High cycle fatigue (HCF) testing is an essential part of both material engineering and structural design. Currently, high cycle tests are the tool used to carry out the endurance and reliability assessments of various materials and components that are subjected to cyclic loading in their operational life. In these tests, engineers subject materials and structures to repetitive mechanical stresses or strains, simulating the conditions they may face during normal usage. This would be to determine comprehensively how materials behave under repeated cycles of loading and unloading as well as up to what point they fail because of fatigue.
High cycle fatigue testing is a versatile tool that finds applications significantly in aerospace, automotive, civil engineering, and manufacturing fields where reliability and safety of parts are always critical.
What is HCF high cycle fatigue?
HCF is often especially useful for materials under lower applied forces and subjected to elastic kinds of deformation. In general, HCF tests are force-controlled and typically run to at least one million cycles.
These tests show the influence of cyclic forces on a product or material over time when different loads, speeds, and environmental conditions are applied. Our methods for fatigue testing, including high-cycle fatigue, are effective in simulating specific scenarios as well as failure situations in real life.
Testing Procedure for HCF
High cycle fatigue tests are typically conducted in specimens either in load/stress control with a view to observing S-N (Stress-Life) curves. S-N curve can be obtained through carrying out the tests on specimens under constant load/stress, noting down the number of cycles to failure. Data is further compiled and best fit trend is applied. This will thus create a relation between the particular level of load/ stress and the fatigue life of the material.
The frequency for a specimen in a test of HCF varies between 20 Hz and 100 Hz depending upon the types of the material and test conditions. Testing continues until failure of specimens or till the number of cycles is reached to some predetermined number.
Why Test at HFG?
High-cycle fatigue testing is performed for several very significant reasons.
These materials can be selected to ensure compliance with the specifications for designs and regulatory standards in material assessment and component safety, under long-term durability in terms of assessing potential points of failure under cyclic loading. Engineers could then design more robust and reliable structures that have significantly lower probabilities of catastrophic failures.
Thirdly, data from these tests will be useful in selecting appropriate materials for specific applications.
There are also third steps of the HCF testing process-the research and development activity in which one sets out to explore the fatigue behavior of new materials and to elaborate improvements in existing materials for scientists and engineers.
Finally, high cycle fatigue testing is directly involved in the structural integrity and reliability of a broad-based product, from everyday consumer goods to some critical infrastructures and high-performance machinery.
