In situ characterization of fatigue damage evolution in a cast Al alloy via nonlinear ultrasonic measurements

A new methodology is described for in situ characterization of fatigue damage accumulation using nonlinear ultrasonic measurements via analysis of the feedback signal of a closed-loop ultrasonic fatigue system. In the very high-cycle fatigue regime, ultrasonic nonlinearity increases with initiation and growth of a dominant, life-limiting fatigue crack. Based on the increase in the ultrasonic nonlinearity with fatigue cycling, crack initiation, small fatigue crack growth and fast crack growth regimes have been distinguished during cycling in specimens with different pore sizes tested at various stress amplitudes. The fraction of fatigue life spent in initiation of a life-limiting fatigue crack decreases with increasing stress amplitude. For a constant stress amplitude, the initiation life also decreases with increasing pore size. The present study also demonstrates the applicability of the methodology for fatigue crack growth studies from natural defects located internally or at the surface in smooth specimens. (C) 2009 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.