Variable amplitude fatigue of high-strength cast iron alloys for automotive applications

In the automotive sector, the cumulative damage calculation method generally applied is the Palmgren–Miner-Hypothesis with its modification according to Haibach (steeper slope of the SN-line after the knee-point) as a means of also including the damage by stress amplitudes below the knee-point. This approach results in the total damage sum of the spectrum D_spec. However, the resulting question is the value of the allowable damage sum D_al for the evaluation of D_spec ? D_al. The only design code that considers the assessment of cast iron components under spectrum loading is the FKM-Guideline of the Cooperative Research Association for Mechanical Engineering (FKM, Frankfurt/Germany) for designing machine components. Here, the theoretical Palmgren–Miner-damage sum D_th = 1.0 is still suggested as the allowable damage sum D_al despite the fact that this damage sum renders unsafe calculated fatigue lives in about 90% of all published results.The results obtained with component-like notched specimens of modern high-strength cast iron alloys (R_m = 650–800 MPa) such as EN-GJS-500-7, SiboDur 700-10 and MADI (Machinable Austempered Ductile Iron), which were investigated under a standard Gaussian spectrum for chassis applications and also for a fuller injection pump spectrum, suggest the allowable damage sum D_al = 0.3 for fatigue life estimations of components manufactured with these materials can be proposed; i.e. the allowable fatigue life is about one third compared to calculations with the theoretical damage sum D_th = 1.0 that is still used.