FATIGUE AND THE DESIGN ENGINEER.

The complex nature of fatigue, and the many variables that influence fatigue life, make it most unlikely that this mode of failure will ever be eradicated. The incidence of such failures could, however, be substantially reduced by the application of well-established knowledge to the maintenance, manufacture, and, most of all, to the design of components and structures. Some understanding of the basic mechanisms of fatigue is essential to such a process and in this article these are considered with respect to metals and alloys.