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Fatigue limit evaluations of Al 6351-T6 by thermographic and εN methods

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Abstract

It is well known that materials subjected to cyclic loads increase their temperatures, either by elastic or much more intensely by plastic straining mechanisms. Because fatigue damage is a dissipative process associated with cyclic plastic strains, such temperature increments are much larger for loads above the fatigue limit than below it. Since standard techniques to measure fatigue limits are too laborious, even the accelerated ones like Dixon’s up-and-down method, due to the very longtime required to run the tests, La Rosa and Risitano proposed a quick thermographic approach to measure fatigue limits based on temperature increments observed during fatigue tests. This method works very well for steels, but not so well for Al alloys, albeit they would be even more useful for them, whose fatigue limits are associated with a much larger number of cycles than the steels. This work investigates the limitations of the thermographic method when it is used to evaluate an Al 6351-T6 alloy fatigue limit, and of the alternative method of extrapolating its measured εN curve to very long lives. In addition, alternative ways to obtain a better fatigue limit estimate based on thermal data are discussed.

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Abbreviations

S :

Stress (MPa)

S L * :

Fatigue limit of component (MPa)

S L :

Fatigue limit of material (MPa)

S U :

Ultimate strength (MPa)

k sf :

Surface treatment factor

k sz :

Size factor

k lt :

Load type factor

k θ :

Working temperature factor

k ri :

Reliability factor

k ft :

Fretting factor

N :

Life (in number of cycles)

N L :

Life at fatigue limit (in number of cycles)

θ :

Maximum temperature (°C)

θ i :

Maximum temperature of phase i (°C)

Δθ i :

Maximum temperature variation of phase i (°C)

ΔN :

Variation of number of cycles (N)

N i :

Number of cycles of phase i (N)

σ a :

Alternate stress (MPa)

σ c :

Coffin–Manson’s elastic coefficient (MPa)

ε a :

Alternate strain (–)

ε c :

Coffin–Manson’s plastic coefficient (–)

Δε pl :

Plastic component of the strain range (–)

Δε el :

Elastic component of the strain range (–)

C :

Wöhler’s constant (–)

B :

Wöhler’s exponent (–)

E :

Elasticity (or Young’s) modulus in tension (GPa)

h c :

Cyclic strain-hardening exponent (–)

f :

Frequency (Hz)

R a :

Roughness (µm)

R :

Stress ratio σmin/σmax (–)

S LR _ SP1 :

Risitano’s fatigue limit of first specimen (MPa)

S LR_SP2 :

Risitano’s fatigue limit of second specimen (MPa)

S LR :

Average Risitano’s fatigue limit (MPa)

b :

Coffin–Manson’s elastic exponent

c :

Coffin–Manson’s plastic exponent

S LE :

N extrapolation’s fatigue limit (MPa)

S LA1 :

First alternative thermographic fatigue limit (MPa)

S LA2_SP1 :

Second alternative thermographic fatigue limit for the first specimen (MPa)

S LA2_SP2 :

Second alternative thermographic fatigue limit for the second specimen (MPa)

S LA2 :

Average second alternative thermographic method’s fatigue limit (MPa)

R 2 :

Coefficient of determination (–)

S LL :

Literature’s fatigue limit (MPa)

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Acknowledgements

Authors acknowledge the financial support from CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) and the effort devoted by reviewers to improving the quality of this article.

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Correspondence to Gabriela Cristina Paiva Martins.

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Martins, G.C.P., Bandeira, C.F.C., Lima, G.W. et al. Fatigue limit evaluations of Al 6351-T6 by thermographic and εN methods. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 43, 11 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-020-02758-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-020-02758-9

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