Environmental Fatigue-Crack Surface Crystallography for Al-Zn-Cu-Mg-Mn/Zr

The scanning electron microscope (SEM)–based electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD)/stereology technique quantitatively establishes distributions of the crystallographic characteristics of environmental-fatigue crack features for slightly overaged Al-Zn-Cu-Mg-X (X = Zr or Mn) alloys stressed in the low-growth-rate regime. Results for these homogeneous slip alloys conform to a substantial companion study of planar slip-prone Al-Cu-Mg/Li. Transgranular-crack characteristics are similar for the Mn and Zr variants, independent of grain size and recrystallization. Two morphologies of facetlike features exhibit a wide range of crystallographic orientations, change character at grain boundaries indicating an important role of grain orientation, and form in highly tensile-stressed spatial orientations about a crack tip. Similar characteristics for Al-Zn and Al-Cu suggest a common damage mechanism, speculatively attributed to hydrogen-environment embrittlement by decohesion. Slip-deformation band cracking resulting in facets near {111}, stimulated by H-enhanced localized plasticity, is not a viable mechanism for environmental fatigue. Repetitively stepped facets with surface curvature may involve H-enhanced cleavage along {100} or {110} planes subsequently distorted by plasticity. Broad-flat facets speculatively result from tensile stress-based cracking through dislocation cell structure, evolved by cyclic plasticity and containing trapped H.