Fatigue, Hysteresis and Acoustic Emission. Parts 1 and 2

The basic objective of this research program is to characterize the development of material fatigue by means of stress-strain hysteresis and acoustic emission measurements. We have conjectured that the accumulation and organization of damage in material fatigue is similar to the progressive failure of structures under cyclic loading. And, specifically, that the endurance limit of a material in fatigue is the analogue of the incremental collapse load of a structure. Since the principal features of the service life and failure of structures can be completely described by hysteresis methods, it is plausible that similar means can be used to characterize the inception and organization of microplastic processes in materials. Experiments were conducted upon nearly 100 specimens made of Rimmed AISI 1018 Unannealed Steel. This material was selected because extensive data on its performance exists in the engineering literature and because its stress - strain curve is of the gradual yielding type thus mirroring at least the monotonic stress - strain behavior of many of the kinds of metals of used in the aircraft industry.