Reducing cost through both material selection and modern manufacturing processes has become an essential requirement in many industries today to ensure that products can be brought to market quicker. A critical element in product development is the ability to accurately predict the fatigue life of an engineering component, since to achieve a reduction in weight often requires the use of new high performance materials.

Material properties are a major source of variability and must be understood in order to avoid poor performance whilst in-service. Understanding how and when damage will occur in these lightweight components’ and combining this with accurate predictions is imperative in order to ensure the component’s quality requirements and structural integrity are not compromised. Material data provided from accurate tests are a vital part of understanding how damage accrues as predictions are only as valid as the data upon which they are based. An understanding of residual stresses and the input material condition when combined with the fatigue damage accumulation should enable more reliable material data with less conservatism to be acquired.