MECHANICS OF

MATERIALS

Report 8
Submitted To:
Engr. Arhum Hassan
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 Group Members:
M. Rafay Khwaja Abdul Moiz
(170301040) (170301058)

Syed Abdullah Shah Ushna Liaqat

(170301003) (170301005)

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Fatigue Test

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Literature Review:
The purpose of this test is that we can test different materials for their
fatigue strength and fatigue life. The result of this test is an S-N curve
which helps us to find the aforementioned properties. The sample that
we have used in this test is made of mild steel. We have used a lathe
machine to get the required dimensions of the sample. The engineering
diagram is taken from ASTM’s website. Now we’ll discuss what fatigue is,
the formal definition of fatigue is as follows, “Fatigue is the failure of a
material under fluctuating stresses each of which is believed to produce
minute amounts of plastic strain”. Fatigue is particularly important in
components subjected to repeated and often rapid load fluctuations, e.g.
aircraft components, turbine blades, vehicle suspensions, etc.[1]

After discussing fatigue now we come to our main topic which is fatigue
testing. In this test the sample is rotated with a certain load applied with
the help of a load cell, it is rotated in such a way that the same load
applied along the circumference. The sample in this test experiences
progressive and localized structural damage that occurs when it is
subjected to cyclic loading in the fatigue test machine. This testing
method is a destructive method of testing that is the material is
destroyed as a result of this experiment. In this experiment the type of
failure is fatigue failure, which occurs in three steps that are as follows

1. Crack initiation
2. Crack propagation
3. Final failure

The fracture surface near the origin is usually smooth. The surface
becomes rough as the crack increases in size.[2]

Cyclic loading generally produces failure however low the stress may be.
However, with some materials the S-N curve levels off, suggesting that
for these materials a limit of stress (load) can be specified - known as the
fatigue limit - below which infinite life can be expected. The fatigue life
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is thought to be associated with the phenomenon of strain ageing. Most
nonferrous alloys do not show a fatigue limit. Instead their S-N curves
continue to drop at a slow rate (dotted line). For these types of
materials, the fatigue strength is quoted. This is the value of stress to
which the material can be subjected to for a given number of cycles
(10,000,000 cycles is the value often used).

Fatigue Testing Machine

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 Revolutions Force(N) Original Force(N) Limiting Force(N)
16704 0 220 50
Time at fracture = 326 s

Procedure

Experimentation and calculation

The sample we have chosen for fatigue testing is mild steel rod. Mild
steel contains approximately 0.05–0.25% carbon making it malleable and
ductile. Mild steel has a relatively low tensile strength, but it is cheap
and easy to form; surface hardness can be increased through carburizing.

The sample is clamped in the machine and loaded with load cell.

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Conclusion:

By looking at the fatigue sample after fatigue testing, we can conclude

that mild steel is a hard material so it takes more time to fail. It almost
takes double the time aluminum sample takes to fail. Fatigue failure will
always be brittle even in ductile materials. The smooth surface in the
sample is because of fatigue. The rough surface in the sample is because
of overloading.

Works Cited

1. curtiss-wright. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.imrtest.com/why-fatigue-testing-

matters

2. Westmoreland Mechanical Testing & Research. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.wmtr.com/What_Is_Fatigue_Testing.html?utm_source=read%20more
%20links&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=links

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