The thermal activation of cummulative fatigue damage at ultrasonic frequencies

Abstract

Internal friction, modulus defects and the initial occurrence of slip lines on the surface of armco iron specimens were studied during and after loading at 22.5 kHz, at temperatures of 296, 333, 373 and 423 K and with strain amplitudes ranging from 1.5 × 10 -7 to 4 × 10 -4. At a particular strain, amplitude dependent internal friction begins, the modulus starts to change and the slip lines may be observed. These strain amplitudes are thermally affected by activation energies of 25.1, 16.7 or 13.6 J kmol -1 as defined by the Arrhenius equation.