Abstract
Abstract—The corrosion fatigue crack growth characteristics of small surface and corner cracks in aluminium alloy 2024 is established. The damaging effect of salt water on the early stages of small crack growth is characterized by: (1) crack initiation at constituent particle pits, (2) intergranular microcracking for a≤100μm, and (3) transgranular small crack growth for a≥100μm. In aqueous 1% NaCl and at a constant anodic potential of −700 mVSCE, small cracks exhibit a factor of three increase in fatigue crack growth rates compared to laboratory air. Small cracks exhibit accelerated corrosion fatigue crack growth rates at low levels of ΔK(< 1 MPa√m) below the long crack ΔKthvalue. When exposed to Paris regime levels of crack tip stress intensity, small corrosion fatigue cracks exhibit growth rates similar to that observed for long cracks. Similar small and long crack growth behavior at various levels ofRsuggest that crack closure effects influence the corrosion fatigue crack growth rates of small cracks for a≥100 μm. Contrary to the corrosion fatigue characteristics of small cracks in high strength steels, no pronounced chemical crack length effect is observed for alloy 2024 exposed to salt water.
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