Experimental determination of the macroscopic fatigue properties of metal hollow sphere structures

Fatigue properties of a rather large range of metal hollow sphere structures were determined by mean of conventional fatigue tests. All the data were collected to build S–N curves. The constitutive material, the density, the thicknesses of the walls, the diameters and the fatigue loading mode were varied to determine the effect of each parameter.The constitutive material and the density are the two parameters that have the most important effect on the fatigue strength. The diameter of the spheres acts on the slope of the S–N curve. The fatigue strength measured in compression is twice the one measured in tension.