Author(s)

Gbadebo Moses Owolabi¹, Mark Thom¹, Olusegun Ajide^1,2, Nikhil Kumar¹, Amin Azimi^1*, Horace Whitworth¹, Grant Warner¹

¹Department of Mechanical Engineering, Howard University, Washington DC, USA.
²Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.

In this paper, smooth specimens of three aluminum alloys: AA 2219-T8, AA 2519-T8 and AA 2624-T351, were subjected to the same level of uniaxial (tension/compression) fatigue loading to compare their fatigue responses. Fractographic investigations of the failed specimens after fatigue loading was also conducted using a scanning electron microscope. The fatigue test results showed considerable differences in the fatigue lives of the three investigated alloys with AA 2219-T8 having the shortest fatigue life and AA 2624-T351 the longest fatigue life. The fractographic analysis showed that coalescence of micropores, microvoids, particles cleavage and microcracks are the predominant features in the fracture surface of AA 2219-T8. The fracture surface features of AA 2519-T8 revealed higher resistance to fatigue cracks nucleation and growth when compared to AA 2219-T8. The features depicted mainly partly ductile and partly brittle fracture. The AA 2624-T351 fracture surface features revealed noteworthy ductile failure mechanism. The results suggest a strong correlation between the surface fractographic features and the fatigue lives of the alloys. It is also observed that in addition to the yield strengths and ultimate tensile strengths, the total strain energy densities (SED) may provide a reasonable indication of the relative fatigue performance of the three alloys. AA 2219-T8 had the lowest SED and the lowest fatigue life, while AA 2624-T351 had the highest SED and the highest fatigue life. Thus, AA 2624-T351 would be the most suitable materials for components subjected to fatigue loading.

Fatigue Life, Aluminum Alloy, Strain Energy Density, Fractography

Owolabi, G. , Thom, M. , Ajide, O. , Kumar, N. , Azimi, A. , Whitworth, H. and Warner, G. (2019) Fatigue Responses of Three AA 2000 Series Aluminum Alloys. Journal of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, 7, 32-48. doi: 10.4236/msce.2019.73003.