9452189 Browne There is a very significant need to educate Mechanical Engineers in fatigue failure of materials and associated components. In general, consumer markets are expecting mechanical components and machines--such as automobiles--to be safer, longer lasting, and of higher quality. Freedom from fatigue--or repeated cycles--failure is essential for all of these. At present in the Mechanical Engineering curriculum at Mankato State University, fatigue is covered in lecture but there is only one limited laboratory bench top experiment to test fatigue failures. This project will use a general purpose fatigue test machine as the focus of a new fatigue laboratory which will allow students to conduct experiments and student research projects, with the goal of providing them with a strong working knowledge in this important area. An innovative feature is the use of short term experiments to predict long-term behavior of materials.
