Crack initiation and propagation mechanisms of an extruded dual-phase
Magnesium-Lithium alloy in very high cycle fatigue regime
Abstract
Ultra-light Mg-Li alloy is a promising alloy in aerospace since it is
known to the lightest structural alloy at present, but its fatigue
behaviors remain to be explored. This work focuses on very-high cycle
fatigue (VHCF) strength and small crack initiation behaviors of an
extruded dual-phase Mg-Li alloy (LZ91). The fatigue strength of the LZ91
alloy at 109 cycles is about 78 MPa, and the fatigue ratio is
approximately 0.46. Microstructure characterization demonstrates that
fatigue crack tends to initiate from the β-Li phase-enriched region. The
α-Mg phase, presenting <10−10 > fiber texture
with the basal plane, deforms hardly along the extrusion direction and
acts as an enhanced phase compared with the β-Li phase. The deformation
discrepancy localizes cyclic plasticity at the Li phase and finally
leads to the fatigue crack initiation.