PREDICTION OF FATIGUE LIFE BY X‐RAY DIFFRACTION METHODS

Abstract— X‐ray double crystal diffractometry and reflection topography were employed to examine the defect structure induced by fatigue of A1 2024 specimens. Analysis after various amounts of tension compression cycling revealed that the excess dislocation density in the surface layer increased rapidly early in the fatigue life, and maintained virtually a plateau value from 20 to 90% of the life. Beyond 90%, the excess dislocation density increased rapidly again to a critical value at failure. Investigation of the defect distribution in depth showed that the excess dislocation density in the bulk material, by contrast to the surface layer, increased more gradually during the life. Using deeply penetrating molybdenum radiation, the grains in the bulk could be analyzed, and thus the fatigue life and onset of failure could be predicted nondestructively. It was also shown that, after removal of the surface layer, the defect structure induced in the bulk by prior cycling was unstable. The resultant extension of fatigue life by surface layer removal was explained on the basis of this structural instability of the bulk material.