Cyclic life prediction of a specimen under rotational bending test

Chethan Mohan Kumar 950843 January 12, 2012

Under the guidance of : M.Sc.Dipl.-Ing. Henry Pusch

Abstract Fatigue testing of a material holds a distinct position in the agenda of testing materials since in real time applications. More often it is by fatigue failure a material fails. Any product designed is intended to function for a certain number of cycles. It must be ensured that the material does not fail before its intended life since failure by fatigue reects no prior indications .Hence it is imperative that accurate data of cyclic life with respect to various stress levels must be tabulated from experiments or by predictions. An attempt to predict the cyclic life of materials using the two approaches of stress life methods and the strain life methods is the kernel of this project.The focus here is mainly on a specimen subjected to the Rotational Bending machine. This implies that the conditions considered for theoritical predicitions would also imbibe similar loaded states. A shoulder specimen with a particular radius is considered. The accuracy of results obtained theoretically is then compared with experimental data.The Governing equation for stress life method is the Basquins equation and for strain life method is the Mason-Con relation.The material used is predominantly AISI 1045 and occasionally AISI-1035.A function in scilab for both the equations has been coded for the ease of calculations. Keywords:Fatigue, Basquins equation, Mason-Con relationship, Rotational Bending machine, Woehler curve Notations: M : Bending moment I : Surface moment of inertia y : Distance between center of the specimen and a generic point S : Cyclic stress,MPa Se : Endurance limit, MPa A : Multiplication factor in Basquins equation b : Exponent or slope in Basquins equation Se : Modied endurance limit,MPa Sut : Ultimate tensile strength, MPa Sut (ck-45) : 620 MPa 2 : Strain amplitude, mm

Acknowledgements
I sincerely thank M.Sc.Dipl.-Ing. Henry Pusch for giving me an opportunity to work on this project which has helped me to comprehend the theoretical aspects of fatigue practically by conducting experiments in the laboratory.I would also like to thank him for his constant guidance and consistent support in accomplishing the end points dened in the project successfully. I am also grateful to my colleague Mr. Daniel Korner who skillfully produced the specimens required for conducting the experiments. The quality of specimen produced by him is quite commendable. I would also like to thank my friend Mr. Narendra Komarla who accompanied and co-ordinated with me in conducting the experiments. I nally like to thank The Department of Material Science and University of Wuppertal for providing all the required facilities.

Contents
1 Introduction 1.1 Fatigue failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Fatigue life methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Rotational Bending Machine 2.1 Specimen Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Loading conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 6 6 8 8 8

3 Stress life method 9 3.1 Woehler Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 3.2 Basquins Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3.3 Example Calculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 4 Strain life method 15 4.1 Mason-Con method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 5 Evaluation of cyclic life with Scilab 5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Function for Basquins equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 Function for Mason-Con equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Conclusions Appendices A Rotational Bending machine B Data for Basquins Equation C Data for Mason-Con relationship D Kf Table E Experimental Data 18 18 19 21 23 25 25 26 28 29 30

F Scilab functions 30 F.1 cyclicstress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 F.2 cyclicstrain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Introduction

Fatigue is a phenomenon occuring on a regular basis when a load is applied on a particular object and removed cyclically. We come across a series of diurnal products that we use which undergo the fatigue phenomenon. The chair which we sit on nuemerous times undergoes fatigue and is destined to function for a certain number of cycles. The same case holds with the closing and opening of a laptop. Practically, if tensile strength is a material property, fatigue strength can be correlated to durability of the material. Fatigue occurs at a stress level lesser than the tensile strength of the material. But this stress level is applied over a series of loading and unloading for a number of cycles. We can comprehend that the stresses accumulate over a period of time which confronts us with the concept of hysteresis loop. Hysteresis refers to systems that may exhibit path dependance, or rate independent memory[1].In fatigue, Hysteresis loops play a signicant role in determining whether the material undergoes material hardening or material softening.

Figure 1: Hysteresis loop with material hardening Material hardening occurs if the stress required to propagate the crack further increases as the number of cycles of tension and compression on the material increases.As we observe in Figure 1, the stress required to increase strain is higher than the required stress in the previous cycle. Material softening is the phenomenon where the stress required for crack propagation diminishes with the number of cycles the material undergoes. These two phenomenon inuences the way a material behaves when subjected to a fatigue 5

test. Though we are dealing with the rotational bending test, the hysteresis loop from the tension-compression test gives us an insight into the process that may occur in the specimen when it undergoes fatigue.

1.1

Fatigue failure

The attributes of failure by fatigue will be discussed in this section. A fatigue failure has an appearance similar to a brittle fracture, as the fracture surfaces are at and perpendicular to the stress axis with the absence of necking[2].The features and occurence of fatigue failure is dierent from brittle fracture. Fatigue failure occurs in three stages which are the crack initiation phase, Crack propagation phase and fracture. 1. Crack Initiation: As the name suggests, an initial crack is formed in this phase. It may be formed due to the existence of certain irregularities in the specimen.The crack formed can be termed as microcracks since they are not visible to the unaided eye. For example: Presence of notches, a radius at a certain position which is design driven, or even scratches or surface irregularities in the specimen. These irregularities act as stress raisers increasing the localized stresses. Thus a crack is formed as a result of their existence. In this project, the stress raiser is due to a radius in the specimen used in the rotational bending machine which will be dealt in explicit detail under the section Rotational bending machine. 2. Crack Propagation: The microcracks propagate and convolute into larger or macrocracks.These macrocracks form parallel plateau-like fracture surfaces separated by longitudinal ridges.During cyclic loading, these cracked surfaces open and close, rubbing together, and the beach mark appearance depends on the changes in the level or frequency of loading and the corrosive nature of the environment[2]. 3. Fracture: In this stage, the material fails which is the last cycle of stress it undergoes. This is the result of the remaining material unable to support the loads leading to failure. The fracture may be brittle, ductile or a combination of both.

1.2

Fatigue life methods

There are three main approaches of fatigue life methods which are Stress life method , Strain life method and fracture mechanics method. The terms low 6

Figure 2: Fracture surface of a specimen(Ck-35/AISI-1035 steel) tested on rotational bending machine cycle fatigue and high cycle fatigue has to be dealt before we proceed any further. Number of cycles ranging from 1 N 1000 is considered as low cycle fatigue where as N > 1000 cycles is considered as high cycle fatigue. The distinction contributes to the predictions in the fatigue life methods. 1. Stress life method is a classical approach of cyclic life prediction based on the stress levels only. This is considered as the least accurate method especially in the region of low cycle fatigue. But it is easily deciphered and uncomplicated since the data required for the calculations are not too many. It can also be implemented to a wide range of design applications and represents the high cyclic fatigue accurately. 2. Strain life method method involves more detailed analysis of the plastic deformation at localized regions where the stresses and strains are considered for life estimates[2]. It is more complex since it involves many parameters to be considered. The Strain life approach generates accurate results in the low cycle fatigue range. 3. Fracture mechanics method holds good under an assumption that a crack is already fromed in the specimen on account of the presence of irregularities. This method is more suitable for practical applications.

In this project, we consider the Stress life approach and the Strain life approach to predict the cyclic life of specimens used for the rotational bending machine.

Rotational Bending Machine

In the rotating bending machine, a rotating sample is loaded with a single force. The load is applied at one end of the sample and with the help of a motor, rotation about its own axis is achieved. Due to this rotation , a load reversal condition is achieved at two opposite sides on the circumference of the specimen.A triangular bending moment is developed in the specimen. Bending stress can be calculated from the equation

(y ) =

M .y I

(1)

Since failure of the specimen occurs from the weakest point situated in proximity of the surface, the test employs an ideal approach for testing. The salient features of the rotational bending machine is the demonstration of fatigue resistance under rotational bending load, the S-N diagram or woehler curve can be recorded with varying the load applied, investigation of dierent specimen geometries i.e the inuence of notches or the inuence of surface nish can be measured.

2.1

Specimen Geometry

The specimen used for the test is a shoulder specimen with a radius at the shoulder. It has been designed in such a way for experimental purposes to dene the position of failure since the von mises stress is maximum at this region. Further the radius also gives a variation for testing possibilities since the eect of varying radii on fatigue can also be determined from the machine. An overview of the specimen tested is shown in the gure.

2.2

Loading conditions

It is important to analyse the conditions undergone by the sample during the rotational bending test in order to apply it for the calculations involved in cyclic life time predictions. Since the loading here is reversed along the axis, the inuencing factor of mean stress can be considered to be zero and the ratio of maximum stress to minimum stress,stress ratio is thus dened as 8

Figure 3: Specimen used in Rotational bending machine

Figure 4: Loading conguration

R=

max = 1 min

(2)

which implies that the corressponding models which do not consider mean stress eects must be used for calculations.An overview of loading is shown in gure 4. A more circumspective look over the experimental set up would raise the question of whether rate of loading aects the fatigue life of specimen since rotation is achieved by speed of the motor. Though rate of loading is an inuencing factor, it does not apply in this case since it is dominant only in certain materials which excludes steel which we have considered.

Stress life method

Stress life method is a classical way of predicting cyclic life of materials. As the name suggests, it subjects the specimen under varying stress and the number of cycles of stress reversal is counted till the specimen fails. The starting point of stress is at a stress level below the ultimate tensile 9

strength of the material. Subsequently the stress applied is reduced and the corressponding number of cycles are tabulated.An S-N curve or a Woehler curve is plotted from these tabulations. At a certain stress level it is observed for certain materials that the curve becomes horizontal with the increase of stress level. This phase is termed as innite life of a specimen which means it never fails. This innite life is attained at 106 cycles or 107 cycles depending on the type of material. Historically, most attention has been focussed on situations that require more than 104 cycles where stress is low and primarily elastic[1]. This is characteristic of stress approach since it does not explicitly calculate the plastic deformations occuring in the specimen during fatigue. Hence the stress approach is generally more accurate during high cycle fatigue but not recommended for low cycle fatigue because of the presence of plastic deformations.

3.1

Woehler Curve

An S-N curve for a material denes alternating stress values versus the number of cycles required to cause failure at a given stress ratio.As mentioned earlier, we have a stress ratio of 1 for our experiments. A typical S-N curve is shown in the gure. The Y- axis represents the alternating stress (S) and the X-axis represents the number of cycles (N). An S-N curve is based on a stress ratio or mean stress. You can dene multiple S-N curves with dierent stress ratios for a material. The software uses linear interpolation to extract data when you dene multiple S-N curves for a material. S-N curves are based on mean fatigue life or a given probability of failure. Generating an S-N curve for a material requires many tests to statistically vary the alternating stress, mean stress (or stress ratio), and count the number of cycles.Material performance is commonly characterized by an S-N curve or Woehler curve in high-fatigue region. The results are plotted on semilog paper or a log log paper. In some cases the graph becomes horizontal after the material has been stressed for a certain number of cycles. Plotting on log paper emphasizes the bend in the curve which might not be apparent if the results are plotted by using Cartesian coordinates. In most of the cases an S-N curve may be found to be a straight line.This is the result of a log-log scale in both ordinate and axis. The importance of fatigue in the high cycle region is generally emphasized with the starting point of the curve(line) at 103 cycles but not at 100 cycles and the endpoint at innite life of the material. The probabilistic nature of fatigue emphasizes the consideration of various 10

Figure 5: S-N curve showing dierent fatigue regions.1-Time dependant fatigue resistance 2-Fatigue rupture 3-Absence of fatigue fracture factors which interfere in the accurate prediction of cyclic life. Nevertheless, correction factors based on geometry, surface roughness make sure that this anomality is xed.

3.2

Basquins Equation

Basquins equation is a stress life method of predicting cyclic life. The governing equation can be written as

S = A(N )b

(3)

This leaves us with the calculation of two factors, the multiplication factor A and exponent or slope b. The cycles N is dependant on the stress level S. As mentioned earlier, S-N curves are in some cases represented as a line can be clearly demonstrated using this equation when a log-log plot of S-N is drawn. Consider the governing equation

S = A(N )b 11

(4)

When log of this equation is considered,

log(S ) = log(A) + b log(N ) which clearly replicates the equation of a line

(5)

y = c + mx

(6)

Hence in order to generate the curve from the basquins equation, the number of boundary conditions required is exactly the number of boundary conditions we require to draw a line which are two points. Thus we need to know two points in the S-N curve in order to plot the Basquin curve. It is logical to consider these points depending on material characteristics since it implies that it remains unchanged if a specic material is used. One of the points considered is the ultimate strength of the material for one cycle (Ultimate tensile strength,1) and the other point considered is the endurance strength Se of a material, which is the stress level where innite life begins and the line becomes horizontal. Endurance strength is generally between 106 or 107 depending on certain materials. Thus we have our second point (Se ,106 or107 ). From the two points obtained, we generate the slope of the basquin line, b and intercept log (A). Thus we have the governing Basquins equation to generate the S-N curve. Sometimes the starting point of the line is considered at the begining of high cycle fatigue, 103 cycles with the stress level of 0.9Ultimate tensile strength.The starting point thus becomes (0.9Ultimate tensile strength,1000). This is to make sure that the high cycle fatigue region curve is accurately followed with the original behaviour by the equation. A better picture of the whole calculation process is obtained in the following subsection.

3.3

Example Calculation

Consider the specimen used in the rotational bending machine from Figure 3. The material used is Ck-35/AISI 1035 steel. The tensile strength is 560MPa. The governing Basquins equation is

S = A(N )b 12

(7)

1. Determining the two points: To Calculate the stress levels at the two points of cyclic life. The rst stress level at the begining of high cycle fatigue, 1000 cycles and the secpond point at innite life, at 2000000 cycles. 2. First point for the line The stress level at 1000 cycles is given by

S1000 = 0.9xUltimate tensile strength (8) 3. Second point for the line The second point considered is (Se , 2000000). To have a meaningful value for Se , we need to consider certain factors. Generally

Se = 0.5xUltimate tensile strength (9) But from Figure 3, it is evident that there exists a shoulder in the geometry of the specimen. This induces a stress concentration in the shoulder specimen used for the rotational bending machine.This stress concentration reduces the endurance limit of the specimen further. Hence the modied Endurance limit, Se must be calculated to generate the second point required for the line. 4. Calculation of Se :

Se = 5. To calculate Kf :

Se Kf

(10)

Kf is the fatigue stress concentration factor generally dened as a reduced stress concentration factor from Kt , the stress concentration factor beacuse of lessened sensitivity of notches. The relation of Kf , Kt and notch sensitivity q is given by 13

q=

Kf 1 Kt 1

(11)

In our calculation, we nd Kt rst from the geometry of the specimen. Thus Kt for our specimen with D/d ratio of 1.5 and r/d ratio of 0.25 from the chart is found to be 1.35. There are two ways of nding notch sensitivity q . One from the notch sensitivity chart and the other by the notch sensitivity equation,

q=

1 1+

a r

(12)

a is called the Heywoods parameter and can be obtained from the data table. It is found that for our specimen , Heywoods parameter is 139/Sut which results in q from equation 12 to be 0.85. Now that we have q = 0.85 Kt = 1.28 We can nd Kf from equation 11 and get, Kf = 1.238 Subsequently substituting this value in equation 10 we get, Se = 226.2 6. Final Basquins equation: Now that we have the two points, (S1000 , 1000) = (504, 1000) (Se , 2000000) = (226.2, 2000000) Substituting and solving in the Basquins equation, 14

log 504 = log A + b log(1000) log 226.2 = log A + b log 2000000 Subtracting the above equations, we obtain the value of b.

b=

log 504 log 226.2 = 0.1054 log 1000 log 2000000

By substituting b in one of the equations, we obtain A = 1043.85 Thus the equation to generate the curve is written as, S = 1043.85(N )0.1054

Strain life method

Though strain life method is considered here in order to show an alternative way to calculate the cyclic life of a material, it is an indegenous method since it calculates the cyclic life considering the plastic deformations occuring at higher stress levels in the material. This places the strain life method as one of the accurate ways of predicting the cyclic life in low cycle fatigue regions. A fatigue failure almost begins at a local discontinuity. When the stress at this discontinuity exceeds the elastic limit, plastic strain occurs. Test specimen subjected to reversed bending are not suitable for strain-cycling because of the diculty to measure plastic strains. Hence we cannot compare the experimental results and the theoretical calculations. Nevertheless , the calculation process using the Mason-Con method will be briey demonstrated in the following section.

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Figure 6: True stress-strain hysteresis loops showing the rst ve stress reversals of a cyclic-softening material

4.1

Mason-Con method

The Mason-Con relationship considers various factors in order to relate the strain amplitude and cyclic life. (a) Fatigue ductility coecient, f is the true strain corressponding to fracture in one reversal. Point A in Figure 6. The plastic strain line begins at this point in Figure 7. (b) Fatigue strength coecient, f is the true stress corresponding to fracture in one reversal (point A in Figure 6). The elastic strain line begins at f /E in Figure 7. (c) Fatigue ductility exponent c is the slope of the plastic strain line in Fig 7 and is the power to which the life 2N must be raised to be porportional to true plastic strain amplitude. Note that 2N is the number of stress reversals and N is the number of cycles. (d) Fatigue strength component b is the slope of the elastic strain line , and is the power to which the life 2N must be raised to be proportional to the true stress amplitude. From Figur 6 , the total strain is the sum of elastic and plastic strain components. Therefore the total strain amplitude is 16

Figure 7: A log-log plot showing how the fatigue life is related to the truestrain amplitude for hot rolled steel

e p = + 2 2 2 The equation of the plastic strain line in Fig 7 is

(13)

p = f (2N )c 2 The equation of the elastic straight line is

(14)

e F = (2N )b 2 E Hence from equation 13 , we have the total strain amplitude,

(15)

F = (2N )b + f (2N )c 2 E 17

(16)

The above equation is the Mason-Con relationship. The parameters of the equation F , E, b, f , c are obtained from the data table.It can clearly be seen that the relationship between the strain amplitude and number of cycles(N) is non linear.Hence there involves a comlexity in solving these kind of non-linear equations analytically. But since we know the range of the number of cycles we are interested in, normally from 100 cycles to 107 cycles, it is practical to loop this range of N in a program and nd the domain. And just run the loop from N=100 to 107 cycles and nd the strain amplitude which results in accurate solution. The program used in this case is Sci-lab which is discussed in the following section.

5
5.1

Evaluation of cyclic life with Scilab

Introduction

Scilab is a software for numerical mathematics and scientic visualization. It is capable of interactive calculations as well as automation of computations through programming. It provides all basic operations on matrices through built-in functions so that the trouble of developing and testing code for basic operations are completely avoided. Its ability to plot 2D and 3D graphs helps in visualizing the data we work with. It is quite similar to Matlab and a Matlab-Scilab translator is also embedded in the software. The advantage with scilab is that it is available an open source and students can be benited from this. We use the software here in order to perform computation to calculate the cyclic life from the governing equations and to plot a Woehler curve or a Strain versus Life curve. Even though the program is not so complicated , it is eective with the rigorous computations and spares us the time and eort. In this project, two functions have been implemented. One function which generates the Woehler curve cyclicstress(Ultimate tensile strength, Kf ) and the other function to generate the Strain-life curve cyclicstrain(fatigue ductility coe, fatigue strength coe, c , b,Youngs).

18

5.2

Function for Basquins equation

The template for the Basquin equation is cyclicstress(Ultimate tensile strength, Kf ) The rst parameter is characteristic of a material and the second parameter must be calculated and then fed to the function. The complexity in integrating the calculation of Kf in the function is that it involves reading values from a chart. Hence it is imperative to calculate Kf as shown under the Example calculation subsection. To substitute this, a table containing Kf values for various cases of Shoulder radius (r), Larger diameter(D) and smaller diameter (d) can be found in the appendix.

Figure 8: Example for input to cyclicstress function

19

Figure 9: Woehler curve for the input An example of an input and the resulting Woehler curve is shown in the two gures.

20

5.3

Function for Mason-Con equation

The template for Mason-con equation is cyclicstrain(fatigue ductility coe, fatigue strength coe, Fatigue ductility exponent , Fatigue strength component ,Youngs Moadulus) The ve parameters to be inserted is obtained from the data table. The data table can be found under Appendix. An example for an input and the resulting Strain-life curve are shown.

Figure 10: Example for input to cyclicstrain function

21

Figure 11: Strain-life curve for the input

22

Conclusions

The predicament in the analytical calculation of Fatigue life is that it can only be an approximation since Fatigue is more statistical in nature. This implies that, the experimental procedure involved must consider more number of trials for a particular stress level in order to converge to a steady value of cyclic life. The experimental and analytical values are compared for a ck-45 specimen. The ultimate tensile strength of ck-45 is taken as 620 MPa. The results of both the approaches are plotted. In this project, the surface roughness of the specimen has not been accounted for. This can be one of the inuencing factors in the results. Nevertheless, when the trend line of the experimental values is plotted using a power law, the Basquins approach considered in this project is accurate with the experimental data obtained from the rotating bending machine which is clearly seen in the gure below.

Figure 12: Comparison of the plots of Experimental values vs. Analytical values

23

Figure 13: Comparison of the plots of Experimental values vs. Analytical values Numerically, the analytical and Experimental values are notably dierent. This is because the calculation involves logarithmic function and even a slight variance in the value results in large dierences. Though, this must not be the criteria for the comparison of accuracy between the analytical and experimental methods, it must be noted that the trend of the two curves using the power law is accurate. It can also be inferred that the Stress method is more accurate at considerably lower stress levels in the High cycle fatigue region.

24

Appendices
A Rotational Bending machine

Figure 14: Rotational Bending machine

25

Data for Basquins Equation

Figure 15: Heywoods parameter

a for steels

26

Figure 16: Stress concentration factors Kt for bending of a stepped bar of circular cross section with a shoulder llet (based on photoelastic tests of Leven and Hartman 1951; Wilson and White 1973) 27

Data for Mason-Con relationship

Figure 17: Data table for Mason-Con relationship

28

Kf Table

Figure 18: Data table for Kf values

29

Experimental Data

Figure 19: Experimental values for ck-45 steel on the Rotating Bending machine

F
F.1

Scilab functions
cyclicstress

function c y c l i c s t r e s s ( u l t t e n s i l e , k f ) S 1000 =0.9 u l t t e n s i l e ; S e =0.5 u l t t e n s i l e ; S e n=S e / k f ; m =log ( S 1000 )log ( S e n ) ; n=log ( 1 0 0 0 ) log ( 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ) ; b= m/n ; p=log ( S 1000 ) b log ( 1 0 0 0 ) ; a=exp ( p ) ; t i t l e ( STRESS APPROACH ) ; x l a b e l ( l o g (N) ) ; y l a b e l ( STRESS ,MPa ) 30

for s t r e s s=S e n : u l t t e n s i l e g=log ( s t r e s s )log ( a ) ; h=g/b ; l i f e =exp ( h ) ; disp ( s t r e s s , l i f e ) ; plot ( log10 ( l i f e ) , ( s t r e s s ) , . ) ; end endfunction

F.2

cyclicstrain

function c y c l i c s t r a i n ( f a t d u c , f a t s t r , c , b , youngmod ) x=f a t s t r /youngmod ; t i t l e ( STRAIN APPROACH ) ; x l a b e l ( l o g (N) , Number o f c y c l e s ) ; y l a b e l ( l o g ( Ea ) ,STRAIN AMPLITUDE i n mm ) ; for j = 1 : 0 . 0 1 : 6 l i f e =10 j ; y= l i f e b ; z= l i f e c ; ea=x y+f a t d u c z ; disp ( l i f e , ea ) ; plot ( log10 ( l i f e ) , log10 ( ea ) , . ) ; end endfunction

31