FAILURE BY FATIGUE

In the field of fatigue a considerable advance in recent years has been made in the quantitative treatment of the fatigue process, especially with respect to the matter of fatigue crack growth. Improved understanding of the fatigue crack growth process is timely as in certain circumstances, as for example in the case of welded structures, it is not the initiation of cracks but rather the growth of cracks from preexisting defects which is the critical aspect in determining service lifetime. Other advances have been made in improving the resistance of materials to fatigue either through the control of chemistry or by control of processing variables. Such procedures are generally more important in affecting the crack initiation rather than the crack propagation stages. Review of the current status of fatigue is given from the mechanistic as well as the design viewpoints. Areas in need of further understanding such as corrosion fatigue, creep-fatigue, and fatigue under variable amplitude loading are also considered.

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • Presented at the 20th Meeting of the NBS Mechanical Failures Prevention Group, Gaithersburg, Maryland, May 8-10 1975.
  • Corporate Authors:

    National Bureau of Standards

    Technical Analysis Division
    Washington, DC  United States  20234
  • Authors:
    • McEvily, A J
  • Publication Date: 1976-4

Media Info

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00142538
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: Engineering Index
  • Report/Paper Numbers: Spec. Pub. 423 Proceeding
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Dec 15 1976 12:00AM