Mean stress effect in stress-life for hard steels

• Published in: International journal of fatigue Vol. 146; p. 106101
• Main Authors: Gaia da Silva, D., Lockwood, J.T., Liang, W., Topper, T.H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01-05-2021; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Aluminum; Carburizing; Compressive properties; Constant amplitude tests; Error correction; Fatigue; Fatigue limit; Hard steels; Materials fatigue; Mean stress; New mean stress rule; Steels; Mean stress; Constant amplitude tests; Fatigue; New mean stress rule; Hard steels
• ISSN: 0142-1123; 1879-3452
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2020.106101

•A compressive mean stress rule for carburized steels.•This rule allows an increase in design stresses in compression.•For negative mean stresses fatigue life is insensitive to minimum stress.
This paper examines the effect of mean stress on the fatigue behavior of very hard carburized steels. Current theories suggest that the maximum stress at the fatigue limit continuously decreases with decreasing minimum stress whereas the results of this study indicate that the maximum stress remains constant for minimum stresses less than the fully reversed constant amplitude fatigue limit minimum stress. The theory proposed by the authors corrects this error by maintaining the maximum stress at the fatigue limit constant with decreasing minimum stress in the compressive mean stress region.