Abstract
Published information on the fatigue behaviour of sintered materials is reviewed.
Porous sintered materials exhibit similar fatigue characteristics to cast and wrought materials, including fatigue limits in ferrous materials. Their endurance ratios are slightly lower than those of similar wrought materials and they may depend on porosity content. In some cases fatigue data for sintered materials show less scatter than those for similar wrought materials. The total porosity content, which is mainly determined by compacting conditions, is the most important factor influencing fatigue behaviour. Endurance limit decreases as the porosity content increases. In the copper- and iron-base materials investigated, fatigue behaviour is influenced only slightly by powder characteristics, sintering temperature, atmosphere, and time, and by post-sintering treatments. Environmental and surface conditions seem to influence the fatigue behaviour in the same manner as pore-free materials. However, notches have a less severe effect than on pore-free materials. Fatigue fracture appears to occur in the same manner as in pore-free materials. Fatigue cracks tend to start at the free surface of the specimen in preference to the internal surfaces of pores, in agreement with theoretical predictions. Sintered low-alloy steels can be heat-treated to give a wide range of fatigue strengths, and they are less notch-sensitive than pore-free steels. The fatigue properties of sintered and pore-free materials are compared and sintered materials are shown to possess fatigue strengths in the same range as cast and wrought materials.
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