING
LOADING
BlAXlAL LOADING

. .‘
\.‘\\A
( 3 . \
z
Q .
u , 1.
5 ’
[L
\ ‘ ,.\
lI- J .

I
10’

x 120

Fig. 9. Section showing primary crack due to equibiaxial


loading

a Due to shear loading. b Due to uniaxial loading. c Due to equibiaxial loading.


Arrows indicate roll direction.
Fig. 10. Secondary cracks in QT 35 specimens

J O U R N A L O F STRAIN A N A L Y S I S V O L 2 N O 2 1967
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LOW CYCLE FATIGUE OF STEELS UNDER BIAXIAL STRAINING

Type of loading

Uniaxial specimen c1
States of strains

-0.56, -0.56
I 1
Em
2
~
Calculated
-
a

1 Experimental
0.5
I Calculated
0.35
C
Experimental
-
Uniaxial mild steel:
Q, -0,6256, -0.375~ 1.01 2 0.495 1 -

Shear
QT 35:
C, -0.546, -0.46~
E) -E, 0
1.001
1.155
2
2
0.499
0.433
1 0.49
0.43 0.263
0.34

0.26
Equibiaxial El El -2E 2 4 0.25 0.25 0.0437 0.042

rate of propagation of the crack may not depend entirely give the same behaviour in terms of el as for shear loading.
upon shear, but also upon the amount of opening of the This is approximated by the wide cantilever tests of
crack, i.e. tension strain. This may explain the increase of Gross (9) which give good agreement.
fatigue life by hydrostatic pressure, as investigated by However, there is a large region from OA to OC for
Crossland (13), White et al. (14),Burns and Parry (IS) and which no experimental results have been obtained with
Libertiny (16). The hydrostatic pressure has a greater the cruciform specimen. T o investigate states of strain in
effect on torsional fatigue than on push-pull fatigue. The this region, unequal loads must be applied in the two
most dangerous state of strains is equibiaxial loading loading directions. By using a pressure transformer in one
where, in addition to a large equivalent strain, there are line, a constant ratio of loads can be applied. This gives a
also high tensile strains across the cracks. constant ratio of strains in the elastic region, but as soon
As a factor which corresponds to the tensile strains as plastic yielding occurs, the strain ratio changes. In fact,
opening the crack, the sum of the moduli of the three with the cruciform specimen, yielding will occur in the
principal strains is taken, also expressed as a ratio to the direction of the major load and there may even be a change
maximum principal strain parallel to the surface in the sign of the minor principal strain. Hence it will be
=
IE1 I + k 2 l + I4 necessary to use a form of servo control on each loading
Em direction, which regulates the load to give the desired
kll value of strain. Equipment to provide this facility will be
The greater this factor, then the greater would be the obtained.
tendency for the crack to open and spread, so that C In addition to determining the fatigue behaviour for
would be smaller. The empirical formula suggested to
give the C values is

An experimental value of C, was not available, but a


calculated one was determined from the experimental
value of C for uniaxial loading. The calculated and
experimental values of a and C are given in Table 2, from
which it will be seen that excellent agreement is obtained.

RESULTS FOR OTHER STATES O F STRAIN


The factors governing fatigue life can be expressed as the
ranges and mean values of the two principal strains in the
surface. If the ranges are plotted in Cartesian co-ordinates,
then each state of strains is represented by a single line
through the origin as in Fig. 12. The line OA, of slope 1
(el = c2), represents equibiaxial loading and the line OB,
of slope - 1 (el = - c 2 ) , represents shear loading. For
completely reversed strains (R = - l), as was investigated
in this case, all the results can be given on one quadrant
between the lines OA and OB. Using equations (1) and (2)
together with basic values of CI and C as derived earlier,
the fatigue behaviour for any state of strains has been
calculated. The results are shown as contours of equal life
on the plot in Fig. 13.
The experimental results given in this paper confirm
the intercepts of the contours with lines OA, OB and OC. Fig. 12. Representation of fatigue results on -c2 plane.
For plane strain (c2 = 0) loading, the empirical formulae Values of cr and cm are given in parentheses

JOURNAL O F STRAIN ANALYSIS VOL 2 NO 2 1967 125


Downloaded from sdj.sagepub.com at Virginia Tech on October 18, 2014
K. J. PASCOE AND J. W. R. DE VILLIERS
x lo4 shear. The rate of propagation depended not only on the
maximum shear strain range nor only on the total octa-
I
hedral strain range, but also on the tension available to
pi”/’“
open the fatigue crack.
Empirical formulae are proposed to predict the values of
a and C for any state of strains. These formulae can be
used for design purposes if the local strains can be
calculated.
The equibiaxial loading condition is the most dangerous
state for low-cycle fatigue.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work, which was carried out at Cambridge University
Engineering Department, was sponsored by the Naval
Construction Research Establishment. The authors wish
to thank Mr A. E. Thomson and Mt P. R. Christopher of
that Establishment for their interest and helpful discussions.
APPENDIX
REFERENCES
(I) COFFIN,L. F. ‘Low cycle fatigue: A review’, Appl. Mater.
Res. 1962 1 (No. 3), 129.
(2) BENHAM, P. P. and FORD, H. ‘Low endurance fatigue of
mild steel and aluminium alloy’, Jl mech. Engng Sci.
1961 3 (No. 2), 119.
(3) TOPPER, H. T. ‘The behaviour of mild steel under cyclic
loading in the plastic range’, Ph.D. Thesis, Cambridge
University, 1962.
(4) TOMKINS, B. ‘Low cycle fatigue in metals and polymers’,
Ph.D. Thesis, Cambridge University, 1965.
( 5 ) MANSON, S. S. ‘Interfaces between fatigue, creep and frac-
ture’, Znt. J. Fracture Mech. 1966 2 (No. l), 327.
(6) MANSON, S. S . Thermal stress and low cycle fatigue 1966,
Chapter 4 (McGraw-Hill Book Co.).
(7) GROSS, J. H., TSANG, S.and STOUT,R. D. ‘Factors affecting
resistance of pressure vessel steels to repeated over-
loading’, Weld. J. Res. Suppl. 1953 32, 23s.
(8) STOUT,R. D. and PENSE, A. W. ‘Effect of composition and
e‘ microstructure on the low-cycle fatigue strength of
structural steels’, Trans. Am. SOC.mech. Engrs, 3 . bas.
Fig. 13. Contours of equal fatigue life Engng 1965 87D (No. 2), 269.
(9) GROSS, M. R. ‘Low cycle fatigue of materials for submarine
states of strain in the region between OA and OC, work construction’, Research and Development Report,
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Stn, Annapolis, Md.).
ferrous metals do follow the same results. If so, then a (10)YOKOBORI, T., YAMANOUCHI, H. and YAMAMOTO, S. ‘Low
single plot, of the form of Fig. 13, will embrace all cycle fatigue of thin-walled hollow cylindrical specimens
metallic materials and would be the sole information about of mild steel in uniaxial and torsional tests at constant
low-cycle fatigue needed for design purposes. strain amplitude’, Znt.3. Fracture Mech. 1965 1 (No. l), 3.
(11) HALFORD, G. R. and MORROW, J. D. ‘Low-cycle fatigue in
torsion’, Proc. Am. SOC.Test. Mater. 1962 62, 697.
CONCLUSIONS (12) IVES,K. D., KOOISTRA, L. F. and TUCKER, J. T. ‘Equibi-
A cruciform specimen and a loading rig for investigating axial low-cycle fatigue properties of typical pressure-
short-life fatigue under biaxial straining have been vessel steels’, Am. SOC.Mech. Engrs Paper No. 65-MET-
developed. With the pressurizing equipment available, 19, 1965.
(13) CROSSLAND, B. ‘Effect of large hydrostatic pressures on the
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Coffin’s law Fatigue Metals 1956, 138 (Instn Mech. Engrs, London).
eNa = C (14) WHITE, D.J.,CROSSLAND, B. and MORRISON, J. M. L. ‘Effect
of hydrostaticpressure on the direct stress fatigue strength
was found to be valid for each state of strain and for lives of an alloy steel’,Jl mech. Engng Sci. 1959 1 (No. l), 39.
in the range 10a-104cycles. The values of a and C dif- (IS) BURNS, D. J. and PARRY, J. S.C. ‘Effect of large hydrostatic
fered for the different states of strain. The two steels gave pressure on the torsional fatigue strength of two steels’,
Jl mech. Engng Sci. 1964 6 (No. 3), 293.
the same values, except for those cases when inclusions in (16) LIBERTINY, G.Z. ‘The effect of large mean strain on the
the mild steel were effective in shortening the lives. fatigue strength under various hydrostatic pressures’,
Fatigue cracks propagated along the planes of maximum Ph.D. Thesis, University of Bristol, 1963.

126 J O U R N A L OF S T R A I N A N A L Y S I S VOL 2 N O 2 1967

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