Metal fatigue assessment based on temperature evolution and thermodynamic entropy generation

[Display omitted] •Temperature distribution during metal fatigue is a function of applied plastic work.•Integration of area under temperature-fatigue cycle curve isn’t necessarily constant.•Plastic work can be modeled by two-terms exp. function in typical metal fatigue tests.•Entropy generation due to heat conduction to the test apparatus is neglectable. In the present study, a general model was developed for temperature evolution prediction during metal's uniaxial fatigue loading. The prediction model leads to a reasonably accurate determination of specimen temperature distribution. It also identifies the effective parameters of fatigue temperature variation. It was observed that plastic strain energy is an important contributor to the temperature evolution trend. The proposed model is also employed to evaluate empirical relations, proposed for fatigue life prediction. At the last stage, based on the proposed model for temperature and Morrow model as plastic work density, the proposed model was utilized for the entropy generation prediction.