Fatigue Properties of AZ31 and WE43 Magnesium Alloys

The paper presents low-cycle fatigue (LCF) characteristics of selected magnesium alloys used, among others, in the automotive and aviation industries. The material for the research were bars of magnesium alloys AZ31 and WE43 after hot plastic working. Due to their application(s), these alloys should have good/suitable fatigue properties, first of all fatigue durability in a small number of cycles. Low-cycle fatigue tests were carried out on the MTS-810 machine at room temperature. Low-cycle fatigue trials were conducted for three total strain ranges Δε_t of 0.8%, 1.0% and 1.2% with the cycle asymmetry factor R = –1. Based on the results obtained, fatigue life characteristics of materials, cyclic deformation characteristics σ_a = f(N) and cyclic deformation characteristics of the tested alloys were developed. The tests have shown different behaviors of the tested alloys in the range of low number of cycles. The AZ31 magnesium alloy was characterized by greater fatigue life N_f compared to the WE43 alloy.