Authors: H. Videira, V. Anes, R. Cláudio, M Freitas., L. Reis

This paper presents a theoretical, experimental and numerical study of the AZ31B-F magnesium alloy’s mechanical behaviour in the presence of a notch. Several experimental tests were performed in the lab with biaxial loadings, proportional and non-proportional ones, to evaluate the crack propagation along the notch. This work was focused on the analysis and characterization of crack growth as well as on the study of the magnesium alloy microstructure. An analysis of the crack growth rate was undertaken. Further, a numerical study to evaluate the stress concentration factor and sensitivity along the notch boundary was performed. The estimations for the crack initiation plane were correlated with the experimental results under proportional and non-proportional loading conditions. For the loadings carried out, there was a significant fatigue life reduction in the specimens with notch comparatively to the results achieved for the smooth ones.

H. Videira¹ | V. Anes¹ | R. Cláudio² | M Freitas.¹ | L. Reis¹
1 ICEMS, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.
2 ESTS, Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal, Setúbal, Portugal