Effect of pre-existing substructures on the fatigue properties of pure aluminium

Abstract

Pure aluminium was thermomechanically treated (cold rolled to 80% reduction of thickness and annealed at 200° C for various lengths of time) in order to obtain different kinds of substructures. These aluminium specimens were then fatigued with a stress amplitude of 9×10³ psi or 90% of their ultimate tensile strength. The substructures of the specimens before and after fatigue were compared with each other and were then correlated to their fatigue property. The size and shape of substructure introduced by fatigue depend on the pre-existing substructure formed by thermomechanical treatment. The sub-boundaries of the fatigued specimen are not as well-defined as the pre-existing subgrain. The substructure size of the fatigued specimen increases initially with annealing time and then reaches a saturation value (2.32 μm) when the annealing time is longer than 2 h. A peak value of fatigue life against the annealing time was found if the stress amplitude of fatigue is 90% of the ultimate tensile strength. The peak value also occurs at an annealing time of 2 h. The reason why the specimen annealed for 2 h possesses the optimum fatigue and property is discussed in terms of the substructures before and after fatigue.