AIM OF THE EXPERIMENT: Determination of fatigue strength / endurance limit of a mild steel

specimen.
APPARATUS REQUIRED:
i. Fatigue testing machine
ii. Load pan
iii. Different sizes of load
iv. Collects
v. Digital Tachometer
vi. Specimen
THEORY: A metal subjected to a repetitive or fluctuating stress will fail at a stress much lower than
required to cause fracture on a single application of load. Failures occurring under conditions of dynamic
loading are called fatigue failures .The failure of a metal under repeated pulsating or reversing stresses is
called fatigue. Fatigue has become progressively more prevalent as technology has developed a greater
amount of equipment, such as automobiles, aircraft, compressors, pumps, turbines etc., subjected to
repeated loading and vibrations, until today it is often stated that fatigue accounts for at least 90 % of all
service failures due to mechanical causes.
So in selecting a metal for manufacturing a m/c component it is necessary to take into consideration
its resistance to fatigue failure, i.e. its ability to withstand a large no. of repeated varying stresses. The
resistance of a metal to fatigue failure is determined by its fatigue limit /endurance limit. The fatigue
limit is obtained on the basis of 5 millions cycles for steel and on a basis of 20 millions cycles for light
cast alloys.
To carry out fatigue test many machines have been developed. But for laboratory investigations a rotary
bending test is often used .The m/c is meant for bending test of a cantilever test piece in rotation .The
test is conducted by a steady bending moment to a rotating shaft via ball bearings fitted with load
hanger . When the shaft rotates the test piece passes through tension and compression stresses
alternately. The maximum stress always occurs at the surface, halfway along the length of the specimen
where cross section is minimum. For each complete rotation of the specimen, a point in the surface
originally at the top center goes alternately from a maximum in compression to maximum in tension and
then back to the same maximum in compression are tested to failure using different t loads, and the no.
of cycles before failure is noted for each load. The results of such tests are plotted as graphs of applied
stress against the logarithms of the no. of cycles to failure. The curve is known as S.N.




DESCRIPTION OF MACHINE :The fatigue m/c consists
Of a motor,which carries the collect .This holds the spe-
Cimen .Two ball bearings fitted with load hangers are
Provided from the square mettalic frame. The specimen
Passes through these ball bearings .Additional load and
Loadpans are also provided with the m/c.A digital tacho-
Meter is kept fixed for recording the no. of cycles of rotation
The input for speed sgnal of the tachometer is taken from the
rotation of specimen. The wholesystm is placed on a platform.
PROCEDURE : Take the collect .Fix it on the spindle of motor where keyways are privided.Insert the
mild steel specimen I it .Put the collect nut through the specimen and tighten them in position .For this
operation , the load pans has to be kept at proper heights for easy insertion of the ,this may be done by
the hand .Put the designed weight at the pan. Put the plug into the mains and be sure of the earth
connections .Switch on the mains . Reset tachometer at zero.Start the motor.The m/c will run still the
breaks .Calculate the stress applied in each test . Plot F verses N curve.
OBSERVATION :
Load(w) Av.Dia. of specimen(d) No.of cycles(N) StressfN/mm
2

Endurance limit =__________________cycles
PRECAUTIONS :
1)The load should be applied after the desired speed has been attained.
2)The load should be applied incrementally.