Review of and a new approach to elastic modulus evaluation for fatigue design of metallic components

•Review of elastic modulus evaluation for fatigue design of metallic components.•Cyclic material parameters according to the elastic modulus of EN AW-7075.•Comparison of different evaluation methods for the elastic modulus of EN AW-7075.•Determination of the elastic modulus from linear elastic cyclic tests. The elastic modulus is a key parameter for the description of material properties when evaluating metallic components under service loads. In particular, when evaluating strain-controlled tests for the application of the strain-life approach, there are numerous different possibilities in standards for determining this material parameter. These can lead to different results and confront the user with a certain challenge in selecting the most suitable method. In this publication, an overview of different evaluation methods is given and a new evaluation method is presented, in which the elastic modulus is determined using the reversal points of a strain-controlled cyclic test under macroscopic linear-elastic deformation. This allows a simple and clear, widely user-independent determination of the elastic modulus. In addition, the differences between the new and the commonly used evaluation methods are shown, using the example of the aluminum alloy EN AW-7075, and their influence on the strain-life curve, the PSWT and PJ damage parameter curves, and the cyclic stress-strain curve by Ramberg-Osgood are investigated.