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Wires for spring construction: full scale fatigue experimental tests

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Abstract

The paper deals with the experimental assessment of the fatigue life of wires for spring construction. Fatigue testing of full-scale wires is not a well established procedure. The aim of the paper is to demonstrate that the fatigue properties of full-scale wires for spring construction can be assessed with a level of accuracy comparable with tests performed on standard small-scale specimens. For this purpose, a new bench able to perform high frequency tests for the characterization of the wires in the high and very high cycle fatigue regions is designed, built and employed. The failure mechanism of the tested wires is described by an in-depth analysis of the fractured surfaces. By a comparison with available literature data, the difference with respect to similar tests performed on small-scale specimens is highlighted. Performing the tests on the full-scale wires allows the assessment of the effectiveness of the manufacturing process. The effect of the actual surface finishing on the fatigue life of wires can be assessed.

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Abbreviations

\(2a_2\) :

Pitch of adjacent roughness notches along the load axis

\(\delta p_i\) :

Uncertainty associated to each parameter \(p_i\)

\(\varGamma \) :

Curvature of the beam

\(\mu \) :

Mean value

\(\sigma \) :

Standard deviation

\(\sigma _a\) :

Fatigue stress amplitude

\(\sigma _w\) :

Endurance fatigue limit

\(\sigma _{max}\) :

Stress on wire outer surface

\(\sqrt{area_R}\) :

Equivalent defect size

a :

Distance between central and lateral supports

\(a_1\) :

Roughness notch depth

b :

Distance between the two central supports

d :

Wire diameter

E :

Elastic modulus

h :

Dial gauge readout

HV :

Vickers Hardness

J :

Moment of inertia of the beam cross section

l :

Span of the arcmeter

m :

Inverse slope of Wöhler’s curve

\(M\left( x\right) \) :

Bending moment on the beam

\(N_f\) :

Cycles to failure

\(P_1\) :

Force acting at each of the two central supports

\(R_a\) :

Arithmetic mean surface roughness

\(R_t\) :

Total height of the roughness profile

\(T_\sigma \) :

Scatter index of Wöhler’s curve

\(u_{TOT}\) :

Total measure uncertainty

\(v\left( x\right) \) :

Beam transversal displacement

\(v_1\) :

Transversal displacement of the two central supports

x :

Position along beam axis

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Acknowledgements

F.A.R. S.p.A. belonging to Steelgroup Holding, Italy is gratefully acknowledged. Mr. Fabio Pederiva and Mr. Luca Merlini have provided direct support during the whole project. A special thank to Dr. Mario Pennati, who designed the test bench. Mr. Dario Crema, Dr. Andrea Gianneo, Mr. Davide Pegoraro and Mr. Giacomo Sala have given substantial contribution. The Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research is acknowledged for the support provided through the Project “Department of Excellence LIS4.0-Lightweight and Smart Structures for Industry 4.0”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via La Masa 1, Milano, Italy

    F. Ballo, M. Carboni, G. Mastinu & G. Previati

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  1. F. Ballo
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  2. M. Carboni
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  3. G. Mastinu
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  4. G. Previati
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Correspondence to G. Previati.

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This study was funded by F.A.R. S.p.A. belonging to Steelgroup Holding

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Ballo, F., Carboni, M., Mastinu, G. et al. Wires for spring construction: full scale fatigue experimental tests. Meccanica 57, 213–228 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11012-021-01448-7

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