Aluminum alloys are primary structural materials in aircraft fuel systems, where jet fuel can significantly affect the crack propagation behavior of the materials. This paper presents a model for calculating the crack growth rate of aluminum alloys in jet fuel environment. The model is based on elastoplastic fracture mechanics and revises the interaction terms in the linear superposition model by taking into account corrosion damage and crack closure effects. The derivation process of the model is discussed in detail. To validate the efficacy of the model, fatigue crack propagation tests were conducted on three types of aviation aluminum alloys, namely 2524-T3, 7050-T7451, and 7075-T62, in the jet fuel environment. The experimental results were compared with crack growth rates in the laboratory air environment. Findings indicate that the proposed model effectively captures the primary trends observed in the experimental data. In addition, the failure surfaces of the specimens were observed using a super-depth-of-field optical microscopy system. When subjected to jet fuel, among three materials tested, the 7075-T62 alloy was found to have the roughest failure surface. This increased roughness contributing to crack closure was identified as one of the reasons why its fatigue crack growth rate is significantly lower in the jet fuel than in air.

This study presents a procedure based on constant amplitude (CA) fatigue data to predict the statistical fatigue lifetime of glass/orthopolyester composites subjected to repeated ordered and random two, three, and six sequences of block loadings. A numerical routine was developed to detect cycle-by-cycle the statistical strength degradation progression until failure, assuming that the strength at the end of a block cycle equals the strength at the start of the successive one and that the individual samples’ static strength, residual strength, and fatigue life share the same rank in their respective cumulative distribution function. Predictions conform to the statistically undetectable loading sequence effects and lightly overestimate the lifetimes of random and ordered high-to-low (1/100 cycles) repeated two-block loadings. The vanishing effect of the loading sequence when the block extents remain fixed, the block extent effects for a given three-block sequence, and the lifetimes of three-block loadings were fully predicted. The six-block sequence’s experimental lifetimes with different block loading orders and block extent fell within the predicted lifetimes’ cumulative distribution function. A reliable damage rule based on residual strength was proposed and compared to the Miner’s rule.

In this paper, the low-cycle fatigue fracture behavior and life prediction of Cr –Ni –Mo –V gun steel at room temperature and 600 ℃ are studied. The results indicated that at room temperature and 600 ℃, the Cr –Ni –Mo –V gun steel exhibited obvious monotony softening and cyclic softening. This behavior could be attributed to the formation of dislocation networks, dislocation walls, dynamic recovery, and dynamic recrystallization. As the temperature increased, the failure mode gradually shifted from mixed transgranular and intergranular fractures to intergranular fractures possibly owing to the reduced grain boundary strength and easy oxidation of the grain boundary at high temperatures. In addition, the fatigue life prediction model considering the influence of temperature is established by using the energy dissipation quadratic function, offering a practical method to improve the fatigue performance evaluation of Cr –Ni –Mo –V gun steel at various temperature.

X-ray computed tomography is an extremely useful tool for the non-destructive analysis of additively manufactured (AM) components. AM components often show manufacturing defects such as high porosity, rough surfaces, or a lack of fusion (LoF) between production layers. These imperfections can be detrimental for the fatigue life of components. To better understand how cracks initiate and grow from internal defects, we fabricated Ti-6Al-4V samples with an internal cavity using electron beam powder bed fusion (PBF-EB/M). The samples were tested in the high-cycle fatigue (HCF) and very high-cycle fatigue (VHCF) regime using ultrasonic testing equipment and analyzed with X-ray computed tomography (XCT). X-ray imaging was used to locate crack initiation sites around defects and to measure characteristic properties of the crack and the defects with the aid of deep learning segmentation tools. LoF defects exposed to the outer surface of the samples due to machining and post-processing, were found to be as detrimental to the fatigue life as the printed central artificial defects. The work presented here can benefit industries that utilize the AM of high-strength, light-weight alloys, such as aerospace and medicine, in the design and manufacturing of components by improving part reliability and fatigue life.

This study investigates the shear fracture behaviors in UHPC under direct shear conditions using Z-shaped specimens and acoustic emission (AE) monitoring. The effect of steel fiber (SSF) contents (1%, 2%, 2.5%, and 3%) on the failure process and the relative slip of cracks at different loading stages were measured and evaluated. The results indicate that increasing the SSF content significantly enhances the ultimate shear stress and ductility, effectively limits crack propagation and formation, and reduces the extent of damage for UHPC. During the failure process, an increase in the SSF content results in higher cumulative AE energy and a tendency for the peak frequency to shift towards the low-frequency range. Additionally, increasing the SSF content expands the range of wavelet entropy values and delays the occurrence of wavelet entropy. Due to the reinforcement effects of SSF, the primary crack type evolved from shear to tensile during the failure process.

This study explores the varying thermal response of additively manufactured samples of AlSi10Mg subjected to cyclic loading. The thermal response is driven primarily by the self-heating effect. The paper explores the viability of employing thermographic methods to establish an S-N curve for fatigue life prediction with fewer samples than traditionally required from constant-amplitude tests. Specific Self-Heating tests are conducted, gradually increasing the loading amplitude while monitoring the specimen's temperature. The validity of evaluated solution is compared with the own experimental data including the impact of four heat treatments on the samples from one AM batch, leading to valuable insights and conclusions.

Wave-induced fatigue damage is inevitable for the deepwater steel catenary riser (SCR). To accurately evaluate the fatigue performance of the full-scale SCR using small-size specimens, five kinds of fatigue testing strategies were explored, considering the effect of welding residual stress. Further, the corresponding fatigue tests were conducted regarding the welded joint specimens with the same weld profile, and the relevant differences in fatigue testing results were comprehensively analyzed. Through comparison with the full-scale resonant bending fatigue testing results, the most equivalent strategy using small-scale specimens was confirmed. The relevant results indicated that compared with the fatigue lives of full-scale pipeline joint specimens, the fatigue testing lives under the constant applied maximum stress of the yield strength for base material or the constant applied mean stress of the peak value of transverse welding residual stress strategy are relatively lower. The fatigue life values obtained from the high-stress ratio testing strategy are higher, especially in the low-stress range region. Comparatively, the fatigue lives obtained under the 80 mm wide specimen without the cutting process strategy were higher in the high-stress range region. The variable applied mean stress strategy using the 25 mm wide welded joint specimen was most suitable for equivalence with full-scale fatigue testing results, and the difference in the fatigue life testing results was only 9.7%. The difference between the applied mean stress and the actual transverse welding residual stress under various fatigue testing strategies is the key to affecting the equivalence of fatigue testing results.

The surface morphology has a significant influence on the fatigue behavior of components. For austenitic stainless steels (ASSs), this issue is even more pronounced due to their metastability. Based on the complex deformation mechanisms of metastable ASSs, which include dislocation slip, deformation twinning, and deformation-induced martensitic phase transformation, the metastable stainless steel AISI 347 was investigated in this study together with the stable AISI 904L as a reference material. 4-point bending fatigue tests with load ratio R = 0.1 and testing frequency f = 10 Hz at ambient temperature were carried out on specimens with 5 technically relevant surfaces morphologies: mechanical polished, milled, micro-shot peened, laser shock-peened, and ultrasonic modified. Systematic material characterizations were carried out to clarify the key influences of these morphologies on the fatigue behavior. Deformation-induced martensite layers were proven to improve the fatigue life in metastable austenitic steels, which open perspectives to extend the lifetime of components.

The blasting excavation process during underground rock mass engineering can induce severe stress disturbance, resulting in spalling and damage to the surrounding rock mass in the tunnels, which can seriously compromise the underground engineering construction. In the present work, an experimental blast loading device was developed to study the dynamic response of rocks under explosive loads, which could vary the utilization of explosive gas energy by changing the constraint conditions. The device employed a high-speed camera to record the stress wave propagation and failure characteristics on the surface of the specimen and verified the reliability of the experimental results using an ultra-dynamic strain gauge. The developed apparatus was used to explore the failure characteristics and stress wave propagation laws in red sandstone under different explosion gas energies. The complete process of stress wave propagation in red sandstone was captured under different explosive gas energies, from an intact form to failure, and the attenuation law of stress waves was obtained. The experimental results showed that when the explosive stress wave traversed through the specimen, it primarily experienced tensile strain, with maximum tensile strain observed at the free surface. The stress wave propagation in the specimen varied under different explosive loads, leading to varying overall failure characteristics of the specimen. The larger the amplitude of the stress wave, the greater the spatial attenuation coefficients of the compression wave and the tensile wave. The thickness of the spalling fracture was determined based on the wave width of the stress wave λ 1, the attenuation coefficient of the stress wave α, and the longitudinal wave velocity C 0. The closer the crack is to the bottom of the specimen, the smaller the thickness. The experimental results provide theoretical guidance to understand the strong dynamic disturbance behavior and progressive instability failure phenomenon in deep underground engineering.

Metal Additive Manufacturing technologies provide new opportunities for manufacturing complex components. However, the limited and scattered data on damage tolerance behavior is hindering adoption in safe-critical applications. A design of experiments (DOE) is used in this study to provide an understanding of the Electron Beam Melted (EBM) Ti6Al4V fracture toughness properties. Three builds comprised of 150 compact tension samples were printed representative of the EBM build chamber, followed by surface machining, microstructural characterization, X-ray microcomputed tomography (µCT), and fracture toughness testing per ASTM E399. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistics on the influence and interaction of intra-build design parameters on the As-Built and Machined samples showed orientation, build location, and geometry to contribute to property variation. EBM fracture toughness reported an average of 65 MPa√m, with an increase in build height and proximity to the center of the build envelope. The location- and size-dependent properties resulted from changes in microstructure and porosity throughout the build space. While intra-build design variation was present, the EBM Ti6Al4V fracture toughness properties reported a 10% overall variation comparable to wrought and cast alloys. The extensive experimental work in this study shows EBM Ti6Al4V to be a repeatable and reliable alloy for use in load-bearing applications.

To provide more suggestions for the anti-fatigue design of cold-formed steel, a series of high-cycle fatigue tests are carried out on cold-rolled steel sheets connected by self-tapping screws and blind rivets in this paper. Subsequently, fatigue failure mode, fatigue strength, and fatigue damage are analyzed in detail. The test results show that all the effective data points are below the S- N curve of screws in the code. Meanwhile, the fatigue limit of the fitted curves with 95% survival probability is between 0.3 and 0.67 times the specification. Besides, the fatigue damage expansion rate of cold-rolled steel sheets is less than the standard value. Through further discussion, it is noticed that base metal grade has little influence on the fatigue performance, and thickness has a significantly positive influence on the shear resistance and fatigue performance. Moreover, the fatigue performance of the two types of connections is similar.

The engineering rockmass is often prone to compression, therefore how to establish a fracture criterion to reflect the rockmass compression failure is vital. Take the rockmass with one oblique crack for instance, the mechanical behavior of the oblique crack face closure and friction sliding under uniaxial compression is firstly analyzed, and then the Kolossoff-Muskhelishvilli stress function of the rockmass under uniaxial compression is established based on the complex stress functions. Next, the calculation methods of the stress intensity factor (SIF) K and three T-stress components at or near the crack tip considering three kinds of crack parameters (e.g. geometry parameter, friction strength parameter and deformation parameter) are obtained. Thirdly, the improved maximum tangential stress (MTS) criterion is obtained considering T-stress and three kinds of crack parameters. Finally, the relevant experiments done by other researchers are adopted to verify the improved MTS criterion. Meanwhile, the effect of γ, the crack normal stiffness kn and shear stiffness ks, and the crack friction coefficient f on the wing-crack initiation angle are discussed with the parametric sensitivity analysis.

Infrared Thermography has been under review in the last thirty years due to its versatility and potential in the detection of the thermal signature associated with intrinsic energy phenomena due to dissipative processes, specifically those relying on mechanical fatigue. Nowadays, it is a well-established technique that can support mechanical and structural engineers to implement a damage-tolerant design, assess the residual life, and finally characterize the fatigue behavior of materials. The aim of this work is to review all thermography-based approaches and procedures for fatigue limit estimation by rapid tests, draw considerations on the role of thermal methods in mechanical design and machine construction, and discuss the pros and cons of each method and open points. This review is intended on one hand, as a warning/guideline to direct new research toward issues that have not been fully resolved or understood yet and on the other hand, to sum up, what has already been done in the field.

Due to the additional local stress concentration caused by undercut and misaligned defects, welded joints own less fatigue strength. This work uses probabilistic technique and fracture mechanics theory to quantitatively investigate the impacts of undercuts and misalignments on fatigue performance and reliability of Load-carrying Cruciform Welded Joint (LCWJ). Firstly, the geometrical characteristics summary of the size and type of undercuts and misalignments are provided from researches and experiments. Subsequently. Evaluations of the stress levels are combined with the nominal loadings in LCWJs, probabilistic distributions of material fracture properties, and various configurations of geometries and flaws. Meanwhile, the estimations of fatigue strengths are conducted by the probabilistic reliability theory by taking into account the distributions of the actual fatigue data. The findings reveal a clear disparity between the base metal and weldment test results. Different reliability levels for various defect types and sizes and in LCWJs are caused by the tolerance limits.

Four different types of specimens were prepared from the center and the periphery of two large IN706 forged discs of commercial scale, and low cycle fatigue (LCF) tests were conducted at 650 oC. The IN706 specimens with lower LCF lives showed relatively large fraction of cleavage-like fracture along linearly aligned η (Ni 3Ti) precipitates in the area of crack propagation. The amount of η precipitates for those specimens with greater LCF lives was negligible, and the fracture mode of crack propagation was dominantly intergranular. Crack initiation was mainly by persistent slip band (PSB) cracking at the surface, and no notable difference was found for each specimen. The correlation between tensile properties, grain size and LCF lives of IN706 at 650 oC appeared to be not as significant as expected.

In order to raise the hardness and strength of the surface layer of mechanical components and induce favourable residual compressive stresses, case-hardening procedures have become established in the heat treatment of steel. In this work, a calculation concept for the fatigue strength of components that have been case-hardened through carburizing heat-treatment is being developed. The residual stress and the load stresses in complex-shaped, carburized materials are determined using a finite element (FE) model. The fatigue limit of the components is derived using probabilistic methods and taking into account hardness gradients, residual stresses, and non-metallic inclusions. The model is validated with available axial bending fatigue test data and then used to predict the rotating bending fatigue limit of samples with various geometries and heat-treatment conditions. This work demonstrates the capability of combining probabilistic and FE-based modelling to represent complex interactions between variables that affect the fatigue of heat-treated components, such as steel cleanliness, notch shape, case-hardening depth, or loading conditions.

The fatigue analysis of structural components is a relevant research topic in both scientific and industrial communities. Despite major advances in understanding, fatigue damage remains a significant issue for both metallic and non-metallic components, sometimes leading to unexpected failures of in-service parts. Among the different assessment methodologies, critical plane methods have gained significance as they enable identification of a component’s critical location and direction of early crack propagation. However, the standard plane scanning method for calculating critical plane factors is computationally intensive and, for that, it is only applied when the component critical regions are already known. When critical areas are not easily identifiable due to complex geometries, loads or constraints, a more efficient method for evaluating critical plane factors would be required. This work presents a closed form solution for efficiently evaluating the Fatemi-Socie critical plane factor, in case of linear-elastic material behaviour and proportional loading conditions, based on tensor invariants and coordinates transformation laws. The proposed algorithm was tested on different test cases (i.e. hourglass, notched and welded joint geometries) under different loading conditions (i.e. tensile, bending and torsion) and showed a significant reduction in computation time compared to the standard plane scanning method.

This study aims to revealing the relationship between retained austenite (RA) morphology, deformation-induced transformation (DIPT) behavior and surface wear behavior. The hardening and fatigue behavior during wear of continuous film-like RA (CFRA), blocky RA (BRA), discontinuous film-like RA (DFRA) and point or flocculent RA (PRA) achieved through different tempering process was investigated using quasi-in-situ fatigue test and impact abrasive wear test. RA morphology exhibited a significant influence on hardening and fatigue behavior during wear. CFRA exhibited the best wear properties, owing to its excellent fatigue performance and hardening capacity. The BRA displayed relative high wear performance, with adequate hardening capacity but weak fatigue performance. DFRA demonstrated comparable wear resistance to BRA due to better fatigue performance. PRA exhibited deficient wear performance due to insufficient fatigue properties and low work hardening ability.