There is no infinite fatigue life in metallic materials

Abstract

Generally, the shape of the S–N curve beyond 107 cycles is unknown except in some statistical approaches, and this is also true for the fatigue limit. In the case of a statistical approach, the standard deviation applied to the average fatigue limit is certainly not the best way to reduce the risk of rupture in fatigue. Only the exploration of the life range between 106 and 1010 cycles will create a safer basis for modelling.Today, some piezoelectric fatigue machines are very reliable, capable of producing 1010 cycles in less than 1 week. We based our research on accelerated fatigue tests which were performed at 20 kHz in the gigacyclic fatigue regime in order to study several typical alloys from the aeronautical and space industries.