1. Scope
1.1 This practice covers the determination of fatigue properties of nominally homogeneous materials by the use of test specimens subjected to uniaxial forces. It is intended as a guide for fatigue testing performed in support of such activities as materials research and development, mechanical design, process and quality control, product performance, and failure analysis. While this practice is intended primarily for strain-controlled fatigue testing, some sections may provide useful information for force-controlled or stress-controlled testing.
1.2 The use of this practice is limited to specimens and does not cover testing of full-scale components, structures, or consumer products.
1.3 This practice is applicable to temperatures and strain rates for which the magnitudes of time-dependent inelastic strains are on the same order or less than the magnitudes of time-independent inelastic strains. No restrictions are placed on environmental factors such as temperature, pressure, humidity, medium, and others, provided they are controlled throughout the test, do not cause loss of or change in dimension with time, and are detailed in the data report.
Note 1—The term inelastic is used herein to refer to all nonelastic strains. The term plastic is used herein to refer only to the time-independent (that is, noncreep) component of inelastic strain. To truly determine a time-independent strain the force would have to be applied instantaneously, which is not possible. A useful engineering estimate of time-independent strain can be obtained when the strain rate exceeds some value. For example, a strain rate of 1 10 3 sec1 is often used for this purpose. This value should increase with increasing test temperature.
1.4 This practice is restricted to the testing of uniform gage section test specimens subjected to axial forces as shown in Fig. 1(a). Testing is limited to strain-controlled cycling. The practice may be applied to hourglass specimens, see Fig. 1(b), but the user is cautioned about uncertainties in data analysis and interpretation. Testing is done primarily under constant amplitude cycling and may contain interspersed hold times at repeated intervals. The practice may be adapted to guide testing for more general cases where strain or temperature may vary according to application specific histories. Data analysis may not follow this practice in such cases.
2. Referenced Documents (purchase separately) 
The documents listed below are referenced within the subject standard but are not provided as part of the standard.
ASTM Standards
A370 Test Methods and Definitions for Mechanical Testing of Steel Products
E3 Practice for Preparation of Metallographic Specimens
E4 Practices for Force Verification of Testing Machines
E8 Test Methods for Tension Testing of Metallic Materials
E9 Test Methods of Compression Testing of Metallic Materials at Room Temperature
E83 Practice for Verification and Classification of Extensometer System
E111 Test Method for Youngs Modulus, Tangent Modulus, and Chord Modulus
E112 Test Methods for Determining Average Grain Size
E132 Test Method for Poissons Ratio at Room Temperature
E157 Practice for Assigning Crystallographic Phase Designations in Metallic Systems
E177 Practice for Use of the Terms Precision and Bias in ASTM Test Methods
E209 Practice for Compression Tests of Metallic Materials at Elevated Temperatures with Conventional or Rapid Heating Rates and Strain Rates
E337 Test Method for Measuring Humidity with a Psychrometer (the Measurement of Wet- and Dry-Bulb Temperatures)
E384 Test Method for Microindentation Hardness of Materials
E399 Test Method for Plane-Strain Fracture Toughness of Metallic Materials
E466 Practice for Conducting Force Controlled Constant Amplitude Axial Fatigue Tests of Metallic Materials
E467 Practice for Verification of Constant Amplitude Dynamic Forces in an Axial Fatigue Testing System
E468 Practice for Presentation of Constant Amplitude Fatigue Test Results for Metallic Materials
E691 Practice for Conducting an Interlaboratory Study to Determine the Precision of a Test Method
E739 Practice for Statistical Analysis of Linear or Linearized Stress-Life ( S-N) and Strain-Life (-N) Fatigue Data
E1012 Practice for Verification of Specimen Alignment Under Tensile Loading
E1049 Practices for Cycle Counting in Fatigue Analysis
E1823 Terminology Relating to Fatigue and Fracture Testing
Index Terms
ICS Code
ICS Number Code 77.040.10 (Mechanical testing of metals)
DOI: 10.1520/E0606-04E01
ASTM International is a member of CrossRef.
Citing ASTM Standards
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