Fatigue fracture assessment of high strength steel using thermographic analysis

Abstract

Fatigue behaviour is most commonly evaluated in uni-axial cyclic stress tests using standardised dog-bone samples. When components are sharply bent into shape and subjected to cyclic loading, the fatigue damage will accumulate at the inside of the bend. This paper reports on an experimental investigation about the feasibility of infrared thermographic techniques to monitor fatigue damage initiation and accumulation. By monitoring spectral components of the thermal response, the fatigue limit, the onset of crack initiation and the ratio of initiation to propagation lifetime can all be determined. Also the effect of surface treatments on initiation properties is investigated. Most results are consistent with expected behaviour based on a previous study, indicating that thermographic techniques have a greater sensitivity and can be used to reduce the number of samples and time required for fatigue characterisation.