Elastic-plastic strain distributions in short-link chain under load

Abstract

The strain distribution in short-link chain under load has been examined by a photoelastic-coating technique. It has been shown that at loads up to and just beyond the elastic limit the position of maximum strain occurs at a junction of an intrados and a straight side of the link. Beyond the elastic limit, however, changes in link geometry cause the position of maximum strain to move to the link crown.

These results confirm observations of the positions of the fractures in fatigue and static tensile tests to failure but the stress concentration factors calculated from the results disagree with theoretical predictions. This anomaly is explained by assuming that the area of contact between adjacent links effects a spreading of the load, whereas the theoretical treatment assumes point contact between adjacent links.