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Near-threshold fatigue behavior of copper alloys in air and aqueous environments : a high cyclic frequency study

University of British Columbia

The near-threshold fatigue crack propagation behavior of a-phase copper alloys in desiccated air and several aqueous environments has been investigated. Three commercial alloys of nominal composition Cu-30Ni (Cu-Ni), Cu-30Zn (Cu-Zn) and 90Cu-7Al-3Fe (Cu-Al) were tested. Fatigue tests were conducted using standard prefatigued single edged notched (SEN) specimens loaded in tension at a high frequency of ~100 Hz. Different R-ratios were employed, mostly at i?-ratios of 0.5. Low loading levels were used that corresponded to the threshold and near-threshold regions where ΔK[sub th] < ΔK < 11 MPa√m. Fatigue tests in the aqueous solutions showed that the effect of different corrosive environments during high frequency testing (~100 Hz) was not as pronounced as was expected when compared relative to air. Further testing revealed that environmental effects were present and fatigue crack growth rates were influenced by the fluid-induced closure effects which are generally reported in the fatigue literature to be operative only in viscous liquids, not in aqueous solutions. It was concluded that high frequency testing in aqueous environments consistently decreased crack growth rates in a manner similar to crack retardation effects in viscous fluids. Several theoretical models reported in the literature have underestimated, if not failed, to adequately predict the fluid induced closure in aqueous solutions. Results from the desiccated air tests confirmed that, under closure-free conditions (high Rratios), both threshold values and fatigue crack growth rate of stage II can be related to Young's modulus, in agreement with results from the literature. The role of different mechanical and environmental variables on fatigue behavior becomes most visible in the low i?-ratio regime, and contribute to various closure processes.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-09-29

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/13296

Materials Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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