1st Draft

Fatigue Resistance of Polymers

Mark lalduhawma

B. tech Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering,

Lovely Professional University, Punjab, Pin- 144001, India

Corresponding Author Contact Information:

Phone: +917085414180
Email: marklalduhawma@gmail.com
Address: School of Chemical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Punjab,
Pin- 144001, India.

ABSTRACT
The general nature of fracture in polymers, when subject to alternating loads as distinct from
static or steadily increasing loads, is reviewed; and the molecular mechanisms and micromechanics
aspects of the fatigue fracture process are discussed. Some attention is given to thermal fatigue, where
fracture results primarily from a large specimen temperature rise due to hysteresis heating. However,
primary emphasis is devoted to mechanical fatigue, in which fracture is a result of initiation and
propagation of a crack, as a result of the periodic nature of the applied load. Attention is given to the
important internal, or material, variables such as polymer structure, molecular weight, crosslinking, and
filler or diluent type and content; and to significant external variables such as stress or stress intensity
factor amplitude, mean stress, temperature, frequency and environment. Various methods that can be
utilized to provide significant degrees of enhancement in the fatigue resistance of polymers are outlined
and discussed.

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1.INTRODUCTION:
In this Report we will be talking about The fatigue resistance of polymer, how the resistance was
formed, whether it was modified or natural.

In recent years, as the use of polymers in engineering applications has risen, an increasing
amount of attention has been devoted to their performance and behaviour under cyclic loading
conditions. Under fluctuating loads polymers will fail at stress levels much lower than they can
withstand under monotonic loading conditions; and, for a given alternating stress amplitude, they will
fail in a time much less than the creep rupture time for a constant applied stress of the same magnitude.
It is therefore of considerable technological interest to improve the resistance of polymers to fatigue
failure. In order to do this, the mechanisms involved in the fatigue failure of polymers must be better
understood. Also knowledge and understanding are needed of the influence of important external or
experimental variables, such as alternating stress amplitude, stress intensity factor range, frequency,
mean stress, temperature, surface condition and environment and of significant material variables, such
as polymer structure, viscoelastic characteristics, molecular weight, molecular weight distribution,
rubber inclusions, fillers or diluents, etc.

In the present paper, we discuss the general nature of fatigue behaviour in solid polymers, review
some of the more recent literature and give attention to both the initiation of a crack and to its
subsequent propagation. The influence of experimental, material and environmental variables on
fatigue performance of polymers is described. Our knowledge of this influence may be used to
significantly improve the resistance of polymers and plastics to failure by fatigue.

Because polymers are viscoelastic and are poor conductors of heat they are much more sensitive to
the frequency of alternating loading than are metals. As a result, under cyclic loading failure may result
from thermal rupture or melting. Our interest here is rather in fatigue fracture induced by crack
initiation and crack propagation as a direct result of the cyclic loading. However, some attention is given
to the problem of thermal fatigue both to delineate the necessary testing conditions, which will depend
on the properties and structure of the polymer being tested, to be used to limit its occurrence and to
outline some of the possible effects on fatigue behaviour of rises in specimen, or crack tip, temperature
as a result of hysteresis losses in each cycle. Fracture under alternating loading usually involves initiation
of a craze or of a damage zone, generally developing from some surface stress concentration site. This is
followed by development of a cavity or micro crack in the plastically deformed region with subsequent
crack propagation under the cyclic loading until some critical crack size is reached at which catastrophic

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fracture occurs. Both the initiation phase and the propagation phase are important even though one or
the other phase may, in a particular situation, be dominant. Inhibiting or delaying crack initiation and/or
strengthening the resistance of the polymer to crack propagation should improve the resistance of the
polymer to fatigue-type fracture. Various illustrations will be presented herein to demonstrate these
possibilities of fatigue property enhancement for both amorphous and crystalline polymers.

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2. FATIGUE:
As the needs for polymers for engineering purposes are increasing,
the fatigue behaviour of polymers is receiving more attentions. Polymer
fatigue life is affected by multiple factors, including temperature,
oxidation, crystallization and so on. Therefore, the need becomes vital
for people to study and predict the mechanical performances of
polymers under different environments. Figure 1 - Hysteresis Stress Strain

Curve

The experimental methods to study polymer fatigue vary, including pure shear test, simple extension
test, single edge crack test and tearing test, among which the most widely used geometry people adopt
is mode I cyclic tension test under pure geometry. This is due to the fact that polymers have viscoelastic
behaviour and poor conductivity of heat, and they are more sensitive to their cyclic loading conditions
than metal. Unlike metals and other materials, polymer do not cyclic harden; rather, polymers perform
cyclic softening for most of the time, and the extent of which usually depends on the loading conditions
of the experimental setup. In a rare case, polymers can also remain cyclically stable under small strain
deformations, during which the polymer remain linearly elastic. However, mode III geometry has also
been applied to test on twisted rubber disks for further understanding of its fracture behaviours.

In reinforced polymers, crack initiation usually occurs at the interface of polymer fibre and the matrix.
Fatigue performances in polymers caused by cyclical loading usually go through two stages: crack
initiation/nucleation and crack growth. Hence, a lot of researcher design experiments to study the
fatigue behaviours of polymers according to these two phases, especially for rubber fatigue.

 Crack Nucleation Approach

The crack nucleation approach considers that polymers will eventually crack under a history of stress
and strains. Study under this proposal is first adapted by Auguest Wöhler in the 1860s, who aimed to
study railroad axles. Two important parameters are involved in this conversation: maximum principal
strain and strain energy density. As strain is easier to be determined by controlling displacements in
actual experimental tests, it is natural to set controlled strain. The alternating and maximum values of
the maximum principle strain decides the nucleation life in polymer, but there is not yet any theory to
quantitatively describe the strain conditions to fatigue life in lab tests. The strain energy density is
defined as the energy invested into the volume unit of polymeric material for deformation, also known

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as the elastic energy per unit volume in the solid. In crack nucleation approach, no crack is introduced
into the sample initially, and crack initiation is observed under loadings.

 Crack Growth Approach

Unlike crack initiation approach, the crack growth approach introduces a pre-existing crack to the
specimen, and calculate for the crack propagation rate under cyclic loadings. Because of the pre-existing
crack, the elastic energy released by fracture will associate with the surface energy at new crack
surfaces, and it was found that the crack propagation rate can be described by a function of the energy
release rate, depending on which regime of crack propagation this relation is in. Four regimes were
proposed: the steady-state regime, the linear regime, the power-law regime and the fourth regime
where crack grows catastrophically. In the power-law regime, the relation is found to be similar to the
Paris law, which was found by Paris et al. in metals.

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3. Fatigue Failure:
The term fatigue refers to the effect of cyclic or intermittent loads. Cyclic loading due to either
oscillating mechanical stress or to alternate heating and cooling, is more detrimental than static loading.
Under cyclic load the crack is initialized as localized sites within the part and these extend in size during
cycling. Ultimately they expand and join to such an extent that the material can no longer hold and
support the stress. Fractures can be characterized by a series of concentric crack growth bands that
grow from the surface initiation site. Cyclic loading can bring about failure in polymer due to: chain
scission, built up heat due to hysteresis, recrystallization of material and cumulative crack generation.

STAGES OF FATIGUE FAILURE

Stage 1- Initiation. Initiation is the most complex stage of fatigue fracture and is the stage most
rigorously studied by researchers. The most significant factor about the initiation stage of fatigue
fracture is that the irreversible changes in the metal are caused by repetitive shear stresses. The
accumulation of micro changes over a large number of load applications, called "cumulative damage,"
has been the subject of study over the years." (Obviously, if this stage can be prevented, there can be no
fatigue fracture.) The initiation site of a given fatigue fracture is very small, never extending for more
than two to five grains around the origin. At the location of a severe stress concentration, the number
depends on the geometry of the part as well as on environmental, stress, metallurgical, and strength
conditions, as will become apparent.

Stage 2 - Propagation. The propagation stage of fatigue causes the micro crack to change direction and
grow perpendicular to the tensile stress. The second, or propagation, stage of fatigue is usually the most
readily identifiable area of a fatigue fracture.

Stage 3 - Final Rupture. As the propagation of the fatigue crack continues, gradually reducing the cross-
sectional area of the part or test specimen, it eventually weakens the part so greatly that final, complete
fracture can occur with only one more load application. The fracture mode may be either ductile (with a
dimpled fracture surface) or brittle (with a cleavage, or perhaps even intergranular, fracture surface) or
any combination thereof, depending upon the metal concerned, the stress level, the environment, etc.
Stage 3 represents the "last straw" that broke the camel's back, to borrow a metaphor.

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Figure 2 – The three stages of fatigue failure

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4. Determining Fatigue Failure by using S-N curve:
Fatigue properties of materials are often described using the fatigue limit or the S-N curve
(fatigue curve, Wöhler curve). The S-N curve describes the relation between cyclic stress amplitude and
number of cycles to failure. The figure below shows a typical S-N curve. On the horizontal axis the
number of cycles to failure is given on logarithmic scale. On the vertical axis (either linear or logarithmic)
the stress amplitude (sometimes the maximum stress) of the cycle is given.
S-N curves are derived from fatigue tests. Tests are performed by applying a cyclic stress with constant
amplitude (CA) on specimens until failure of the specimen. In some cases, the test is stopped after a
very large number of cycles (N>10^6). The results is then interpreted as infinite life.
Fatigue curves are often given for Kt=1 (unnotched specimens). Those curves describe the fatigue
properties of a material. Actual structures are better described with S-N curves for Kt>1 (notched
specimens).

Figure 3 – Representations of Finite and Infinite life

The S-N curve above has some characteristic features which are discussed below.

Fatigue Limit: For some materials (steel and titanium) there is a stress level (lower asymptote in the S-
N curve) below which the material will not fail. This stress level is known as the fatigue limit, endurance
limit or fatigue strength. For materials like aluminium, magnesium, austenitic steel, etc. the fatigue limit
is not very distinct.
The level of the fatigue limit depends on many factors, such as geometry (stress concentration factor
Kt), mean stress (stress ratio), surface conditions, corrosion, temperature, and residual stresses.
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High Cycle Fatigue (HCF): In this region the material behaviour is fully elastic. On log-log scale the S-N
curve can be considered to be linear.

Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF): If the maximum stress level in a cycle is exceeding the yield strength, the
material behaviour in the net section will be predominantly plastic. Number of cycles to failure will be
very small, hence the term LCF. Usually a strain-life curve instead of the S-N curve is used to described
fatigue behaviour.
Note that the actual distinction between HCF and LCF is not defined by a certain number of cycles but by
the amount of plasticity in the net section, i.e. the stress level.

Stress-Life Diagram (S-N Diagram)

The basis of the Stress-Life method is the Wohler S-N diagram, shown schematically for two materials in
Figure 3. The S-N diagram plots nominal stress amplitude S versus cycles to failure N. There are
numerous testing procedures to generate the required data for a proper S-N diagram. S-N test data are
usually displayed on a log-log plot, with the actual S-N line representing the mean of the data from
several tests.

Figure 3 – Typical S-N Curves

Endurance Limit

Certain materials have a fatigue limit or endurance limit which represents a stress level below which
the material does not fail and can be cycled infinitely. If the applied stress level is below the endurance

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limit of the material, the structure is said to have an infinite life. This is characteristic of steel and
titanium in benign environmental conditions. A typical S-N curve corresponding to this type of material
is shown Curve A in Figure.

Many non-ferrous metals and alloys, such as aluminium, magnesium, and copper alloys, do not
exhibit well-defined endurance limits. These materials instead display a continuously decreasing S-N
response, similar to Curve B in Figure 3. In such cases a fatigue strength Sf for a given number of cycles
must be specified. An effective endurance limit for these materials is sometimes defined as the stress
that causes failure at 1x108 or 5x108 loading cycles.

The concept of an endurance limit is used in infinite-life or safe stress designs. It is due to interstitial
elements (such as carbon or nitrogen in iron) that pin dislocations, thus preventing the slip mechanism
that leads to the formation of micro cracks. Care must be taken when using an endurance limit in design
applications because it can disappear due to:

 Periodic overloads (unpin dislocations)

 Corrosive environments (due to fatigue corrosion interaction)
 High temperatures (mobilize dislocations)

The endurance limit is not a true property of a material, since other significant influences such as
surface finish cannot be entirely eliminated. However, a test values (Se') obtained from polished
specimens provide a baseline to which other factors can be applied. Influences that can affect the
endurance limit include:

 Surface Finish
 Temperature · Stress Concentration
 Notch Sensitivity
 Size · Environment
 Reliability

Such influences are represented by reduction factors, k, which are used to establish a working
endurance strength Se for the material:

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Mean Stress Effects

Most basic S-N fatigue data collected in the laboratory is generated using a fully-reversed stress
cycle. However, actual loading applications usually involve a mean stress on which the oscillatory stress
is superimposed, as shown in Figure 4. The following definitions are used to define a stress cycle with
both alternating and mean stress. The stress range is the algebraic difference between the maximum
and minimum stress in a cycle:

The stress amplitude is one-half the stress range:

The mean stress is the algebraic mean of the maximum and minimum stress in the cycle:

Two ratios that are often defined for the representation of mean stress are the stress ratio R and the
amplitude ratio A:

For fully-reversed loading conditions, R is equal to -1. For static loading, R is equal to 1. For a case
where the mean stress is tensile and equal to the stress amplitude, R is equal to 0. A stress cycle of R =
0.1 is often used in aircraft component testing, and corresponds to a tension-tension cycle in which the
minimum stress is equal to 0.1 times the maximum stress.

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 Figure 4 – Typical Cyclic Loading Parameters

The results of a fatigue test using a nonzero mean stress are often presented in a Haigh diagram,
shown in Figure 4. A Haigh diagram plots the mean stress, usually tensile, along the x-axis and the
oscillatory stress amplitude along the y-axis. Lines of constant life are drawn through the data points.
The infinite life region is the region under the curve and the finite life region is the region above the
curve. For finite life calculations the endurance limit in any of the models can be replaced with a fully
reversed (R = -1) alternating stress level corresponding to the finite life value.

Figure 5 – Example of a Haigh Diagram

A very substantial amount of testing is required to generate a Haigh diagram, and it is usually
impractical to develop curves for all combinations of mean and alternating stresses. Several empirical
relationships that relate alternating stress to mean stress have been developed to address this difficulty.
These methods define various curves to connect the endurance limit on the alternating stress axis to
either the yield strength, Sy, ultimate strength Su, or true fracture stress σf on the mean stress axis. The
following relations are available in the Stress-Life module:
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 Goodman (England, 1899):

Gerber (Germany, 1874):

Soderberg (USA, 1930):

Morrow (USA, 1960s):

A graphical comparison of these equations is shown in Figure 7. The two most widely accepted
methods are those of Goodman and Gerber. Experience has shown that test data tends to fall between
the Goodman and Gerber curves. Goodman is often used due to mathematical simplicity and slightly
conservative values. Other observations related to the mean stress equations include:

 All methods should only be used for tensile mean stress values.
 For cases where the mean stress is small relative to the alternating stress (R << 1), there is little
difference in the methods.
 The Overberg method is very conservative. It is used in applications where neither fatigue failure
nor yielding should occur.
 For hard steels (brittle), where the ultimate strength approaches the true fracture stress, the
Morrow and Goodman curves are essentially equivalent. For ductile steels (σf > Su), the Morrow
model predicts less sensitivity to mean stress.
 As the R approaches 1, the models show large differences. There is a lack of experimental data
available for this condition, and the yield criterion may set design limits.

Figure 6 – Comparison of Mean Stress Equations

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