Environmental fatigue crack propagation of aluminum alloys at low stress intensity levels

Environmental fatigue crack propagation in 2024-T3, 7075-T6, and 7178-T6 has been studied at low levels of cyclic amplitude of stress intensity, ΔK. Both wedge force loading and remote loading techniques were employed to achieve the desired ΔK levels, and preliminary experiments were designed to test their compatibility. Testing was carried out in humid air, distilled water, and 3.5 pct sodium chloride solution, and the observed crack growth rates compared with those in desiccated air. Later studies were also conducted in an inert reference environment with a total water content of less than 2 ppm. When the data are plotted as log ΔK vs log d2a /dN, alloy 2024-T3 exhibits a marked slope transition, alloy 7075-T6 a slight slope transition, and alloy 7178-T6 a rectilinear behavior throughout the whole range of ΔK studied. The basic shape of these curves is discussed in terms of state-of-stress conditions at the crack tip, frequency effects, environmental effects, strain rate sensitivity, and metallurgical structure. An attempt is also made to correlate the rate of fatigue crack propagation in a particular environment and at a particular ΔK level with the fracture topography.