Fatigue Characteristics of Selected Light Metal Alloys

The paper addresses results of fatigue testing of light metal alloys used in the automotive as well as aerospace and aviation industries, among others. The material subject to testing comprised hot-worked rods made of the AZ31 alloy, the Ti-6Al-4V two-phase titanium alloy and the 2017A (T451) aluminium alloy. Both low- and high-cycle fatigue tests were conducted at room temperature on the cycle asymmetry ratio of R=-1. The low-cycle fatigue tests were performed using the MTS-810 machine on two levels of total strain, i.e.Δε_c= 1.0% and 1.2%. The high-cycle fatigue tests, on the other hand, were performed using a machine from VEB Werkstoffprufmaschinen-Leipzig under conditions of rotary bending. Based on the results thus obtained, one could develop fatigue life characteristics of the materials examined (expressed as the number of cycles until failure of sample N_f) as well as characteristics of cyclic material strain σ_a=f(N) under the conditions of low-cycle fatigue testing. The Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy was found to be characterised by the highest value of fatigue life Nf, both in lowand high-cycle tests. The lowest fatigue life, on the other hand, was established for the aluminium alloys examined. Under the high-cycle fatigue tests, the life of the 2017A aluminium and the AZ31 magnesium alloy studied was determined by the value of stress amplitude σ_a. With the stress exceeding 150 MPa, it was the aluminium alloy which displayed higher fatigue life, whereas the magnesium alloy proved better on lower stress.