Designing resilient and efficient structures is essential in the pursuit of innovation and performance. High Cycle Fatigue (HCF) testing is a powerful method that enables engineers to evalutate the durability of materials and structures under repetitve loading conditions. While traditional fatigue tests often focus on determining the total lietime of a component, HCF testing offers a unique advantage: the ability to conduct rapid comparative studies of different designs, layups and materials.
Comparative studies with HCF testing
HCF testing accelerates the evaluation process by subjecting materials and components the high-frequency cyclic loading. Using our sensitive measuring method, we are able to observe damage initation in a fraction of the time required for conventional fatigue tests. This information provides insight into how different designs respond to fatigue stress.
This capability is valuable for:
- Material Selection: Compare various materials to identify the one that offers the best balance between strength, durability, and weight.
- Structural Configurations: Evaluate multiple design iterations/configurations to determine which configuration is most resilient under fatigue loading conditions.
- Manufacturing Techniques: Analyze the impact of different production methods on fatigue performance.
Optimizing Designs Through Comparison
By leveraging HCF testing for comparative analysis, engineers can make informed decisions to optimize designs by:
- Defining Performance Metrics: Identify parameters such as stiffness loss.
- Testing Multiple Variants: Subject different designs to identical loading conditions and compare their performance.
- Selecting The Best Design: Using the test insights to choose the design that offers superior fatigue resistance.
Benefits
- Reducing time-to-market: Enabling fast iteration cycles, by which designs can be quickly tested en refined.
- Cost efficiency: Identify the optimal design early in the development process, minimizing material waste and production costs.
- Enhanced performance: Deliver products that are lighter, stronger and more durable.
- Experimental Validation Without Simulation: Quickly testing designs experimentally eliminates the need for time-consuming and complex simulations.
TEST CASE
An example of a comparative study that can be done is demonstrated in CASE 03. This showcases how the software of XCTE is used to process historical data to make a comparative study. For each material or structure, a master curve can be generated which displays how fast a structure will degrade under a specific input load. For more information, learn more about CASE 03.