Fatigue Life Assessment of Corroded AlSi10MgMn Specimens

This study investigates the influence of pre-corrosion damage on the fatigue behavior of AlSi10MgMn high-pressure die-cast specimens, using the statistical distribution of corrosion depths. The analysis is conducted on two different surface conditions: an unmachined rough surface (Ra=5.05 mu m) and a machined, polished surface (Ra=0.25 mu m). For the unmachined specimens, the corrosive damage manifests as homogeneously spread localized corrosion, whereas the polished specimens exhibit less uniform but deeper corrosion. The average corrosion depth of the polished specimens is found to be slightly higher (313 mu m compared to 267 mu m) with a broader depth distribution. Specimens are tested under a constant bending load amplitude in laboratory conditions at a stress ratio of R=0 until fracture. A fracture mechanics-based methodology is developed to assess the remaining fatigue life of corroded specimens, utilizing short and long crack fracture mechanical parameters derived from SENB specimens. This model incorporates a thickness reduction of the critical specimen cross-section based on the corrosion depth distribution and combines it with a small initial crack of the intrinsic defect size (aeff=14 mu m). Regardless of the surface condition, using the most frequent corrosion depth for thickness reduction provides a good estimate of the long-life fatigue strength, while using the 90th percentile depth allows for a conservative assessment.