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Fatigue and Fracture Group

We provide metrology, standard reference materials, documentary standards support, property data, and predictive models to ensure materials reliability against fatigue and fracture. We specialize in structural applications (e.g., buildings, bridges, pipelines, and some medical devices).

The Fatigue and Fracture Group is part of the Applied Chemicals and Materials Division (ACMD) on the NIST Boulder campus. The Group develops new methods for evaluating mechanical performance and is especially focused on linking relatively small-scale laboratory tests with real world failure conditions. They provide SRMs, measurement services, critical property data, predictive models and science to ensure materials reliability against fatigue and fracture especially for structural applications (e.g., buildings, bridges, pipelines, and some medical devices). They assist government agencies, industry, and universities in assessing material durability under extreme operational and environmental conditions and by conducting failure analysis post-mortem. The group performs mechanical testing over a wide range of temperatures, pressures, chemical conditions and size scales ranging from micrometers to meters. 

News and Updates

Projects and Programs

Additive Manufacturing Fatigue and Fracture

Ongoing
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS FACILITIES and CAPABILITIES PUBLICATIONS - see individual staff webpages on right POST-DOCTORAL OPPORTUNITIES - jump to section below Metal additive manufacturing (AM) is not used in fatigue and fracture critical applications despite industrial need. The goal of this project is

Cardiac Device Reliability

Ongoing
Impact and Customers This project will reduce the need for surgeries to replace failed implants, thereby improving safety and quality of life for implant recipients and reducing medical expense to society. It will provide assessment tools for the external electronic devices that support the

Charpy Machine Verification Program

Ongoing
The Charpy test is a high loading rate test that measures the energy absorbed during fracture, hence providing an indirect measure of impact toughness. For a Charpy machine to maintain an accurate absorbed energy scale, periodic verification with certified specimens is required. To achieve the

Materials Testing in Extreme Environments

Ongoing
Hydrogen is known to have a deleterious effect on steels and other metals, but steels are the most cost-effective and commonly used materials for pipelines and pressure vessels. We are collaborating with the code bodies (ASME B31.12 and ISO 11114-4), DOT, and DOE, to enable the implementation of

Pipeline Safety

Ongoing
The U.S. operates more than 2.5M miles of natural gas, petroleum and hazardous liquid pipelines, crossing all 50 states and operated by more than 3,000 companies. Fluid hydrocarbon fossil fuels remain the world leading source of energy. The safest and most reliable means of transporting these fuels

Small Scale Mechanical Testing

Ongoing
Knowledge of a material’s mechanical properties is key to designing safe and reliable structural components for applications ranging in size from medical implants to large civil engineering structures. Traditionally, a material’s mechanical properties are measured by performing mechanical tests on

Publications

Priming Additively Manufactured Cobalt-free Maraging Steels for Improved Properties via Changes to As-Built Microstructure

Author(s)
Alec Saville, Jake Benzing, Fan Zhang, Joseph Aroh, Jordan Weaver, Russell Evans, Nicholas Derimow, Samantha Webster, Nikolas Hrabe, Cassidy Allen, Newell Moser, May Martin, Jason Holm, Christin Aumayr, Tilman Seifert, Michael Hirtler
Supply chain challenges and health concerns have spurred the development of new Co-free, Cr-containing maraging steels with several new alloys already

Awards

Press Coverage

Contacts

Group Leader

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