Analysis of short fatigue crack growth in cast aluminum alloys

Abstract An analysis of the rate growth of short, surface fatigue cracks in both a coarse-grained and a fine-grained cast 319 aluminum alloy and squeeze-cast aluminum alloy has been carried out using a modified linear elastic approach. The modified LEFM approach includes consideration of elastic–plastic behavior, the development of crack closure, and the relation between the threshold for fatigue crack growth and the endurance limit. A reasonable degree of agreement has been achieved between the predicted behavior and experimental result.