Low-cycle fatigue of dissimilar friction stir welded aluminum alloys

In this work, experiments were conducted to quantify structure-property relations of low-cycle fatigue behavior of dissimilar friction stir welding (FSW) of AA6061-to-AA7050 high strength aluminum alloys. In addition, a microstructure-sensitive fatigue model is employed to further elucidate cause-effect relationships. Experimental strain-controlled fatigue testing revealed an increase in the cyclic strain hardening and the number-of cycles to failure as the tool rotational speed was increased. At higher applied strain amplitudes (>0.3%), the corresponding stress amplitude increased and the plastic strain amplitude decreased, as the number of cycles increased. However, at 0.2% strain amplitude, the plastic strain decreased until it was almost negligible. Inspection of the hysteresis loops demonstrated that at low strain amplitudes, there was an initial stage of strain hardening that increased until it reached a maximum strain hardening level, afterwards a nearly perfect elastic behavior was observed. Under fully-reversed fatigue loading, all samples failed at the region between the heat-affected and thermomechanically-affected zones. Inspection of the fractured surfaces under scanning electron microscopy revealed that the cracks initiated at either the crown or the root surface of the weld, and from secondary intermetallic particles located near the free surface of the weld. Lastly, a microstructure-sensitive multistage fatigue model was employed to correlate the fatigue life of the dissimilar FSW of AA6061-to-AA7050 considering microstructural features such as grain size, intermetallic particles and mechanical properties.