A Study of the Low Cycle Fatigue Characteristics of Annealed AISI 347 Stainless Steel And Overaged 6951-T6 Aluminum Push-Pull Specimens
In a cyclic application the Neuber theory becomes the Wetzel-Morrow approach. The Neuber theory for stresses and strains in a notch is extended to apply to specimens for which the nominal stresses and strains in the material in the field adjacent to the notch may exceed the elastic limit. Also, when the cyclic nominal stresses and strains exceed the elastic or proportional limit of the materials, this extension can be applied if a mechanism external to the nominal stress field is applied to cause the stress field to change in a predetermined manner for each successive cycle. In the case of a notched push-pull specimen, the external mechanism would be a tensile test machine and the field adjacent to the notch would be that of the nominally induced stresses and strains by means of the machine. The state of stress and strain in the notch is the result of the shape and size of the notch as well as the nominal stresses and strains adjacent to the notch. A supporting test program is discussed which dealt with the low cycle fatigue testing of two metals, AISI 347 stainless steel and 6951-T6 aluminum. A push-pull specimen was used which was designed to handle fully reversed cyclic loads from 100 cycles on up. Both fatigue and cyclic stress-strain tests were performed. The strain ranges predicted by the extended theory were inserted in the Universal Slopes equation and the cyclic lives of the specimens at various applied stress levels were determined, including those exceeding the elastic limit of the material. Good correlation was obtained between theory and experiment at the temperature levels tested. The steel specimens were tested at room temperature and 1000°F (537°C) and the aluminum specimens at room temperature and 300°F (149°C).