Strain Life Analysis

What are the differences between High Cycle Fatigue and Low Cycle Fatigue?

High Cycle Fatigue

Stress Controlled More than 1000 cycles Crack has not started Facilitates design

Low Cycle Fatigue

Strain Controlled Less than 1000 cycles When will crack start? Not easy to use in design

Advantages of HCF Empirical parameters for a lot of materials has been determined o Marin factors o Fatigue Strengths Easy to use for design applications Disadvantages for HCF Cannot be used for Low cycle applications If loads are fluctuating in a pseudo-random way, HCF methods can yield non-conservative results Advantages of LCF More conservative than HCF Widely used in industry Disadvantages of LCF Analysis depends on testing, strain data must be available Analysis is more complicated that with HCF methods

The fundamental idea of strain life analysis is that fatigue life can be determined by examining the impact of fluctuating strain on a machine component o Strain is composed of two parts 1. Elastic strain Hookes Law is valid 2. Plastic strainHookes Law is invalid Total strain, is the sum of the elastic strain and the plastic strain.

In this picture a stress is applied beyond the proportional limit, Y, and is continued until point A and then released. After releasing the load, the parts material relaxes along a line parallel to OY, but is permanently deformed. Assuming an ideal material, i.e., material properties are not changed with cyclic loading, we could look at the picture above for a full cycle of stress fluctuation.

From O-A, elastic, in tension From A-B, plastic, in tension Stress is released and material relaxes parallel to O-A Compressive stress are applied From O-A, elastic, compressive From A-B plastic Stress is released and material returns to original shape In reality the picture below indicates what happens (assuming cyclic hardening of material)

Note the hysterisis What is happening to the amount of strain with each cycle of stress application? What would the hysterisis loop look like for a cyclic softening material?

Testing on a material can be done to acquire the following stabilized hysterisis loop.

The range of total strain, , is: e + p

Team assignment:

The stabilized hysterisis loop is found in a two step process: 1. A test specimen is subjected to a constant amplitude stress until a stabilized hysterisis loop is acquired and the range of strain, , is established 2. A test specimen is subjected to a constant amplitude strain until a stabilized hysterisis loop is acquired and the range of stress, , is established. Examine the figures below and determine which picture matches the phenomena described in column 1.

1 Constant Amplitude Stress A 2 Constant Amplitude Strain B 3 Hysterisis Loop Constant stress, cyclic hardening 4 Hysterisis Loop Constant Strain, cyclic softening

What is the algebraic expression for e shown in the stabilized hysterisis loop on the preceding page? If your team knew the total amount of strain range, , Youngs Modulus of Elasticity, E, and the stress range, , how would you find the plastic strain, p?