Influence of temperature on cyclic stress response, strain resistance, and fracture behavior of aluminum alloy 2524

In this paper, the cyclic stress response, strain resistance, and cyclic fracture behavior of aluminum alloy 2524 is examined. Test specimens of the alloy was cycled at both the ambient and elevated temperatures using, tension-compression loading (load-ratio of −1.0), under total strain control, over a range of plastic strains giving less than 104 cycles to failure. The alloy displayed combinations of hardening and softening in both the longitudinal and transverse directions of the wrought plate. The alloy followed the Coffm–Manson relation, and exhibited a single slope for the variation of cyclic plastic strain amplitude with reversals to failure. Fracture of the alloy samples was predominantly transgranular for both orientations, with microscopic crack propagation along the grain boundaries. The stress response characteristics, and fracture behavior of the alloy are discussed in terms of competing and synergistic influences of cyclic plastic strain amplitude, response stress, intrinsic microstructural effects, and dislocation-microstructure interactions during cyclic straining.