Numerical simulations of cyclic behaviors in light alloys under isothermal and thermo-mechanical fatigue loadings

In this article, numerical simulations of cyclic behaviors in light alloys are conducted under isothermal and thermo-mechanical fatigue loadings. For this purpose, an aluminum alloy (A356) which is widely used in cylinder heads and a magnesium alloy (AZ91) which can be applicable in cylinder heads are considered to study their stress-strain hysteresis loops. Two plasticity approaches including the Chaboche's hardening model and the Nagode's spring-slider model are applied to simulate cyclic behaviors. To validate obtained results, strain-controlled fatigue tests are performed under low cycle and thermomechanical fatigue loadings. Numerical results demonstrate a good agreement with experimental data at the mid-life cycle of fatigue tests in light alloys. Calibrated material constants based on low cycle fatigue tests at various temperatures are applied to models to estimate the thermo-mechanical behavior of light alloys. The reason is to reduce costs and the testing time by performing isothermal fatigue experiments at higher strain rates. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.