Fatigue Failure in Engineered Components and How It Can Be Eliminated: Case Studies on the Influence of Bifilms

Abstract

The fatigue of engineered components involves more than the fatigue of metals as studied in laboratories. The miniscule laboratory test pieces cannot represent the pre-existing macroscopic crack defects in real engineering components. This brief study illustrates five examples in which major cracks are pre-existing as a result of the presence of bifilm defects. The pre-existing defects account for up to 90 per cent of the failure of so-called fatigue failure. The presence of pre-existing bifilm defects is of overwhelming importance. It is, with regret, suggested that the attempts at the elimination of so-called fatigue failures by only studying fatigue is misguided. The so-called fatigue failures of engineering components can be understood and addressed by realizing the major contributions of bifilms.