Application and Verification of Fatigue Life Calculation Methods for AZ91E-T6 Cast Magnesium Alloy Under Variable Amplitude Loading

Abstract

The goal of this research was to determine the applicability of commonly used fatigue life calculation methods for variable amplitude loading with sand cast AZ91E-T6 magnesium alloy using notched “keyhole” specimens. Commercially available fatigue life calculation software packages were used to calculate the fatigue crack “initiation” life (1 mm crack) and fatigue crack growth life corresponding to the experiments. The resulting correlation between experimental and calculated fatigue lives ranged from good to poor, and from conservative to nonconservative, depending on the analysis method used. It was shown that these fatigue life calculation methods can be used with this sand cast magnesium alloy but with certain apprehension.