APPLICATION AND VERIFICATION OF FATIGUE LIFE CALCULATION METHODS FOR AZ91E-T6 CAST MAGNESIUM ALLOY UNDER VARIABLE AMPLITUDE LOADING

The goal of this research was to determine the applicability of common ly used fatigue life calculation methods for variable amplitude loadin g with sand cast AZ91E-T6 magnesium alloy using notched ''keyhole'' sp ecimens. Commercially available fatigue life calculation software pack ages were used to calculate the fatigue crack ''initiation'' life (1 m m crack) and fatigue crack growth life corresponding to the experiment s. The resulting correlation between experimental and calculated fatig ue lives ranged from good to poor, and from conservative to nonconserv ative, depending on the analysis method used. It was shown that these fatigue life calculation methods can be used with this sand cast magne sium alloy but with certain apprehension.