Abstract: The aim of this research is to characterize the development of fatigue damage by means of stress-strain hysteresis. Experiments were conducted on 14 specimens made of cold-finished unannealed AISI 1018 steel. Results demonstrate that the mechanical hysteresis loop areas, when plotted as a function of the number of loading cycles, show significant variations and demonstrate the three principal stages concerning the progress of the fatigue failure—initial accommodation, accretion of damage and terminal failure. These three stages of fatigue are marked by the transitions at cycles N₂ and N₃. Experimental results show that although fatigue life N_f ranges from 2644 cycles to 108 992 cycles, the ratios of N₂/N_f and N₃/N_f tend to be stable: N₂/N_f=10.7%, N₃/N_f=91.3%.

Key words: Hysteresis loss, Fatigue life, Fatigue damage

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