Fretting fatigue behavior of Al7075-T6 at sub-zero temperature

In some fretting fatigue applications, such as aero industry, the temperature may drop well below −50 °C Fretting fatigue behavior of aluminum alloy Al7075-T6 is investigated at temperatures of 24, 0, −25 and −50 °C in this work. The results show that (i) normal fatigue life increases considerably at sub-zero temperatures up to around 85% for low working stresses and reduces to about 40% for higher working stresses; (ii) fretting fatigue life at sub-zero temperatures rises significantly up to around 220% for low working stresses and reduces to about 50% for higher working stresses; (iii) ultimate strength of material changes from −15% to 15% under the fretting fatigue test conditions; and finally (iv) some parameters such as mechanical properties and fatigue behavior of material at low temperatures, contact load relaxation, crack closure, oxidation and some unknown sources can be thought to be responsible for fretting fatigue behavior of Al7075-T6 at sub-zero temperatures.

► Fatigue behavior of Al7075-T6 at sub-zero temperature depends on stress level.
► Plain fatigue life increases and reduces for low and high stresses respectively.
► Fretting fatigue life also shows the same trend as plain fatigue life does.
► The change of behavior may be due to grain size, material properties and oxidation.
► Crack closure, contact load relaxation may also be effective.