Fatigue Resistance

The behavior of materials subjected to repeated cyclic loading in terms of flexing, stretching, compressing or twisting is generally described as fatigue.

Such repeated cyclic loading eventually constitutes a mechanical deterioration and progressive material degradation. Failure life is defined as the number of cycles of deformation required to bring about the failure of the test specimen under a given set of oscillating conditions.

Fatigue data are generally reported as the number of cycles to fail at a given maximum stress level.

At high stress levels materials tend to fail at lower number of cycles and at low stresses the materials can be stressed cyclically for a greater number of times and in some cases the failure point is virtually impossible to establish.

Two basic types of tests have been developed to test fatigue behavior in thermoplastics:

• Flexural Fatigue Test
• Tensile Fatigue Test

For more information on Fatigue Resistance and Plastics, please contact your nearest Dotmar Technical Representative.