Fatigue of cellular materials

The fatigue of cellular materials is analyzed using dimensional arguments. When the first unbroken cell wall ahead of the macrocrack tip fails after some cycles of loading, the macrocrack advances one cell diameter, giving the macrocrack growth rate of cellular materials. Paris law for microcrack propagation, Basquin law for high cycle fatigue and Coffin-Manson law for low cycle fatigue are employed in calculating the number of cycles to failure of the first unbroken cell wall ahead of the macrocrack tip. It is found that fatigue of cellular materials depends on cyclic stress intensity range, cell size, relative density and the fatigue parameters of the solid from which they are made. Theoretical modelling of fatigue of foams is compared to data in polymer foams; agreement is good.