Fatigue Characteristics of Open-End Thick-Walled Cylinders Under Cyclic Internal Pressure

Thick-walled cylinder fatigue data due to cyclic internal pressure for open-end cylinders in the range of 10³ to 10⁵ cycles to failure and having a diameter ratio of 1.4 to 2.0 at a nominal yield strength of 160,000 pounds per square inch is presented. Discussed and also presented are the effects of autofrettage on the fatigue characteristics of thick-walled cylinders. Autofrettage substantially enhances fatigue characteristics at stress levels below the corresponding overstrain pressure, the degree of improvement increasing the decreasing stress levels. The rate of improvement in fatigue characteristics increases significantly with diameter ratio in autofrettaged cylinders up to a diameter ratio of 1.8–2.0 and to a much smaller degree in the nonautofrettaged condition. The rate of improvement of fatigue characteristics above 2.0 is the same for both the autofrettaged and nonautofrettaged cases. It is shown that thermal treatment of 675 F for 6 hours after autofrettage does not affect fatigue characteristics and that there is a correlation between the cyclic-stress level and the area and depth of the fatigue crack to the point of ductile rupture. The depth of the fatigue crack decreases with increasing cyclic-stress level. A means for using data from a unidirectional tensile fatigue test to predict the fatigue characteristics of thick-walled cylinders is discussed.