Thermomechanical fatigue—damage mechanisms and mechanism-based life prediction methods

An existing extensive database on the isothermal and thermomechanical fatigue behaviour of high-temperature titanium alloy EVII 834 and dispersoid-strengthened aluminum alloy X8019 in SiC particle-reinforced as well as unreinv conditions was used to evaluate both the adaptability of fracture mechanics approaches to TMF and the resulting predictive capabilities of determining material life by crack propagation consideration. Selection of the correct microstructural concepts was emphasised and these concepts were, then adjusted by using data from independent experiments in order to avoid any sort of fitting. It is shown that the cyclic /-integral (δJ_eff concept) is suitable to predict the cyclic lifetime for conditions where the total crack propagation rate is approximately identical to pure fatigue crack growth velocity. In the case that crack propagation is strongly affected by creep, the creep-fatigue damage parameter δ_CF introduced by Riedel can be successfully applied. If environmental effects are very pronounced, the accelerating influence of corrosion on fatigue crack propagation can no longer implicitly be taken into account in the fatigue crack growth law. Instead, a linear combination of the crack growth rate contributions from plain fatigue (determined in vacuum) and from environmental attack is assumed and found to yield a satisfactory prediction, if the relevant corrosion process is taken into account.     

Corrosion fatigue of extruded magnesium alloys

Corrosion fatigue tests were carried out on extruded AZ31 (3% Al, 1% Zn, 0.3% Mn, Mg—the rest), AM50 (5% Al, 0.4% Mn, Mg—the rest) and ZK60 (5% Zn, 0.5% Zr, Mg—the rest) Mg alloys in air, NaCl-based and borate solutions. N_sol/N_air ratios (the relative fatigue life) were used for the analysis of the corrosion fatigue behavior of Mg alloys in various environments, where N_sol and N_air are the numbers of cycles to failure in the solution and in air, respectively. Extruded ZK60 alloy reveals very high fatigue and corrosion fatigue properties in comparison with other alloys. However, it has the lowest relative fatigue life (N_sol/N_air 10⁻³–10⁻²) or the highest sensitivity to the action of NaCl-based solutions in comparison with that of AM50 and AZ31 alloys (N_sol/N_air 10⁻²–10⁻¹). Under the same stress, the corrosion fatigue life of extruded alloys is significantly longer than that of die-cast alloys (N_sol for extruded AM50 in NaCl is two to three times longer than that of die-cast AM50).     

Application of the dynamical flexural resonance technique to industrial materials characterisation

The determination of the Young’s modulus and damping coefficient Q⁻¹ by means of non-destructive vibrating techniques has been applied to bulk and coated industrial materials. Extensions of a previous analytic model of composite beam allow to determine accurately the macroscopic modulus of each component of multilayered structural materials as coated superalloys or nitride-hardened steels. Furthermore, the study of glasses and polymers has been investigated. An attempt of normalisation of the modulus versus temperature curves allows to establish master curves depending on the specific structure, from metallic glasses to polymeric glasses. Finally a comparison of dynamical modulus and Q⁻¹ values measured between resonant (>1 kHz) and subresonant techniques (10⁻³ to 10 Hz) in relation to the loading frequencies applied in real conditions has been under folder. For metallic materials such as forged or rolled titanium alloys, the brittle-to-fragile transition occurs abruptly or smoothly with a shift of 300 K following the range of excitation frequencies.     

Friction Stir Welding of Ceramic Particle Reinforced Aluminium Based Metal Matrix Composites

The mechanical and microstructural properties of 6061+20% Al₂O_3p and 7005+10% Al₂O_3p aluminium based metal matrix composites joined by friction stir welding were analyzed in the present study. The two materials were welded into the form of sheets of 7 mm thickness after T6 treatment and were tested in tension at room temperature. The microstructure of the joints was observed by optical microscopy and the fracture surfaces were analyzed by employing a scanning electron microscope equipped with field emission gun in order to study the micromechanisms involved during the deformation.     

Influence of fretting on the fatigue strength at the vise clamp-specimen interface

Fretting fatigue is one of the most important phenomena for inducing a significant reduction of fatigue strength and consequently, leading to unexpected failure accidents of the engineering structures even at very low stresses. In the present study, both plain and fretting fatigue tests with zero mean stress were carried out on two different types of steel, low-carbon steel and martensitic stainless steel, by means of a reversed bending fatigue testing machine. The drop in the fatigue strengths through fretting at vise clamp-specimen interface were significant for both tested steels. The fretting processes produced a reduction in fatigue strength of about 27% for low-carbon steel and 16% for martensitic stainless steel.     

Low Temperature Elastic Constants of Polycrystalline MgB2

We have used a resonant ultrasound spectroscopy technique to measure the bulk and shear modulus of fully dense, polycrystalline MgB₂ between 4 and 300 K. Both moduli show good agreement with published first principle calculations. The internal friction shows a broad maximum around 40 K.     

THE STICKY ISSUES OF DRYING

Unconrolled agglomeration of particles and adhesion of the particulate mass to wall surfaces are common severe problems in many drying operations. This paper reviews the mechanisms of interparticle and particle-surface attraction as well as the theory and the existing tests for characterising powders in terms of internal strength, wall friction and adhesion. The usefulness of the information obtained from these tests in dryer design and operation is critically reviewed. The importance of powder stickiness in various types of dryers is discussed and established methods of combating the problem are presented Recommendations an made for further research in the area of powder cohesion and adhesion.     

A time series approach to fatigue crack propagation

The inherently nonlinear phenomenon of fatigue crack propagation is modeled as a linear random process. To a first approximation, simple, nonstationary time series models are introduced and standard techniques for determining the parameters of autoregressive integrated moving-average processes are applied. Multiplicative time series models are next utilised for the representation of a group of crack history curves. Implementation of the models on the Virkler experimental data set yields satisfactory results. Reliable Gaussian approximations to the distribution of the time required by a crack to reach a specified critical length are obtained, and the usefulness of the approach is demonstrated when updating lifetime predictions after periodic inspections.     

适用于稠油开采的游梁式抽油机设计分析

在稠油开采中,抽油杆在液体中运动时,所受到的摩擦阻尼力很大,有时高达几十千牛。上冲程时,该力有加大悬点载荷的作用;下冲程时,该力使抽油杆下行困难,甚至悬点载荷为零。为了开采稠油,必须根据其特点设计适应的游梁式抽油机。文章分析了稠油用抽油机的受力特点,提出了该类抽油机的设计要求。     

Temperature–stress–strain trajectory modelling during thermo-mechanical fatigue

The isothermal strain‐life approach is the most commonly used approach for determining fatigue damage, particularly when yielding occurs. Computationally it is extremely fast and generally requires elastic finite element analyses only. Therefore, it has been adapted for variable temperatures. Local temperature—stress–strain behaviour is modelled with an operator of the Prandtl type. The hysteresis loops are supposed to be stabilized and no creep is considered. The consequences of reversal point filtering are analysed. The approach is finally compared to several thermo‐mechanical fatigue tests and the Skelton model.