FATIGUE MECHANISM--KEY TO THE SOLUTION OF THE ENGINEER'S SECOND FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM

The rationale for studying fatigue and fatigue mechanism is examined by considering two fundamental problems in engineering, namely, the problem of feasibility, by asking whether a product works, and the problem of fatigue, by asking whether a product lasts. It is shown that the first problem (feasibility) is easier than the second (fatigue) because the solution to the second requires experimental information of a time scale incompatible with that available to the engineer or the material scientist. To resolve this dilemma, it is proposed that advances in computer-aided quantitative microscopy, fracture mechanics, and many other allied disciplines, be incorporated in measuring microstructural changes due to fatigue at a time scale workable in a laboratory. It is concluded that such study in discovering fundamental mechanisms of fatigue holds the key to the solution of the second fundamental problem in engineering.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Pub. as American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, PA., Special Technical Pub. 675. Prepared in cooperation with National Science Foundation, Washington, DC. Pub. in Proceedings ASTM-NBS-NSF Fatigue Mechanisms Symp., Held at Kansas City, MO. on May 78.
• Corporate Authors:

  National Bureau of Standards

  14th Between E Street and Constitution Avenue, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20234

  American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)

  100 Barr Harbor Drive, P.O. Box C700
  West Conshohocken, PA  United States  19428-2957
• Authors:
  • Fong, J T
• Publication Date: 1979

Media Info

• Pagination: 6 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Design; Engineering; Fatigue (Mechanics); Fatigue (Physiological condition); Fatigue tests; Fracture mechanics; Information processing; Microstructure
• Uncontrolled Terms: Design criteria
• Subject Areas: Design; Geotechnology; Highways; Materials; I34: Steels and Metals;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00313506
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: Final Rpt.
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 26 1980 12:00AM