Isothermal fatigue of an aluminide-coated single-crystal superalloy:Part II. Effects of brittle precracking

The effect of brittle coating precracking on the fatigue behavior of a high-activity aluminide-coated single-crystal nickel-base superalloy has been studied using hollow cylindrical specimens at test temperatures of 600 °C, 800 °C, and 1000 °C. Three types of precrack were studied: narrow precracks formed at room temperature, wide precracks formed at room temperature, and narrow precracks formed at elevated temperature. The effect of precracking on fatigue life at 600 °C was found to depend strongly on the type of precrack. No failure was observed for specimens with narrow room-temperature precracks because of crack arrest via an oxidation-induced crack closure mechanism, while the behavior of wide precracks and precracks formed at elevated temperature mirrored the non-precracked behavior. Crack retardation also occurred for narrow room-temperature precracks tested at 800 °C - in this case, fatigue cracks leading to failure initiated in a layer of recrystallized grains on the inside surface of the specimen. A significant reduction in fatigue life at 800 °C relative to non-precracked specimens was observed for wide precracks and elevated temperature precracks. The presence of precracks bypassed the initiation and growth of coating fatigue cracks necessary for failure in non-precracked material. No effect of precracking was observed at 1000 °C.

Fatigue in SiC-particulate-reinforced aluminium alloy composites

The fatigue behaviour in SiC-particulate-reinforced aluminium alloy composites has been briefly reviewed. The improved fatigue life reported in stress-controlled test results from the higher stiffness of the composites; therefore it is generally inferior to monolithic alloys at a constant strain level. The role of SiC particulate reinforcement has been examined for fatigue crack initiation, short-crack growth and long-crack growth. Crack initiation is observed to occur at matrix-SiC interface in cast composites and either at or near the matrix-SiC interface or at cracked SiC particles in powder metallurgy processed composites depending on particle size and morphology. The da/dN vs ΔK relationship in the composites is characterized by crack growth rates existing within a narrow range of ΔK and this is because of the lower fracture toughness and relatively high threshold values in composites compared with those in monolithic alloys. An enhanced Paris region slope attributed to the monotonic fracture contribution are reported and the extent of this contribution is found to depend on particle size. The effects of the aging condition on crack growth rates and particle size dependence of threshold values are also treated in this paper. © 1991.

Implementation of pseudo J-integral based Paris’ law for fatigue cracking in asphalt mixtures and pavements

Pavement analysis and design for fatigue cracking involves a number of practical problems like material assessment/screening and performance prediction. A mechanics-aided method can answer these questions with satisfactory accuracy in a convenient way when it is appropriately implemented. This paper presents two techniques to implement the pseudo J-integral based Paris’ law to evaluate and predict fatigue cracking in asphalt mixtures and pavements. The first technique, quasi-elastic simulation, provides a rational and appropriate reference modulus for the pseudo analysis (i.e., viscoelastic to elastic conversion) by making use of the widely used material property: dynamic modulus. The physical significance of the quasi-elastic simulation is clarified. Introduction of this technique facilitates the implementation of the fracture mechanics models as well as continuum damage mechanics models to characterize fatigue cracking in asphalt pavements. The second technique about modeling fracture coefficients of the pseudo J-integral based Paris’ law simplifies the prediction of fatigue cracking without performing fatigue tests. The developed prediction models for the fracture coefficients rely on readily available mixture design properties that directly affect the fatigue performance, including the relaxation modulus, air void content, asphalt binder content, and aggregate gradation. Sufficient data are collected to develop such prediction models and the R2 values are around 0.9. The presented case studies serve as examples to illustrate how the pseudo J-integral based Paris’ law predicts fatigue resistance of asphalt mixtures and assesses fatigue performance of asphalt pavements. Future applications include the estimation of fatigue life of asphalt mixtures/pavements through a distinct criterion that defines fatigue failure by its physical significance.

Effect of overload cycles on thin steel roof claddings during cyclonic winds

During an investigation on thin steel roof claddings under simulated cyclonic wind loading, it was found that trapezoidal roof claddings behaved quite differently to corrugated (arc and tangent type) roof claddings due to the presence of overload cycles. The overload cycles caused a reduction in fatigue life for corrugated roofing whereas the reverse occurred for trapezoidal roofing. This contrasting behavior of the two crest-fixed roof claddings was investigated using small scale roofing models instead of the commonly used large scale two-span roof claddings. It was found that overload cycles formed a weaker locally dimpled mechanism around the fastener holes of corrugated roofing and thus accelerated the fatigue-caused pull-through failure. In contrast, a stronger deformed shape was formed in trapezoidal roofing which delayed the pull-through failure. Both laboratory testing and finite element analysis of small scale models were used to study the contrasting behavior of roof claddings.

Effect of mechanical cycling on the stress-strain response of a martensitic Nitinol shape memory alloy

An experimental investigation into the ambient temperature, load-controlled tension�tension fatigue behavior of a martensitic Nitinol shape memory alloy (SMA) was conducted. Fatigue life for several stress levels spanning the critical stress for detwinning was determined and compared with that obtained on an alloy similar in composition but in the austenitic state at room temperature. Results show that the fatigue life of the pseudo-plastic alloy is superior to superelastic shape memory alloy. The stress�strain hysteretic response, monitored throughout the fatigue loading, reveals progressive strain accumulation with the cyclic loading. In addition, the area of hysteresis and recoverable and frictional energies were found to decrease with increasing number of fatigue cycles. Post-mortem characterization of the fatigued specimens through calorimetry and fractography was conducted in order to get further insight into the fatigue micromechanisms. These results are discussed in terms of reversible and irreversible microstructural changes that take place during cyclic loading. Aspects associated with self-heating of martensitic alloy undergoing high frequency stress cycling are discussed.

Accurate determination of interference in pin joints Pin-to-plate interference in experimental models of interference-fit joints is significantly overestimated by direct physical measurements, but it can be accurately determined by a simple photoelastic method

Suitable pin-to-hole interference can significantly increase the fatigue life of a pin joint. In practical design, the initial stresses due to interference are high and they are proportional to the effective interference. In experimental studies on such joints, difficulties have been experienced in estimating the interference accurately from physical measurements of pin and hole diameters. A simple photoelastic method has been developed to determine the effective interference to a high degree of accuracy. This paper presents the method and reports illustrative data from a successful application thereof.

Recent studies on the behaviour of interference fit pins in composite plates

Composites are finding increasing application in many advanced engineering fields like aerospace, marine engineering, hightech sports equipment, etc., due to their high specific strength and/or specific stiffness values. The use of composite components in complex situations like airplane wing root or locations of concentrated load transfer is limited due to the lack of complete understanding of their behaviour in the region of joints. Joints are unavoidable in the design and manufacture of complex structures. Pin joints are one of the most commonly used methods of connection. In regions of high stresses like airplane wing root joints interference fit pins are used to increase its fatigue life and thereby increase the reliability of the whole structure. The present contribution is a study on the behaviour of the interference fit pin in a composite plate subjected to both pull and push type of loads. The interference fit pin exhibits partial contact/separation under the loads and the contact region is a non-linear function of the load magnitude. This non-linear behaviour is studied by adopting the inverse technique and some new results are presented in this paper.

Ultra-fine Grain Materials by Severe Plastic Deformation: Application to Steels

Severe plastic deformation techniques are known to produce grain sizes up to submicron level. This leads to conventional Hall-Petch strengthening of the as-processed materials. In addition, the microstructures of severe plastic deformation processed materials are characterized by relatively lower dislocation density compared to the conventionally processed materials subjected to the same amount of strain. These two aspects taken together lead to many important attributes. Some examples are ultra-high yield and fracture strengths, superplastic formability at lower temperatures and higher strain rates, superior wear resistance, improved high cycle fatigue life. Since these processes are associated with large amount of strain, depending on the strain path, characteristic crystallographic textures develop. In the present paper, a detailed account of underlying mechanisms during SPD has been discussed and processing-microstructure-texture-property relationship has been presented with reference to a few varieties of steels that have been investigated till date.

Elasto-plastic contact stress analysis of joints subjected to cyclic loading

Rigorous elastic-plastic finite element analysis of joints subjected to cyclic loading is carried out. An incremental-iterative algorithm is developed in a modular form combining elasto-plastic material behaviour and contact stress analysis. For the case of the interference fit, the analysis sequentially carries out insertion of the pin and application of the load on the joint, covering possible initiation of separation (and/or yielding) and progressively the receding/advancing contact at the pin-plate interface. Deformations of both the plate and the pin are considered in the analysis. Numerical examples are presented for the case of an interference fit pin in a large plate under remote cyclic tension, and for an interference fit pin lug joint subjected to cyclic loading. A detailed study is carried out for the latter problem considering the effect of change in contact/separation at the pin-plate interface on local stresses, strains and redistribution of these stresses with the spread of a plastic zone. The results of the study are a useful input for the estimation of the fatigue life of joints. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd

Closed-form nonlinear sectional analysis of pretwisted anisotropic beam with multiple delaminations

Fiber reinforced laminated composite open-section beams are widely used as bearingless rotor flex beams because of their high specific strength and stiffness as well as fatigue life. These laminated composite structures exhibit a number of different failure modes, including fiber-matrix debonding within individual layers, delamination or separation of the layers, transverse cracks through one or more layers and fiber fracture. Delamination is a predominant failure mode in continuous fiber reinforced laminated composites and often initiate near the free edges of the structure. The appearance of delaminations in the composite rotorcraft flexbeams can lead to deterioration of the mechanical properties and, in turn, the helicopter performance as well as safety. Understanding and predicting the influence of free-edge delamination on the overall behavior of the laminates will provide quantitative measures of the extent of the damage and help ensure their damage tolerance.

Aircraft Composite Structure Preventive Maintenance

In this paper, a methodology to reduce composite structure maintenance operational cost using SHM systems is adressed. Based on SHM real-time data, in-service structure lifetime prognostic and remaining useful lifetime (RUL) can be performed. Maintenance timetable can be therefore predicted by optimizing inspection times. A probabilistic ap-proach is combined with phenomenological fatigue damage models for composite mate-rials to perform maintenance cost-effectiveness of composite structure. A Monte Carlo method is used to estimate the probability of failure of composite structures and com-pute the average number of composite structure components to be replaced over the component lifetime. The replacement frequency of a given structure component over the aircraft lifetime is assessed. A first application of aeronautical composite structure maintenance is considered. Two composite models to predict the fatigue life and several laminates have been used. Our study shows that maintenance cost-effectiveness depends on material and fatigue loading applied.

A numerical model for predicting the jump of lift force on an oscillating cylinder

The fluid force coefficients on a transversely oscillating cylinder are calculated by applying two- dimensional large eddy simulation method. Considering the ‘‘jump’’ phenomenon of the amplitude of lift coefficient is harmful to the security of the submarine slender structures, the characteristics of this ‘‘jump’’ are dissertated concretely. By comparing with experiment results, we establish a numerical model for predicting the jump of lift force on an oscillating cylinder, providing consultation for revising the hydrodynamic parameters and checking the fatigue life scale design of submarine slender cylindrical structures.

Comparación de métodos de propagación de grietas de fatiga

[ES]En este documento se van a evaluar los diferentes métodos que existen para predecir el crecimiento de grieta, suponiendo la iniciación de ésta conocida. Se hará un estudio bibliográfico de los mismos y se implementarán en un archivo Excel. Se obtendrá la representación de la influencia de distintos parámetros en la duración de la pieza bajo fatiga. Se extraerán las conclusiones y las limitaciones de los métodos aplicado.

Multi-mode Vortex-induced Vibration of Slender Cable Experiencing Shear Flow

The dynamic characteristics of slender cable often present serried modes with low frequencies due to large structure flexibility resulted from high aspect ratio (ratio of length to diameter of cable), while the flow velocity distributes non-uniformly along the cable span actually in practical engineering. Therefore, the prediction of the vertex-induce vibration of slender cable suffered from multi-mode and high-mode motions becomes a challenging problem. In this paper a prediction approach based on modal energy is developed to deal with multi-mode lock-in. Then it is applied to the modified wake-oscillator model to predict the VIV displacement and stress responses of cable in non-uniform flow field. At last, illustrative examples are given of which the VIV response of flexible cable in nonlinear shear flow field is analyzed. The effects of flow velocity on VIV are explored. Our results show that both displacement and stress responses become larger as the flow velocity increasing; especially higher stress response companied with higher frequency vibration should be paid enough attention in practical design of SFT because of its remarkable influence on structure fatigue life.

No-flow underfill flip chip assembly–an experimental and modeling analysis

In the flip-chip assembly process, no-flow underfill materials have a particular advantage over traditional underfill: the application and curing of the former can be undertaken before and during the reflow process. This advantage can be exploited to increase the flip-chip manufacturing throughput. However, adopting a no-flow underfill process may introduce reliability issues such as underfill entrapment, delamination at interfaces between underfill and other materials, and lower solder joint fatigue life. This paper presents an analysis on the assembly and the reliability of flip-chips with no-flow underfill. The methodology adopted in the work is a combination of experimental and computer-modeling methods. Two types of no-flow underfill materials have been used for the flip chips. The samples have been inspected with X-ray and scanning acoustic microscope inspection systems to find voids and other defects. Eleven samples for each type of underfill material have been subjected to thermal shock test and the number of cycles to failure for these flip chips have been found. In the computer modeling part of the work, a comprehensive parametric study has provided details on the relationship between the material properties and reliability, and on how underfill entrapment may affect the thermal–mechanical fatigue life of flip chips with no-flow underfill.