Mean stress effects on crack propagation rate and crack closure in 7050-T76 aluminum alloy

Abstract

High strength aluminum alloys that are cyclically loaded in tension are known to show increased fatigue crack propagation rates when the mean stress is increased. It has been suggested that this increase in growth rate may be due to a lower crack closure stress. A smaller closure stress results in a higher effective fatigue crack propagation stress. Measurements of the closure stress were made using an extensometer placed across the crack in order to study the effects of crack closure on the fatigue crack growth rate. The closure stress was determined from the change in slope of load-displacement curves. The growth rate data at various mean stresses were plotted as a function of effective stress intensity factor. In all tests the cyclic stress amplitude was 80 MPa. For specimens run at mean stress levels of 44 MPa and 70 MPa the crack faces were found to close, but on increasing the mean stress to above 120 MPa no closure was observed. The growth rate data from specimens run at mean stresses from 44 MPa to 120 MPa coincided when plotted vs effective stress intensity factor but that crack growth rates for a mean stress of 226 MPa were higher than those obtained at lower mean stresses. We concluded that effects other than crack closure also influence the crack growth rate. Much greater scatter was found in the fatigue crack growth rates of our thicker specimens (5.6mm thick) than in our thinner specimens (2.5 mm thick). Indirect measurements of the length over which the crack faces were closed showed that the length closed decreased sharply with increasing mean stress. At a mean stress of 44 MPa the length closed at minimum stress was several millimeters, while at 70 MPa it had been reduced to less than 1mm.