Corrosion fatigue behavior of extruded AZ80, AZ61, and AM60 magnesium alloys in distilled water

Rotary bending fatigue tests were conducted in laboratory air and distilled water using three extruded magnesium (Mg) alloys AZ80, AZ61, and AM60 with different chemical compositions. In laboratory air, the fatigue strengths at high stress levels were similar in all alloys because cracks initiated at Al-Mg intermetallic compounds, whereas AZ80 with the largest Al content exhibited the highest fatigue strength at low stress levels, which was attributed to the crack initiation due to cyclic slip deformation in the matrix microstructure. In distilled water, fatigue strengths were considerably decreased due to the formation of corrosion pits in all alloys, and the difference of fatigue strength at low stress levels among the alloys disappeared, indicating that the addition of Al that improved the fatigue strength in laboratory air was detrimental to corrosion fatigue. __________ Translated from Problemy Prochnosti, No. 1, pp. 141–145, January–February, 2008.