Composite Materials and Their Use in Structures

Abstract

This volume is a substantial contribution to the literature on fatigue, providing a wealth of information on the fatigue properties of many engineering alloys, and a comprehensive review of the existing literature in most areas of fatigue damage and crack propagation; nonetheless, this reviewer found it to be a disappointing book as there is very scant coverage of several areas of current interest and importance to engineers and metallurgists involved in fatigue studies or in design methods to obviate fatigue failure.In particular, the authors do not provide a satisfactory coverage of the important matter of elevated temperature fatigue and lifetime prediction where> creep deformation also becomes important, thermal ratchetting phenomena are not discussed, nor is an adequate review of low-cycle fatigue presented.These topics are of considerable importance at the present time, particularly as they relate to nuclear power plants, and this fact is illustrated by the number of recent conferences devoted to them and by the number of such papers appearing in the current literature on fatigue.These criticisms apart, the authors have provided a most useful compendium of information relating to more conventional fatigue properties and test methods which will serve as a good reference source for many workers.The authors have chosen to present their book in an essentially classical format, dealing in turn with crack initiation, fatigue strength of plain specimens, effect of notches on fatigue strength, and fatigue crack growth, followed by an extensive chapter entitled "Notes on Various Other Aspects of Fatigue," and a number of Appendixes dealing with elementary concepts.While this order does indeed help the reader to trace the historical development of the understanding of metal fatigue, as the writers indicate to be their intention in their Introduction, it may be that it has also contributed to the relative neglect of the topics of more recent interest and activity as mentioned above.It is to be hoped that, when preparing a revised edition of this work in due course, the authors will expand its already extensive coverage to make it a truly up-to-date reference book for the whole subject of metal fatigue.