A novel method to improve fatigue behaviors of holed structures based on electromagnetic force

In this study, a novel method stress wave strengthening (SWS) process based on electromagnetic force was proposed to improve the fatigue life of holed structures. Corresponding tests were carried out to explore the fatigue performance of SWS. Cold expansion (CE) was also investigated for comparison. The fatigue life of SWS and CE samples were evaluated, moreover, the mechanisms of fatigue failures and life enhancements were also discussed. Results showed that double-side SWS extended fatigue life significantly and reduced stiffness degradation more effectively with respect to CE process. Moreover, fatigue cracks commonly appeared at mid-planes of hole surfaces and horizontally grew in SWS samples, which differed a lot from CE samples. Through the residual stress measurement, it is seen that more uniform residual stress along axial direction can be obtained by SWS compared to CE, which can explain the fatigue life enhancement and failure mechanism of SWS method.

Effect of high-frequency PCB laminate on thermal cycling behavior of electronic packaging structures

PurposeAs the solution to improve fatigue life and mechanical reliability of packaging structure, the material selection in PCB stack-up and partitioning design on PCB to eliminate the electromagnetic interference by keeping all circuit functions separate are suggested to be optimized from the mechanical stress point of view.Design/methodology/approachThe present paper investigated the effect of RO4350B and RT5880 printed circuit board (PCB) laminates on fatigue life of the QFN (quad flat no-lead) packaging structure for high-frequency applications. During accelerated thermal cycling between −50 °C and 100 °C, the mismatched coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) between packaging and PCB materials, initial PCB warping deformation and locally concentrated stress states significantly affected the fatigue life of the packaging structure. The intermetallics layer and mechanical strength of solder joints were examined to ensure the satisfactorily soldering quality prior to the thermal cycling process. The failure mechanism was investigated by the metallographic observations using a scanning electron microscope.FindingsTypical fatigue behavior was revealed by grain coarsening due to cyclic stress, while at critical locations of packaging structures, the crack propagations were confirmed to be accompanied with coarsened grains by dye penetration tests. It is confirmed that the cyclic stress induced fatigue deformation is dominant in the deformation history of both PCB laminates. Due to the greater CTE differences in the RT5880 PCB laminate with those of the packaging materials, the thermally induced strains among different layered materials were more mismatched and led to the initiation and propagation of fatigue cracks in solder joints subjected to more severe stress states.Originality/valueIn addition to the electrical insulation and thermal dissipation, electronic packaging structures play a key role in mechanical connections between IC chips and PCB.

Bringing to Life a Newly Discovered Signature of Fatigue Crack Initiation via Multimodal Characterizations

Fatigue is the most prevalent failure mode in structural materials, yet remains challenging to study due to the seemingly unpredictable nature of crack initiation. To elucidate the driving forces of crack initiation in ductile polycrystalline metals, we employ a multimodal approach to identify and track grains with a suspected potential to initiate fatigue cracks via a newly founded signature. We discover this crack initiation potential (CIP) signature under the hypothesis that slip localization, a well-known precursor to crack initiation, is linked to intragrain misorientation, which can be quantified through single grain orientation distributions. We verify the CIP signature in an Inconel-718 material via static two-dimensional and three-dimensional electron microscopy and “bring to life” the dynamics of the CIP signature via in-situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction. With this CIP signature, we move to better focus studies of fatigue crack initiation on the individual grains and processes that drive fatigue failure.

Novel Four-Cell Lenticular Honeycomb Deployable Boom with Enhanced Stiffness

Composite thin-walled booms can easily be folded and self-deployed by releasing stored strain energy. Thus, such booms can be used to deploy antennas, solar sails, and optical telescopes. In the present work, a new four-cell lenticular honeycomb deployable (FLHD) boom is proposed, and the relevant parameters are optimized. Coiling dynamics analysis of the FLHD boom under a pure bending load is performed using nonlinear explicit dynamics analysis, and the coiling simulation is divided into three consecutive steps, namely, the flattening step, the holding step, and the hub coiling step. An optimal design method for the coiling of the FLHD boom is developed based on a back propagation neural network (BPNN). A full factorial design of the experimental method is applied to create 36 sample points, and surrogate models of the coiling peak moment (Mpeak) and maximum principal stress (Smax) are established using the BPNN. Fatigue cracks caused by stress concentration are avoided by setting Smax to a specific constraint and the wrapping Mpeak and mass of the FLHD boom as objectives. Non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II is used for optimization via ISIGHT software.

Analysis on Stop-hole Parameters for Fatigue Cracks at Arc Notch in Steel Bridge Deck

Two types of fatigue cracks at arc notch in steel bridge deck were repaired by drilling stop-holes. The effect of stop-holes with different diameters and positions was considered. Based on finite element models, the variation laws of stress distribution and the effects of stress concentration were compared for different stop-hole diameters and positions. Analysis results indicated that stop-hole can effectively improve the stress concentration at crack tip and the fatigue life of components can be considerably increased. The crack-stopping performance enhances with the increase of stop-hole diameter, but large stop-hole cannot effectively retard crack growth. The stop-hole performs well with the location at -0.5D∼0.5D. The maximum stress point still appears at crack tip when the stop-hole is outside or inside the crack. The stop-hole diameter has no effect on the stop-hole location.

VHCF Behavior of Welded Joints with HFMI Treatment under Moisture Conditions

Fatigue tests of cruciform welded joints made of Q355B steel at very-high-cycle fatigue (VHCF) regimes were carried out on as-welded specimens using highfrequency mechanical impact (HFMI) treatment in dry air and water-spray environments, respectively. The influence of the environment on fatigue life was more obvious in the VHCF regime. It was found that S-N curves became flat over the range of 106–108 cycles for as-welded specimens, while a continuously decreasing S-N curve existed for HFMI-treated specimens. Fatigue cracks initiated from the weld toe of the as-welded specimens in dry air and water-spray environments. Due to residual stress, the crack initiation site transition of HFMI-treated specimens from the weld toe to the weld root and base metal was observed at lower stress levels. Moreover, hydrogen-assisted quasi-cleavage and intergranular fracture were captured using a scanning electron microscope and a hydrogen permeation test.

Long-Term Performance of Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement with Rapid Strength Concrete On California Highways

Rapid Strength Concrete (RSC) slabs on six California jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP) highway projects were surveyed. These projects had been previously surveyed in 2008 at 3-years of age and by 2018 had reached a service life of 13-years. Of the initial 5430 slabs examined in 2008, a total of 1493 RSC slabs, located on 12 traffic lanes, were observed and distress types recorded again in 2018. These slabs included both CTS and 4x4 RSC located in both inner and outer lanes. Only a small percentage (1.4%) of the 5,430 RSC slabs exhibited any distress in 2008 after 3-years' service and the increases were small over the next 10 years of service with the exception of transverse fatigue cracks. The transverse (top down fatigue) type of cracking had the highest percentage and largest increase of any distress type. The heavy truck outside lanes exhibited 21% transversely cracked RSC slabs and the inner passing lanes 3%. The outer truck lanes carried over 3 times more trucks than inner lanes. The RSC slabs were mostly 200-223 mm thick and thus susceptible to fatigue damage. The overall performance of the RSC slabs (both CTS and 4x4 RSC materials) were similar and considered to be outstanding over 13 years with a large majority expected to survive many more years.

LIFE ASSESSMENT OF RAILS BY CRITERION OF OCCURRENCE OF FATIGUE CRACKS

The paper presents modern concepts of the contact fatigue crack occurrence in the railhead. Numerical simulation of the contact interaction between rails and rolling stock wheels by finite elements method are presented. During the simulation, the problem was solved in elastic and elastic-plastic formulations. We considered R65 rail profile and standard railway wheels. The conditions for the rail–wheel interaction corresponded to train movement on the straight section of the track without slipping. The modern life assessment methodology involves the calculation of the material damage increment at each point of the element as the load varies over time, and subsequent summation of this damage. Upon reaching the ultimate value of the total damage, the structural element is believed to lose its load-carrying capacity, i.e. a crack is formed in it. Despite the substantial simplification of the real problem, the computational costs for the implementation of such methods for predicting the durability will be unnecessarily high. In this regard, we propose the simplified method of the durability calculation.

The effect of corrosion location relative to local stresses on the fatigue life of geometrically-complex, galvanically corroded AA7075-T6

Aluminum components used in aerospace structures are commonly coupled with stainless-steel fasteners. These through-hole geometries on the aluminum substrate cause a concentrated stress field. The high-stresses at the fastener sites can preferentially initiate coating damage allowing for moisture ingress which can lead to the formation of a galvanic couple between the aluminum alloy and the stainless-steel fastener. Corrosion damage is known to favorably initiate fatigue cracks thus severely reducing the total life of the component. This work aims to understand the relative impact and interaction of fastener hole geometry induced stress concentrations and corrosion damage on the fatigue crack initiation behavior. Specifically, by imparting various levels of corrosion severities at different locations within the macro-scale stress field, the relative impact of each on the initiation process can be determined. This work demonstrated a dominant role of the macro-scale stress field on the crack formation location. Specifically, crack formation was found to preferentially occur at high stress regions in lieu of forming at lower stress regions, regardless of corrosion severity. Critically, the findings of this work will inform the means by which coatings are evaluated and will serve as a controlled validation of experiments for fracture mechanics modeling.