Jordan University of Science and

Technology

Faculty of Engineering
Industrial Engineering Department

Engineering Materials Laboratory

Exp. # 4
Fatigue Test

Student's name: Georgina Rezeq

Student's No.: 20122029020

Teacher: Dr. Omar Bataineh

Date: 26 / 10 / 2014

Contents:
Objectives . 1
Introduction .. 1
Procedure . 3
Analysis 3
Discussion 4
Conclusion 5
References . 5
Results ... 6
Data Sheet . 7

Objectives :
1. To understand the behavior of different materials under
fluctuating (cyclic or periodic) loads in service.
2. To differentiate the appearance of fatigue fracture from
other types of fractures.

:Introduction
Fatigue is a progressive and localized structural damage
occurs when the material is subjected to cyclic loading. If the
loads are above a certain threshold, microscopic cracks will
begin to form at the surface. Eventually a crack will reach a
critical size, and the structure will suddenly fracture. The shape
of the structure will significantly affect the fatigue life; square
holes or sharp corners will lead to elevated local stresses
where fatigue cracks can initiate. Round holes and smooth
transitions or fillets are therefore important to increase the
.fatigue strength of the structure

Fatigue life is influenced by a variety

of factors, such as temperature,
surface finish, microstructure,
presence of oxidizing or inert
chemicals, residual stresses, contact
.(fretting), etc

-1One of the machines used to

determine the fatigue limit is the fatigue testing machine. In
this machine a standard specimen is used where it is supported
in a rotating chuck at one end and at the other end with a load
(p) applied through a ball race. In this type of cantilever
loading each point in the circumference of the specimen is
subjected to alternate stress between tension and
compression. To find the fatigue limit, different specimens are
.tested at different loading till failure occurs
After performing the fatigue test, maximum stress that was
obtained that caused the sample to break will be calculated
:using the formula
M

y
I

Where M is the bending moment (N.m) and I is the second

moment of inertia (I =

D 4
(m 4 )
64

) and y half the thickness of the

.sample (y=D/2 (m))

After calculating the Max stress it is plotted against number of

cycles till failure occurred and S-N curve is obtained where the
.endurance limit (fatigue limit) is obtained

-2:Procedure
1. Select two materials, one shows a fatigue limit (ferrous
metal) and the other does not show this limit (non-ferrous
metal).
2. Take at least two standard specimens from each material.
3. Mount the specimen in the machine and fix it properly,
then apply the required load by the loading system.
4. Make sure, that the reading of the revolution counter is
zero, and then start the machine.

5. When the specimen is broken, read the number of

revolutions (cycles), as indicated by the revolution
counter of the machine.

MY
I

6. Determine the applied stress from the relation

as
explained above.
7. Tabulate the obtained results, together with the given
results from previous tests.
8. From these results, plot the S-N diagram for each tested
material, on the same graph paper.
9. Compare the obtained S-N diagram
with the diagram given in the lab
handout and examine the
appearance of the fracture for each
sample with the pictures also
provided in the handout .

: Analysis
Use Steel standard specimen with diameter D = 9.57 mm. We
convert this diameter to inches and we convert all dimensions
to inches because the moment calculated in lb.in from the
.machine
.Convert 9.57mm to inches is equal 0.38 in
y=

D 0.38
=
=0.19
:The distance from the neutral surface
2
2

:The second moment of area of the section

4

I=

D 4 (0.38 )
=
=0.001023
64
64

:The applied stress to the first moment

=

MC ( 240 ) (0.19)
=
=44574.78
I
0.001023

.Same calculation to all but change the value of moment

-3-

:Discussion
The aim of this experiment is to understand the behavior of
different materials under alternating (cyclic) loading, plus to
learn how to differentiate the appearance of the fatigue
fracture shape from other types of fractures caused by other
types of loadings. Moreover, we are able to determine the
brittleness and ductility of the material from the shape of its
fatigue fracture and learned how the Ductility and Brittleness
.are related to fatigue
We fined when we increase the moment on the specimen the
stress on the specimen increase and the number of cycles to
failure occurs decrease .we know that the stress is tension in
top of the specimen and compression in other side of the
specimen the stress in both side is the same value. This
difference in tension and compression stress makes surface
.cracks and then the cracks propagate and failure occurs
And we can notice from the S-N curve that as if we increase the
stress, the number of cycles endured before failure will
.decrease
The fatigue test takes long time because we need to break
different specimen each time at different load and wait until
fracture occur to get one point on S-N diagram which is the
main and the important result of the fatigue test. To draw the
S-N diagram minimum we need 50 points thus, 50 specimens
.and 50 fractures so it may take years to do that
The fatigue test is also expensive if we compare it with other
destructive tests that we did in the lab fatigue test need
electrical power for long time to achieve our goal (S-N diagram)
but its an important test to know the ability of the material in
fatigue when we use it in a specific service work that may
.exposed to alternating loads

Also we noticed that the cold worked steel have a definite

fatigue limit while the worked Aluminum dont have a definite
.fatigue limit

-4:Conclusion
1- Fatigue is a normal
phenomenon that will cause a
material to fail eventually
under alternate loading,
regardless of the number of
cycles.
2- Fatigue is tested using the
fatigue testing machine and
its value is obtained from
plotting the S-N curve, where
stress is calculated using the

MY
I

formula
3- Fatigue affected by design, surface quality, material type,
grain size, direction of loading, grain size and temperature
and other factors.
4- Cold working increases the fatigue strength.
5- Ductile materials have a lower fatigue limit than brittle
materials.
6- Fatigue fracture shape differs in structure from other
fractures used from other types of failures, as it consist of
three zones ( initial crack zone, propagation zone and final
fracture zone)
7- In ductile materials the propagation zone is larger than
that of the brittle materials.

:References
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatigue_(material)
2. Draper, John (2008). Modern Metal Fatigue Analysis. EMAS
3. Experiment # 4 Lab handout.

-5:Results

f evruC N-S
00007
00006
00005
00004
00003
00002
00001
0
5.4

5.5

5.6

5.7

Cold worked steel is a ferrous metal so we have a definite fatigue limit

.approximately in the upper graph

evruC N-S
00004
00053
00003
00052
00002
00051
00001
0005
0
4

5.4

5.5

5.6

Cold Worked Aluminum is a non-ferrous metal so, we note that we dont

have a definite fatigue limit, so the fatigue limit in this case spicified by
10 106
cycle and the
SN

-6-

corresponding