Department of Mechanical Design & Production
Fourth Year Mechanical Engineering Laboratory MDP 407
(2024-2025)
Machine Surface Roughness Effect on the Material Life for the
Rotating Bending Fatigue
Prepared by: Dr. Sherif Ali Abd El Rahman
Introduction:
Fatigue failures occur when metal is subjected to repetitive or fluctuating stress
and will fail at a stress much lower than its tensile strength. Most of the fatigue
failure can’t be expected, and it is a catastrophic failure without warning.
Approximately 90% of the metallic failures are due to fatigue. Parts and
components that move or rotate are subjected to fatigue. Aircraft, vehicles,
turbines, nuclear reactors, and rotating shafts are examples of the fatigue on a
material.
The degree of the surface finish roughness of the component produced by the
machining process has a significant impact on its fatigue life. The surface roughness
sensitivity depends on the component's material and its microstructure. Therefore,
the surface finish of the machined components is considered the main factor that
affects their service life performance. The importance of fatigue testing is to
understand the response of the material to cyclic loading with different degrees of
surface finish roughness.
Objective:
In this experiment, the fatigue life behavior of 4 cylindrical specimens with different
surface roughness degrees will be studied in a rotating bending machine test.
cylindrical specimen
The average surface roughness parameter (Ra) has been used to quantify the
surface roughness of the machined surface for the cylindrical specimens. Ra has
been measured using a contact type stylus-based surface roughness tester, Taylor
Hobson surface roughness analyzers model Surtronic 3P.
Surtronic 3P
The specimen fatigue life will be measured by rotating bending fatigue machine
model RBF-200. In this test, a constant load and constant RPM will be applied for
each specimen.
Rotating Bending Fatigue Machine Model RBF-200
The load will be applied to the specimen in bending with the weight mentioned in
the below schematic. The applied bending moment will be 22.6 KN.mm and the
rotational speed will be 5000 rpm
A schematic drawing of the machine
At the end of the experiment, the student should know:
1. How a rotating bending fatigue machine is used to generate fatigue data.
2. How the data is used to generate an SN curve on a log-log plot.
3. How to measure the surface roughness and understanding its parameters.
4. Understanding the effect of the surface roughness on the fatigue life.
Procedure:
- Prepare 4 specimens from the same alloy, same dimensions, and with
different degrees of surface roughness.
- Measure the surface Roughness parameter (Ra) for each specimen by using
the Surtronic 3P device.
- Mount the specimen on the rotating bending machine and fix it in the
spindle.
- Apply the bending load and select the rotating speed.
- After checking the machine precautions, power it up and start the
stopwatch to count the time to failure.
- Measure the fatigue life for each specimen.
- Plot the fatigue life versus the Ra.
Discussion:
- State the procedure and the precautions to the experiment.
- State the standard number and its recommendation for the rotating bending
fatigue test, the specimen material, and specimen dimensions.
- Describe the characteristics of fatigue fracture surfaces and its stages.
- Plot the fatigue life versus the Ra
- Comment on results and plot.
