Study of Aluminum Alloy 7075-T6 under Ultrasonic Fatigue Loading
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 35, Issue 4
Abstract
A detailed ultrasonic cycle fatigue study has been presented for aluminum alloy 7075-T6 (AA7075-T6) under fully reversed tension-compression loading to investigate the geometric sensitivity, frequency effects, size effects, surface roughness effects, and the corresponding failure mechanisms across different fatigue regimes. The dominating sources of life variability were identified using sensitivity studies conducted using finite-element analysis (FEA)–based modal and harmonic analyses and probability studies for typical ultrasonic fatigue specimens. In contrast to some studies of crack initiation for aluminum alloys under fatigue, subsurface crack initiations were observed for low stress amplitudes. The presence of both surface and subsurface crack initiations was strongly correlated to the surface conditions and loading conditions. Fatigue-fracture behavior was evaluated via detailed scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of fracture surfaces, exhibiting unique features that are not observed under conventional fatigue testing of aluminum alloys.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the Department of Defense (DoD) through the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship Program for its financial support, and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) award N00014-16-1-2012, program manager William Nickerson.
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Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 35 • Issue 4 • July 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 15, 2021
Accepted: Dec 22, 2021
Published online: Mar 18, 2022
Published in print: Jul 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Aug 18, 2022
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