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Fatigue in metals and alloys

Nature Materials (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Fatigue failure in metals remains a concern across engineering disciplines, substantially influencing the design, reliability and economic viability of essential load-bearing structure components. Despite notable advances in materials science, fatigue-induced failures—particularly in extreme applications such as deep-space exploration—continue to pose challenges owing to their inherent complex and unpredictable nature. This Perspective provides a concise overview of emerging frontiers in improving fatigue resistance, along with key advancements in our understanding of metal fatigue. It also explores current opportunities and challenges, ranging from the development of promising fatigue-resistant materials through spatially heterogeneous composition and microstructure design to innovations in testing methods, characterization techniques, theoretical frameworks and modelling methodologies for metal fatigue.

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Fig. 1: Relationship between fatigue strength and tensile properties.
Fig. 2: Fatigue life under stress and strain control.
Fig. 3: Fatigue mechanisms of pure Cu with various microstructures.
Fig. 4: Fatigue mechanisms of alloys.

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Acknowledgements

L.L. would like to thank H. Mughrabi, Y. T. Zhu and G. P. Zhang for discussions and comments. We also acknowledge the financial support from the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC, grants 92463302, 92163202, U24A2027, 52471151 and 52122104), the International Partnership Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant 172GJHZ2023075GC), Excellent Youth Innovation Promotion Association, Strategic Priority Research Program, CAS and LiaoNing Revitalization Talents Program (grant XLYC 2403211).

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  1. Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, People’s Republic of China

    Qingsong Pan & Lei Lu

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  1. Qingsong Pan
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Pan, Q., Lu, L. Fatigue in metals and alloys. Nat. Mater. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02308-5

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