Designation: E 1949 – 03

Standard Test Method for

Ambient Temperature Fatigue Life of Metallic Bonded
Resistance Strain Gages1
This standard is issued under the fixed designation E 1949; the number immediately following the designation indicates the year of
original adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of last revision. A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval. A
superscript epsilon (e) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.

1. Scope 4. Significance and Use

1.1 This test method covers a uniform procedure for the 4.1 Strain gages are the most widely used devices for
determination of strain gage fatigue life at ambient tempera- measuring strains and for evaluating stresses in structures. In
ture. A suggested testing equipment design is included. many applications there are often cyclic loads which can cause
1.2 This test method does not apply to force transducers or strain gage failure. Performance parameters of strain gages are
extensometers that use bonded resistance strain gages as affected by both the materials from which they are made and
sensing elements. their geometric design.
1.3 Strain gages are part of a complex system that includes 4.2 The determination of most strain gage parameters re-
structure, adhesive, gage, leadwires, instrumentation, and (of- quires mechanical testing that is destructive. Since gages tested
ten) environmental protection. As a result, many things affect for fatigue life cannot be used again, it is necessary to treat data
the performance of strain gages, including user technique. A statistically. In general, longer and wider gages with lower
further complication is that strain gages, once installed, nor- resistances will have greater fatigue life. Optional additions to
mally cannot be reinstalled in another location. Therefore, it is gages (integral leads are an example) will often reduce fatigue
not possible to calibrate individual strain gages; performance life.
characteristics are normally presented on a statistical basis. 4.3 To be used, strain gages must be bonded to a structure.
1.4 This standard does not purport to address all of the Good results, particularly in a fatigue environment, depend
safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the heavily on the materials used to clean the bonding surface, to
responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appro- bond the gage, and to provide a protective coating. Skill of the
priate safety and health practices and determine the applica- installer is another major factor in success. Finally, instrumen-
bility of regulatory limitations prior to its use. tation systems must be carefully selected and calibrated to
ensure that they do not unduly degrade the performance of the
2. Referenced Documents gages.
2.1 ASTM Standards: 2 4.4 This test method encompasses only fully reversed strain
E 1237 Guide for Installing Bonded Resistance Strain cycles.
Gages 4.5 Fatigue failure of a strain gage may not involve visible
cracking or fracture of the gage, but merely sufficient zero shift
3. Terminology to compromise the accuracy of the gage output for static strain
3.1 strain gage fatigue life, n—the number of fully reversed components.
strain cycles corresponding to the onset of degraded gage
performance, whether due to excessive zero shift or other 5. Interferences
detectable failure mode (see Section 9.6). 5.1 In order to ensure that strain gage test data are within a
defined accuracy, the gages must be properly bonded and
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protected with acceptable materials. Aids in the strain gage
This test method is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee E28 on
Mechanical Testing and is the direct responsibility of Subcommittee E28.14 on
installation and verification thereof can be found in Guide
Strain Gages. Current edition approved Sept 10, 2003. Published October 2003. E 1237. It is important to note that good performance in cyclic
Originally approved in 1998. Last previous edition approved in 2002 as applications requires the best installations possible.
E 1949 – 02.
2
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6. Hazards beams and crazing of plastic specimens are examples of beam
6.1 Warning—In the specimen surface cleaning, gage bond- failures that will produce faulty, misleadingly low, strain gage
ing, and protection steps of strain gage installations, hazardous fatigue life.
chemicals are often employed. Users of these test methods are 7.2.1.1 Beam specimens must be cut such that the glass
responsible for contacting manufactures of such chemicals for fibers are aligned with the long dimension of the specimen. A
applicable Material Safety Data Sheets, and to adhere to the cantilever specimen is recommended for this testing because it
required precautions. provides a range of strain levels in a single test. (A conse-
quence is that the specimen’s strain level near the clamp is very
7. Apparatus high. Normal structural materials will not survive such high
7.1 Test Measurement Requirements: levels and may fail in ways that imply strain gage failure when
7.1.1 For fatigue life determination the uncertainty of the such is not the case.) A test beam should be used for one test
relative resistance change measurement shall not exceed 65 only.
µV/V or 60.1 % of the actual value, whichever is greater. 7.2.2 A suggested fatigue testing machine is illustrated in
7.1.2 Several methods are available for measuring the Fig. 2. For a specimen with overall dimensions as shown in
change of gage resistance with sufficient resolution and accu- Fig. 1 and a thickness of 9.5 mm (0.375 in.), the crank should
racy. In general, any method that is convenient may be used deflect the beam approximately 15 mm (0.6 in.) to produce a
after it has been shown that the particular combination of suitable strain range from 6500 µm/m to 63500 µm/m. A
instruments or components used produces a system with the loading rate of 1800 cycles/min has proven efficient, but not so
required accuracy. fast as to cause higher mode bending. While not absolutely
7.1.3 Many types of instruments are available for obtaining essential, there are several features that provide for a safer and
strain data directly from a resistance strain gage. These more accurate machine, as follows:
instruments use various types of excitation and read-out 7.2.2.1 A thick plastic shield to prevent injury in case of
systems. Such indicators may be used only after their resolu- specimen or machine failure.
tion, accuracy, and stability have been verified by connecting a 7.2.2.2 A shut off device consisting of micro switches
resistor that can be varied in accurately known increments in positioned above and below the specimen (near the crank) and
place of the gage and calibrating the strain indicator over the wired in the motor power circuit to shut off power in case of
entire range for which it will be used. The calibrating resistor specimen rupture; and
steps shall be accurate to 0.1 % of the resistance change or 2 7.2.2.3 An electric counter geared to the drive system, or
ppm of the total resistance, whichever is greater. Effects from some other counting device appropriately connected to the
the following influences on measurement accuracy must be machine, so the machine can be programmed to shut off or take
quantified and found within limits that preserve the required data at preselected intervals.
overall system accuracy: thermal emfs within the bridge circuit 8. Conditioning
and within the gage leadwire, reactive changes within the
bridge and lead circuits, initial bridge unbalance, and battery 8.1 Ambient (Room Temperature) Conditions—The nominal
conditions or power line fluctuations. temperature and relative humidity shall be 23°C (73°F) and
7.2 Mechanical Equipment Requirements: 50 %, respectively. In no case shall the temperature be less than
7.2.1 A suggested cantilever test beam is shown in Fig. 1. 18°C (64°F) or greater than 25°C (77°F) and the relative
The beam must have a fatigue life exceeding that of the strain humidity less than 35 % or more than 60 %.
gages to be tested. One material which meets this requirement 9. Procedure
is 3M’s3 Aerospace FP 525, which is a unidirectional glass-
9.1 Strain levels for the test should be selected based on the
reinforced epoxy composite material, with all fibers aligned
expected fatigue life for the test gages. Typical values might be
with the long axis of the beam. Surface spalling of metallic test
62000 µm/m, 62400 µm/m, and 62800 µm/m. (It may be
necessary to select at least one substantially lower strain level
if it is desirable to indicate a no-failure strain level; see 9.6.2)
3
The sole source of supply of this material known to the committee at this time Normally six or more strain gages are tested at each strain
is 3M, Product Information Ctr., at Bldg. 515-3N-06, St. Paul, MN 55144-1000. If
you aware of alternative suppliers, please provide this information to ASTM
level.
Headquarters. Your comments will receive careful consideration at a meeting of the 9.2 Strain Gage Attachment Requirements:
responsible technical committee,1 which you may attend. 9.2.1 The attachment conditions shall correspond exactly to
the instructions published by the gage manufacturer and
discussed in Guide E 1237. Most fatigue failures occur in the
tab and transition areas. Use care in attaching leadwires.
9.2.2 In many applications strain gage damage will occur in
the lead attachment/tab areas first. Consequently sensor sur-
vival will be enhanced by placing the solder tabs in the lowest
possible strain field. When conducting fatigue tests, orient the
tabs toward the low-strain end of the test beam.
9.3 The rectangular beam of Fig. 1 is convenient in provid-
FIG. 1 Cantilever Test Beam ing a nearly linear strain variation from one end to the other. If

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FIG. 2 Strain Gage Fatigue Rig

it is important to test at precisely known strain levels, the beam will produce a strain concentration within the gage grid area.)
should first be surveyed with linear strain gages to determine In some cases, an exact cyclic strain level is not important and
locations of the desired strain levels. Survey gages are placed test gages are installed where experience indicates the approxi-
at regular intervals along the length of the beam; installed with mate desired strain is located. To achieve the most precise and
the major measurement axis of the gage aligned with the long consistent test results (by staying within the well defined strain
axis of the beam. The beam is deflected an amount equal to the area of the beam), test gages should be installed at least 50 mm
maximum test deflection and the strain levels recorded. If (2 in.) from either the beam restraining clamp or the loading
necessary, linear interpolation can be used to locate strain area. For best survival rate, route instrumentation leads 90
levels in between two survey gage locations. Test gages are degrees from the long axis of the beam and anchor them firmly
installed with the major measurement axis of the gage aligned to the gage tab and beam with a suitable coating.
with the long axis of the beam at the predetermined locations. 9.4 Each gage’s zero reading and alternating strain range
The center of the gage grid should coincide with the line of must be recorded using an instrumentation system with suffi-
desired strain, as shown in Fig. 3. (Do not scribe the beam. This cient resolution and accuracy. Since the fatigue failure of a
gage is typically defined as a zero reading shift of 100 µ in./in.,
the measurement system must be able to accurately resolve a
minimum of 10 µ in./in.This data can be collected either
statically or dynamically. To obtain zeros statically, it is
necessary to disconnect the crank arm from the specimen to
remove all load from the part. The alternating strain range is
then obtained by re-connecting the crank arm and rotating the
drive to get maximum and minimum static strain levels.
Dynamic data must be collected using an instrument with a
scanning speed of at least 10 times the loading rate to prevent
FIG. 3 Gage Layout on Fatigue Test Beam (No Gages in Cross- aliasing and possible erroneous data. The alternating strain
Hatched Areas) range and zero are determined by examining 10 to 20 loading

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cycles. The alternating strain range is determined by calculat- ries using this test method may elect to assign a higher value
ing the difference between the mean maximum and mean for zero shift failure but must clearly indicate doing so. A
minimum strains over the period. The zero is found by typical case when a higher standard level of zero shift failure
calculating the average of the mean maximum and mean might be selected is that of isoelastic strain gages, used
minimum readings. Recorded data should be examined care- primarily for dynamic testing. For such gages a standard level
fully to ensure that no “spikes” occur in the data which would of zero shift failure of 300 µm/m is often chosen. However, as
lead to false peaks (see 9.6.1) and, therefore, false calculated the testing laboratory raises its standard level of zero shift
zeros. failure, gage factor change and super sensitivity become
9.4.1 Regardless of data collection method (static or dy- increasingly likely as failure modes.
namic), all initial gage zeros should be within 50 µm/m of the
midpoint of the alternating strain range. 10. Report
9.5 Data should be taken at the following number of cycles:
100, 500, 1000, 10 000, 500 000, 1 000 000, 2 000 000, 5 000 10.1 The measured data should be presented in tabular
000, and 10 000 000 cycles, or less if gages have failed or do format as part of the report.
not need qualification at such high cyclic lives. For static 10.2 Data may be presented graphically; an example is
measurements, cycle the beam to the set number of cycles and shown in Fig. 4. The dashed lines in Fig. 4 are optional. They
stop. Repeat the static portion of 9.4. Continue this procedure may be omitted or a different shape (such as a hyperbola) may
for all other set number of cycles. Conveniently, dynamic fit data better. If properly drawn, the line(s) will represent the
data-taking does not require stopping the machine, and the test level at which approximately 50 % of gages will fail in any
may be run continuously with periodic checks from the test.
operator. Ten to twenty cycles of data should be taken at each 10.3 As the test strain is lowered and the number of cycles
set number of approximate cycles. Continue this for all increased, the range of failure points at a single strain level is
applicable number of cycles. likely to increase markedly. At high cycle fatigue (over 500
9.6 Failure Criteria: 000 cycles) ranges of 10:1 and greater are not unusual.
9.6.1 Strain gages are subject to fatigue failure in three ways
10.4 In order to plot the horizontal No Failure line there
(other than complete rupture): (A) zero shift, (B) change in
must be at least one strain level in the test (see 9.1) such that
gage factor, and (C) super sensitivity. Change in gage factor is
test gages at it do not fail at the maximum number of test
rare and, if encountered, is probably an indication of faulty
cycles.
strain gages under test. Super Sensitivity can be seen by
monitoring gage output on an oscilloscope during dynamic 10.5 Precision—No precision statement based on interlabo-
cycling. It is caused by the onset of grid cracking and the ratory testing is possible at this time. Committee E28 is not
symptom is the occurrence of spikes at the top of the tension aware of sufficient laboratories to conduct an appropriate
cycle (on the wave form). Again, super sensitivity is a program of testing but seeks cooperation of any and all
relatively rare occurrence until long after gages have failed the laboratories concerned with implementing these test methods.
zero shift test. The committee is willing to coordinate such an activity.
9.6.2 The standard level of zero shift defining strain gage 10.6 Bias—Since there are no reference or true values of
failure is 100 µm/m. At this level strain gages rarely exhibit strain gage performance characteristics, no bias estimates can
appreciable gage factor change or super sensitivity. Laborato- be measured.

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NOTE 1—Typical strain gage fatigue life curve.

FIG. 4 Data points represent failure of gages.

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