Experimental accelerated method for determining fatigue in aluminum 2024 alloy

Abstract

The time of developing a main fatigue crack resulting in a fracture represents only 10 to 30% of the life of a specimen. The method proposed by Paris and Erdorgan analyzes the kinetics of developing a main fatigue crack based on the theoretical framework of fracture mechanics. However, this method cannot be applied to fully analyze the crack incubation process stage, which is a fundamental part of the specimen life time according to this theory. Therefore we propose to solve this problem of fracture mechanics approach by means of a high resolution photometric and phase analysis for structure images (PHASI), evaluating the life of the material by analyzing structural damage of the specimen surface fragments by PHASI, experimentally constructing fatigue curves using 2--4 specimens and photometrically analyzing the specimen surfaces before and after the tests.