ABSTRACT
Initially, it is of interest to note that many structural components sustain far beyond 107 cycles of loading, but materials characterization and fatigue predictions are normally based upon data limited to between 106 and 107 cycles. This is because standard fatigue testing equipment prior to the past decades was limited in speed to less than 200 cycles per second. Therefore, testing beyond 107 cycles was very time consuming. However, the fatigue life of current automobile engines ranges around 108 cycles; big diesel engines for ships or high speed trains have ranges to 109 cycles. It is further noted that at this time interest in fatigue life extends to about 1010 cycles, for example, in turbine engine components (Figure 1.1).
