TABLE OF CONTENTS Early in the history of engineering design, there was a recognition of the need to know the different ways in which a material or component could fail. Failure was usually associated with fracture, or with excessive deformation. Failure under static loads, tensile, compressive and shear, became widely known. Much early design aimed at making a component or a structure that would last indefinitely.
Metal fatigue has been of interest for about 170 years. This interest dates back to the development of the steam engine, mechanical transport, and the more extensive use of mechanical devices. This mechanisation meant that many components were subjected to fatigue loads, and fatigue failure was beginning to become a common occurrence.
The history of metal fatigue, from an engineering viewpoint, is well documented but early references are often difficult to locate. Most books on metal fatigue include a historical summary, usually concentrating on mechanical descriptions. The best recent history, on mechanical descriptions of metal fatigue, is by Sch tz (1996). It includes over 500 references, mostly in English and German.
The first use of the term fatigue in print appears to be by Braithwaite (1854), although in his paper Braithwaite states that it was coined by a Mr Field. The general opinion had developed (Frost et al. 1974) that the material had tired of carrying the load, or that the continual re-application of a load had in some way exhausted the ability of the material to carry load. The use of the term has...
