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International
Journalof
Fatigue

International Journal of Fatigue 30 (2008) 13761386

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfatigue

A fracture model of corrosion fatigue crack propagation

of aluminum alloys based on the material elements fracture
ahead of a crack tip
Wang Rong

School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xian Shiyou University, Xian 710065, PR China
Received 8 February 2007; received in revised form 21 October 2007; accepted 22 October 2007
Available online 30 October 2007

Abstract
In this study, attempts were made to extend the concept of material elements fracture ahead of a crack tip during fatigue crack propagation (FCP) to corrosion fatigue crack propagation (CFCP) of aluminum alloys in a corrosive environment. Considering the eect of
corrosion damage on the material elements, anodic dissolution and hydrogen embrittlement, a corrosion-blunting-fracture model for
CFCP was developed. The expression for the CFCP rate, (da/dN)cf = Bcf(DK  DKthcf)2, which reveals the correlation between the CFCP
rate and stress intensity factor range, the CFCP threshold, loading frequency, anodic dissolution rate and hydrogen embrittlement of the
material elements, is thus derived. The test results and analysis of the CFCP rates of LY12CZ and LC4CS aluminum alloys show that the
expression for the CFCP rate gives a good t to the test results of the CFCP rates in a 3.5% NaCl environment at loading frequency
10 Hz and stress ratios from 0.1 to 0.7. The analysis results of other aluminum alloys 7075-T7651 and 7049-T73 obtained by the CFCP
rate expression are in good agreement with the test results of the CFCP rates in a 3.5% NaCl environment at loading frequencies from 0.1
to 10 Hz and a constant stress ratio.
 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Corrosion fatigue; Crack propagation; Material element; Fracture model; Aluminum alloy

1. Introduction
The corrosion fatigue life of structural elements could be
divided into two phases: the corrosion fatigue crack initiation life and the corrosion fatigue crack propagation
(CFCP) life to be investigated [18]. The CFCP life of typical structure elements is a portion of total corrosion fatigue [24,7], and especially for large structure elements, is
dominant [8]. In addition, the CFCP rate is based on damage tolerance design of typical structure elements in a corrosive environment using a fracture mechanics approach.
Therefore, more attention has been paid to CFCP rate
investigations in steels and aluminum alloys.

Tel.: +86 13519121619; fax: +86 02988383240.

E-mail address: wangrong@xsyu.edu.cn

0142-1123/$ - see front matter  2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2007.10.007

It is recognized that the CFCP mechanism is similar to

those proposed for stress corrosion cracking. The CFCP
rate is regarded as an enhanced crack propagation rate promoted in a certain corrosive environment by cyclic loading.
A superposition model [9,10] and a competition model [11]
have been suggested to account for the CFCP rate. These
approaches can not account for the observed CFCP rates
of some steels and aluminum alloys in an aqueous environment [1,12]. Therefore, the semi-empirical Paris equation is
still applied to t the CFCP data, generally divided into several steps [8,9]. It is well known that the coecient and exponent in Paris equation is a tting parameter of test data, and
does not have clear and denite meanings [13]. However, a
mathematical expression for the CFCP rate has not been
given in the CFCP life prediction procedures [1,3,8].
Aluminum alloys are one of the most widely used metals
in engineering, especially in the aircraft industry. The

R. Wang / International Journal of Fatigue 30 (2008) 13761386

CFCP rates of various aluminum alloys in an aqueous

solution have been investigated experimentally [14,12].
The characteristic of CFCP basically exhibits the true corrosion fatigue mechanism [4,12], in which the interaction
of corrosion and fatigue reduces the cyclic threshold stress
intensity factor range and increases the rate of crack propagation. Little study on the quantitative description and
prediction of the CFCP rate was made.
In this study, attempts were made to extend the concept
of material elements fracture ahead of a crack tip during
fatigue crack propagation (FCP) to the CFCP of aluminum alloys in a corrosive environment. The corrosion damage on the material elements ahead of a crack tip was taken
into account and a corrosion-blunting-fracture model for
the CFCP was developed. A new expression for the CFCP
rate was derived based on the principles of fracture
mechanics, which incorporates the important feature of
correlation between the CFCP rate, corrosion damage,
and mechanical parameters. Several CFCP test results of
aluminum alloys in a 3.5% NaCl environment were then
used to check the validity of the new expression for the
CFCP rates. The factors aecting the CFCP rates were
discussed.
2. Corrosion fatigue crack propagation model

1377

Fig. 2. Schematic illustration of the assumption of the incremental FCP

[14].

fracture happens at one loading cycle or tensile loading,

r may be equivalent to the tensile fracture strength. The
distance under each loading cycle should be equivalent to
the width of the material elements in Fig. 1. The crack
propagation rate can thus be expressed as
da
xf xry rff
dN

2.1. Hypothesis of corrosion fatigue crack propagation

2.2. Eects of corrosion
CFCP may be assumed to occur when the material elements ahead of a crack tip are fractured as illustrated in
Fig. 1. When a specimen is loaded in tension or the crack
is a mode I crack, the fracture of the material elements
occurs in a tension fracture known as static fracture.
Lal and Weiss [14] proposed a static model for crack
propagation. When the normal stress resulting from a tensile load, P, is more than the fatigue limit, the crack
advances by the distance over which local stresses, ry,
exceed the critical fracture stress, r, of the metal, as shown
in Fig. 2. If the local stresses cause brittle fracture of atomic
bonds near the fatigue limit, r may be equal to the theoretical cohesive strength of the metal. Slip-plane decohesion may occur at the stresses above the fatigue limit. If

In an aqueous environment, there are two possible

mechanisms of aggressive environmental eects on the
CFCP process that cause corrosion damage [15,16], one
is anodic dissolution (AD) at the crack tip, and the other
is hydrogen evolution by anodic dissolution and migration
into the material elements ahead of a crack tip to cause
hydrogen embrittlement (HE). As a result, both AD and
HE are involved in accelerating crack propagation in comparison with crack propagation in dry air.
During the process of CFCP, as far as the metal in corrosive solution such as a 3.5% NaCl environment is concerned, the surface of the material element at the crack
tip is in contact with the corrosive solution. The actual
chemical reaction causing AD is M ! Mn+ + ne, and specically for aluminum alloys, Al ! Al3+ + 3e. The corrosion of the bare surface at the CFCP crack tip can be
imitated by a scratching electrode test of the bare surface
[17]. The corrosion current density i(t) is
it i0 expbt

Fig. 1. Illustration of the material elements along the potential crack path
[13].

where i0 is the initial corrosion current density, b is a constant of the corrosion lm formation, and t is time.
Owing to the above chemical reaction, the metal atoms
will be consumed from the surface of the material element.
The corrosion at the crack tip causes additional crack
propagation. Assuming the additional crack propagation
length xc, the average corrosion rate Ra during one loading
period T, when the crack propagates xf, can been written as

1378

Ra

R. Wang / International Journal of Fatigue 30 (2008) 13761386

1 xc
T xc xf

The other eect of corrosion is that hydrogen diuses

and goes into the lattice of the material elements to cause
HE [16]. Since HE degrades the mechanical properties of
metals [18], it must reduce the critical fracture stress, r,
of the material elements ahead of a crack tip. When the
width of the material elements is kept constant, the external
force needed for the fracture of the material elements
decreases. When the external force is kept constant, the
width of the material elements fractured will increase and
HE accelerates the crack propagation.
2.3. A fracture model for corrosion fatigue crack
propagation
It is recognized that CFCP is a result of the combination
of corrosion damage and relative slip of the metal at the
crack tip under cyclic loading. The CFCP process is controlled by three main factors: relative slip of the metal at
the crack tip, the bare surface corrosion of the fractured
material elements and the crack closure. The metal generally has passivation characteristics under the natural corrosion condition. The corrosion in the CFCP process occurs
mainly on the bare surface after the material elements are
fractured.
Based on the Lal and Weiss assumption [14], Zheng and
Hirts blunting-fracture model for FCP [13] and the possible eects of corrosion damage on crack propagation, a
new fracture model for the CFCP, which may be called a
corrosion-blunting-fracture model, has been developed, as

illustrated in Fig. 3. First, the case of the loading stress

ratio R = 0 is discussed. Then the general stress ratios will
be discussed later.
Some critical loads are selected in the curve of a loading
cycle with R = 0 (Fig. 3a) to analyze CFCP. The loads of
point a and point e are zero. The load of point c is the maximum load. The load of point b is the threshold load determined by the crack propagation threshold Kthcf and so is
that of point d.
When no loads are exerted on the cracked specimen, the
crack remains closed and the radius of the crack tip stays
extremely small (dash lines in Fig. 3b). When the load is
increased to point b and the stress intensity factor K does
not exceed Kthcf, the crack opens elastically and becomes
blunt (solid lines in Fig. 3b). During this process, the action
releases the stress at the crack tip so that the ctitious local
stress ry at the crack tip could be kept to below or equal to
the critical fracture stress r of the metal. At this stage, the
crack does not advance forward.
Increasing the load up to point c, the crack advances
and becomes more blunt (Fig. 3c). This is similar to which
the ctitious material elements ahead of the crack tip
(Fig. 1) are broken. The bare surface of the metal is
exposed when the crack propagates. The anodic dissolution
reaction, M ! Mn+ + ne, and surface corrosion occur on
the bare surface of the broken material elements. This
makes for an additional amount of crack propagation
and possibly changes the blunt radius of the crack tip. At
the time when anodic dissolution reaction takes place, the
cathodic process produces atomic hydrogen, and the
hydrogen diuses into the next material elements ahead
of the crack tip to cause hydrogen embrittlement. The tip

Fig. 3. Schematic illustration of the corrosion-blunting-fracture model for the CFCP [19].

R. Wang / International Journal of Fatigue 30 (2008) 13761386

of the crack moves from point O in Fig. 3b to point O 0 in

Fig. 3c. The length of the crack propagation is equal to the
distance OO 0 .
Upon unloading, the crack does not propagate mechanically, but advances due to corrosion dissolution (Fig. 3d).
During this process, the corrosion dissolution declines rapidly. When the load is decreased from point c to point d,
the tip of the crack moves to point O00 and the total length
of the crack propagation is equal to the distance OO00 .
When the load is decreased to point e, the minimum load
of the cyclic loading, the crack tip does not displace, but
become resharpened and the crack closes. The corrosion
dissolution becomes extremely small as the passive lm
forms at the crack tip surface. The eect of corrosion dissolution on the crack propagation can be neglected below
Kthcf. In all cases, ry 6 r. This process is repeated during
the CFCP.
It can been seen from the model described above that
the corrosion dissolution on the bare surface after the
material elements are fractured, the dierence (KmaxKthcf)
between the maximum stress intensity factor and the crack
propagation threshold are main governing parameters for
CFCP.
In each loading cycle, the amount of CFCP includes two
parts, one is xf, which is caused by mechanical damage or
fatigue, and the other is an additional amount due to the
corrosion dissolution at the crack tip. Hence, the rate of
the CFCP can be written as
 
da
oo00 xc xfry rff
4
dN cf
Substituting xc in Eq. (3) into Eq. (4), we get
 


da
Ra T
1
xfry rff
dN cf
1  Ra T

2.4. An expression for corrosion fatigue crack propagation

rate
It is recognized that the stress intensity factor at the tip
of the crack is a mainly controlled factor of CFCP
[1,2,4,8,17,20]. From linear elastic fracture mechanics [21],
the distribution of the local stresses ry in the y-direction
along the x-direction under tension can be expressed by
KI
ry p
2px

Since the eective stress intensity factor is the governing

parameter for CFCP, it should be used in Eq. (6) in place
of KI. When x becomes xfry rff da=dN cf , the CFCP
rate can be rewritten as
 
da
1 Ra T =1  Ra T 2

K eff
dN cf
2pr2ff
1 Ra T =1  Ra T
2

K max  K thcf
7
2pr2ff

1379

Because the blunting crack can be regarded as a notch,

the criterion for the crack initiation at the notch tip is given
by Ref. [22] as
p
8
K t S Erf ef
where Kt is the theoretical stress concentration factor, S is
the nominal stress applied to the notched element, E is
Youngs modulus, and rf and ef are the materials
pfracture
strength and fracture ductility, respectively. Erf ef may be
accepted as the theoretical strength of the metallic materials [13].
If the blunting crack can be regarded as a sharp notch,
the local stress ry at the crack tip should be equal to KtS.
Hence, it is equivalent to the crack propagation that the
crack initiates at the edge of the notch. When the crack
propagation at the crackp
tip is stopped, the stress ry is
regarded to be less than Erf ef . It reasonable to take the
critical fracture stress r as
p
rff Erf ef
9
Substituting Eq. (9) into Eq. (7), we obtain
 
da
1 Ra T =1  Ra T
2

K max  K thcf
dN cf
2pErf ef

10

Eq. (10) is the mathematical expression for the CFCP rate

at R = 0. For the case of R > 0, if the stress intensity factor
amplitude DK takes the place of the stress intensity factor
K in Eq. (10), we obtain
 
da
2
Bcf DK  DK thcf
11
dN cf
1 Ra T =1  Ra T
Bcf
12
2pErf ef
where Bcf and DKthcf may be called the coecient of CFCP
and the CFCP threshold, respectively.
3. Validation of test results
3.1. Test method
The materials used in this study were precipitation hardened aluminum alloy sheets, LY12CZ (AlCuMg) and
LC4CS (AlCuMgZn). The mechanical properties are
listed in Table 1. The sheets were machined as standard
CT specimens with width of 60 mm along the T-L orientation.
The corrosive environment employed was 3.5% NaCl
aqueous solution with pH = 7.0. Crack propagation
occurred while the specimen was immerged in a glass box
full of the solution. The length of a crack was monitored
by a microcomputer-aided crack propagation measurement
system [23].
Testing of the CFCP was performed on an EHT-EA-10T
servohydraulic fatigue testing machine and at room temperature (25 C). The testing was conducted using a triangular waveform, at a loading frequency f = 10 Hz and over
a wide range of stress ratios from 0.1 to 0.7.

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R. Wang / International Journal of Fatigue 30 (2008) 13761386

Table 1
Mechanical properties of the aluminum alloys
Material

E (GPa)

rb (MPa)

rs (MPa)

w (%)

ef (MPa)

rf (MPa)

K (MPa)

LY12CZ
LC4CS

69.37
68.0

452
571

320
514

24.7
19.5

0.284
0.216

577
685

0.123
0.061

674
752

3.2. Methods for the analysis of test data

The value of Bcf should be kept constant at a given loading frequency. After logarithmic transformation, Eq. (11)
becomes
 
da
log
log Bcf 2 logDK  DK thcf
13
dN cf
which represents a straight line with a slope of 2 when
da/dN versus (DK  DKthcf) is plotted on a logarithmic
scale. Using a trial and error approach, a computer program for linear regression analysis of parameter tting
can be written to obtain the values of Bcf and DKthcf at
the slope within the range of 2 0.002.
3.3. Analysis of test results
The test results for CFCP rates of LY12CZ and LC4CS
aluminum alloys in 3.5% NaCl solution with pH = 7.0 at a
loading frequency f = 10 Hz are shown in Fig. 4 [19]. It can
be seen that the stress intensity factor amplitude at the
crack tip DK is a governing factor of CFCP and the threshold characteristics of the CFCP exist apparently as the
value of DK is decreased at dierent stress ratios.
The results obtained by the above mentioned regression
analysis of the test data are listed in Table 2. The stress
ratio has an apparent inuence on the CFCP threshold
DKthcf, but little on the CFCP coecient Bcf. The regres-

Table 2
The regression results of CFCP rates of aluminum alloys in a 3.5% NaCl
environment at f = 10 Hz
Materials Specimen Stress
no.
ratio R

Bcf
(MPa)2

DKthcf
p
(MPa m

LY12CZ 1
2
3
4
LC4CS
1.4
2.6
3.7
4.8

2.96 109
3.12 109
3.05 109
2.88 109
6.57 109
6.74 109
6.79 109
6.86 109

2.10
1.82
1.51
1.12
2.25
1.60
1.41
1.18

0.988
0.947
0.976
0.955
0.983
0.968
0.965
0.931

0.107
0.186
0.124
0.174
0.125
0.167
0.189
0.210

0.1
0.3
0.5
0.7
0.1
0.3
0.5
0.7

r and s are the linear correlation coecient and the standard deviation,
respectively.

sion curves of the CFCP rates are also plotted in Fig. 4

for comparison. As illustrated in Fig. 4, Eq. (11) gives good
agreement with the test data in the steady crack propagation phases.
In order to further check the validity of the expression
Eq. (11) for the CFCP rates of aluminum alloys, the correlation of (da/dN)cf versus eective stress intensity factor
amplitude DKe = DK  DKthcf is plotted on a double logarithmic scale, as shown in Fig. 5. The test data at dierent
stress ratios are distributed within both sides of the straight
line with a slope of 2. This further indicates that Eq. (11)
can well describe the general rule of CFCP of aluminum
alloys in a corrosive environment.

Fig. 4. The test data and regression curves of the CFCP rates of aluminum alloys in a 3.5% NaCl environment at a loading frequency f = 10 Hz (a)
LY12CZ (b) LC4CS.

R. Wang / International Journal of Fatigue 30 (2008) 13761386

1381

Fig. 5. The correlation between the CFCP rate and eective stress intensity factor amplitude (a) LY12CZ (b) LC4CS.

3.4. Eects of stress ratio

The test results indicate that stress ratio mainly inuences the CFCP rate near the threshold zone. Hence, the
threshold DKthcf intensively depends on the stress ratio.
The correlation between DKthcf and R, obtained by parameter tting, can be expressed as [24]
DK thcf DK thcf0 1  R

14

where DKthcf0 is the CFCP threshold value for the stress ratio R = 0, and c is a constant. It can be seen from Eqs. (11)
and (14) that DKthcf becomes smaller as R increases and
hence the CFCP rate increases. By the regression analysis
of the CFCP threshold data in Table 2, the correlation between DKthcf and R for two aluminum alloys in 3.5% NaCl
solution can be obtained as follows:
LY12CZ : DK thcf 2:231  R
LC4CS : DK thcf 2:151  R

0:57

0:54

R 00:7

15a

R 00:7

15b

3.5. General CFCP rate expressions of two aluminum alloys

Substituting the CFCP coecient Bcf in Table 2 and the
correlation of DKthcf with R Eqs. (15) into Eq. (11), the
expressions for the CFCP rates of two aluminum alloys
in a 3.5% NaCl environment at f = 10 Hz and the range
of R from 0 to 0.7 can be obtained
 
da
LY12CZ :
2:85  109 DK  2:231  R0:57 2
dN cf
16a
 
da
0:54 2
6:74  109 DK  2:151  R 
LC4CS :
dN cf
16b

The expressions reveal the quantitative eect of stress ratios and the CFCP threshold on the CFCP rate of aluminum alloys.
For comparison, the expression of the FCP rates of two
aluminum alloy sheets in laboratory air is rewritten as follows [24]:
LY12CZ :
LC4CS :

da
0:93 2
1:94  109 DK  2:91  R  17a
dN
da
1:61  109 DK  2:71  R0:74 2 17b
dN

It can be seen that the 3.5% NaCl environment increases

the CFCP coecient and decreases the threshold, especially in lower stress ratios, so the aluminum alloy sheets
have higher crack propagation rates in a 3.5% NaCl environment than in laboratory air. LC4CS alloy is more sensitive to the 3.5% NaCl environment than LY12CZ alloy.
4. Reanalysis of some existing test results of CFCP rates
4.1. CFCP rates of 7075-T7651 aluminum alloy
The CFCP rates of 7075-T7651 aluminum alloy were
measured in a 3.5% NaCl environment with loading frequencies of f = 10, 1, 0.1 Hz at a stress ratio R = 0 [12]
and with loading frequencies of f = 20,2 Hz at a stress ratio
R = 0.1 [2], and the corresponding test results are replotted
in Fig. 6. The test results indicate that the CFCP rates of
7075-T7651 aluminum alloy in the 3.5% NaCl environment
increase as the loading frequencies decrease.
Using Eq. (11) and quantitative analysis of parameter
tting on the CFCP rate results, the expressions of the
CFCP rates of 7075-T7651 aluminum alloy in the 3.5%
NaCl environment at dierent loading frequencies can be
obtained as follows [19]: At f = 10 Hz and R = 0,

1382

R. Wang / International Journal of Fatigue 30 (2008) 13761386

Fig. 6. Test results of the CFCP rates of 7075-T7651 aluminum alloy in a 3.5% NaCl environment and the CFCP rate curves [19]. (a) The CFCP rates at
stress ratio R = 0 [12]. (b) The CFCP rates at stress ratio R = 0.1 [2].

da
dN

8:18  109 DK  2:51

18a

cf

At f = 1 Hz and R = 0,
 
da
1:16  108 DK  2:532
dN cf
At f = 0.1 Hz and R = 0,
 
da
2
1:31  108 DK  2:55
dN cf
At f = 20 Hz and R = 0.1,
 
da
2
4:04  109 DK  2:58
dN cf
At f = 2 Hz and R = 0.1,
 
da
2
7:25  109 DK  2:58
dN cf

18b

4.2. CFCP rates of 7049-T73 aluminum alloy

The CFCP rates of 7049-T73 aluminum alloy were
measured in a 3.5% NaCl environment with loading
frequencies of f = 10, 1, 0.1 Hz at a stress ratio R = 0 [12],
and the corresponding test results are replotted in Fig. 7.
The test results indicate that the CFCP rates of 7049-T73

18c

18d

18e

The curves of the CFCP rates of 7075-T7651 aluminum

alloy in the 3.5% NaCl environment are given in Eq. (18)
and are shown in Fig. 6. As may be seen, Eq. (11) is a good
t to the test results of the CFCP rates of 7075-T7651 aluminum alloy.
For comparison, the expression of the FCP rate of 7075T7651 aluminum alloy in dry air at f = 10 Hz and R = 0 is
rewritten as follows [19]:
da
5:45  109 DK  2:532
dN

19

It can be seen that the 3.5% NaCl environment increases

the CFCP coecient of 7075-T7651 aluminum alloy, and
hence increases the crack propagation rate.

Fig. 7. Test results of the CFCP rates of 7049-T73 aluminum alloy in 3.5%
NaCl environment [12] and the CFCP rate curves [19].

R. Wang / International Journal of Fatigue 30 (2008) 13761386

aluminum alloy in the 3.5% NaCl environment increase as

the loading frequency decreases.
Using Eq. (11) and quantitative analysis of parameter
tting on the CFCP rate results, the expressions of the
CFCP rates of 7049-T73 aluminum alloy in the 3.5% NaCl
environment at dierent loading frequencies can be
obtained as follows [19]:
At f = 10 Hz and R = 0,
 
da
2
1:37  108 DK  4:07
20a
dN cf
At f = 1 Hz and R = 0,
 
da
2
1:84  108 DK  4:07
dN cf
At f = 0.1 Hz and R = 0,
 
da
2:11  108 DK  4:072
dN cf

20b

20c

The curves of the CFCP rates of 7049-T73 aluminum

alloy in the 3.5% NaCl environment are given in Eq. (20)
and are shown in Fig. 7. As may be seen, Eq. (11) is a good
t to the test results of the CFCP rates of 7049-T73 aluminum alloy except the KIC region.
For comparison, the expression of the FCP rate of 7049T73 aluminum alloy in dry air at f = 10 Hz and R = 0 is
rewritten as follows [19]:
da
2
1:63  109 DK  3:71
dN

21

It can be seen that the 3.5% NaCl environment increases

the CFCP coecient of 7049-T73 aluminum alloy, and
hence increases the crack propagation rate.
5. Discussion
5.1. On the expression for the CFCP rate
The CFCP fracture of aluminum alloys in a 3.5% NaCl
environment generally exhibits the characteristics of striation, brittle striation, cleavage-like fracture and intergranular fracture [15,17,25,26], which depends on susceptibility
of alloys to a corrosive environment and the levels of the
stress intensity factor amplitude. The striation and brittle
striation fracture implies that the crack under corrosion
fatigue propagates as the static fracture mode of the material elements ahead of the crack tip is assumed. It should be
noted that the fracture planes of the CFCP of cracked specimens, with their normal direction being vertical to the
applied loading axis, indicates mode I crack propagation.
In other words, it is reasonable that the CFCP is assumed
to be due to the tension fracture of the material elements
ahead of the crack tip.
The corrosion-blunting-fracture model for CFCP
developed in this work is based on the modied static
fracture for FCP [13] and the tensile stress failure criteria,
and the possible corrosion eects on the crack propagation

1383

are taken into account. The expression for the CFCP rate
derived from the model reveals the correlation between
the CFCP rate and stress intensity factor amplitude, the
CFCP threshold, loading frequency, anodic dissolution
rate and hydrogen embrittlement of the material elements.
It is shown from the test results of the CFCP rates of
aluminum alloys in a 3.5% NaCl environment that Eq.
(11), the formula developed for the CFCP rate, can be well
used to quantitatively describe the general rule of CFCP of
aluminum alloys in an aggressive environment. The upper
limit of the CFCP rate in the stable phases for aluminum
alloys reaches to an order of magnitude of (da/
dN)cf 6 106 or 105 m/cycle except the KIC region, which
depends on the specimen type used in the CFCP test, so the
expression for CFCP can be applied to the CFCP stable
phases.
5.2. On the CFCP coecient
In dry or laboratory air, the anodic dissolution Ra at the
crack tip is equal to zero and the FCP coecient B can be
written as [13,27]
B

1
2pErf ef

22

Hence, the value of B depends on the intrinsic properties of

an alloy.
The CFCP coecient Bcf is a main factor controlling the
CFCP rate at the intermediate DK, in which the CFCP rate
is environmentally dependent [12,25]. The value of Bcf
should thus be related to the corrosive environment and
susceptibility of the alloy to the corrosive environment,
but the stress ratio has no signicant eect on the value
of Bcf given in Table 2. The test results and analysis of
the CFCP rate of LC4CS alloy given in Section 3.2, and
7075-T7651 and 7047-T73 given in Section 4 show that
the 3.5% NaCl environment signicantly increases the
CFCP coecient compared with those of FCP resistant
coecient in laboratory or dry air, but the corrosive environment has a slight eect on the CFCP coecient of
LY12CZ alloy. Therefore, LY12CZ alloy is less sensitive
to the 3.5% NaCl environment than 2024-T3 alloy [25],
since the properties of 2024-T3 alloy are similar to those
of LY12CZ alloy.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examinations
showed that LY12CZ alloy exhibited dierent fractographic features with varying loading conditions and DK region.
As shown in Fig. 8, corrosion mud cracking features
appeared at high stress ratios and the near threshold
region, but striation features appeared at low stress ratios
and the intermediate region. The 3.5% NaCl environment
had less eect on the CFCP fracture mechanism at the
intermediate region. LC4CS alloy exhibited transgranular
microcleavage features with secondary cracks. As shown
in Fig. 9, transgranular microcleavage at low stress ratios
included small secondary cracks, and at high stress ratios
had long secondary cracks.

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R. Wang / International Journal of Fatigue 30 (2008) 13761386

Fig. 8. Typical CFCP fracture surfaces of LY12CZ alloy in 3.5NaCl solution: (a) corrosion mud cracking features at the near threshold region, (b)
p
p
striation features in the intermediate region (a) DK 1:86 MPa m, R = 0.7 (b) DK 6:12 MPa m, R = 0.1.

Fig. 9. Typical CFCP fracture surfaces of LC4CS alloy in 3.5NaCl solution: (a) transgranular microcleavage with small secondary cracks, (b)
p
p
transgranular microcleavage with long secondary cracks (a) DK 3:44 MPa m, R = 0.1 (b) DK 3:84 MPa m, R = 0.7.

In the CFCP process, an important sign of corrosive

eects on fracture features is the formation of the brittle
striation appearance. It is recognized to be associated with
fatigue in corrosive environments and is one of the characteristics of the CFCP fractures. It can be contributed to
slip-enhanced dissolution at the crack tip [25]. The anodic
dissolution is generally considered to provide an insignicant contribution to the CFCP rate even at very slow loading frequencies or during static loading [26]. It can be
deduced that the value of RaT/(1  RaT) in Eq. (12) should
be much less than 1, but the CFCP rates increase several
times more than the FCP rates.
Another action of the anodic dissolution is to make the
cathodic hydrogen-reduced reaction a necessary corollary
to the CFCP through hydrogen embrittlement. Cleavagelike fracture with secondary cracks and intergranular fracture in the CFCP often occur in high strength aluminum
alloy as 7000 series [25,26] and LC4CS alloy [19], and the
hydrogen embrittlement is mainly responsible for accelerating the crack propagation [28]. These fracture feathers
imply a decrease of the cohesion of the materials in the
CFCP, which is due to hydrogen embrittlement at the
material elements ahead of the crack tip. The hydrogen
embrittlement degrades the material properties [29] and
will decrease the values of rf and ef of the material elements

in Eq. (12), so the CFCP rates are much higher than the
FCP rates. When the loading frequencies are decreased,
the time of the material-environment reaction is prolonged
and the degree of the hydrogen embrittlement increases.
The value of Bcf should increase and the CFCP rate
increases as loading frequencies decrease as shown in
Eqs. (18) and (20).
5.3. On the CFCP threshold
The CFCP threshold DKthcf is an important parameter
controlling the CFCP rate, particularly in the near threshold region, and has a signicant meaning. The values of
DKthcf of LY12CZ and LC4CS aluminum alloys decrease
as the stress ratios increase given in Table 2. Thus, the
CFCP rates increase in the near threshold region as the
stress ratios increase.
The test results and the analysis of the CFCP threshold
in Sections 3 and 4 show that the 3.5% NaCl environment
has a complicated eect on the value of DKthcf. The values
of DKthcf of LY12CZ and LC4CS aluminum alloys in the
3.5% NaCl environment are slightly lower than those in
laboratory air especially in lower stress ratios according
to Eqs. (16) and (17), but 7075 aluminum alloy has no signicant eect according to Eqs. (18) and (19) and 7049

R. Wang / International Journal of Fatigue 30 (2008) 13761386

aluminum alloy has a slight increase according to Eqs. (20)

and (21). This is perhaps related to corrosion dissolution
and corrosion deposits at the crack tip.
It can be seen from reanalysis results of 7075 and 7049
aluminum alloys that loading frequencies have no signicant eect on the values of DKthcf given in Eqs. (18) and
(20). This implies that hydrogen embrittlement has little
eect on DKthcf, since hydrogen diusion becomes more
and more limited close to the threshold region due to oxide
formation on fracture surfaces and a lower opening displacement of the crack [30].
6. Conclusions
Based on the corrosion-blunting-fracture model for
CFCP proposed, the test results and the analysis given in
this paper, the following preliminary conclusions could
be drawn:
1. The concept of the material elements fracture ahead of a
crack tip during FCP is applied to CFCP of aluminum
alloys in the corrosive environment. Considering the
eect of corrosion damage, anodic dissolution and
hydrogen embrittlement, on the material elements, a
corrosion-blunting-fracture model for CFCP is
developed.
2. Based on the model for CFCP and the principal of fracture mechanics, the expression for the CFCP rate, which
reveals the correlation between the CFCP rate and stress
intensity, the CFCP threshold, loading frequency, anodic dissolution rate and hydrogen embrittlement of the
material elements, is derived
 
da
2
Bcf DK  DK thcf
dN cf
where Bcf is the coecient of the CFCP and D Kthcf is the
CFCP threshold. The expression can be used to give a
good t to the test data of aluminum alloys at several
stress ratios and loading frequencies in a 3.5% NaCl
environment, which includes LY12CZ, LC4CS, 7075T7651 and 7049-T73 aluminum alloys.
3. The CFCP coecient Bcf is a material parameter sensitive to the corrosion environment. The stress ratios have
no signicant eect on Bcf. The 3.5% NaCl environment
increases the values of Bcf and thus increases the CFCP
rates compared to those in laboratory air or dry air. The
value of Bcf increases as the loading frequencies
decrease, and then the CFCP rates increase as the loading frequencies decrease.
4. The CFCP threshold DKthcf is mainly controlled by
stress ratios. When stress ratios increase, the values of
DKthcf decrease and the CFCP rates increase in the near
threshold region. The 3.5% NaCl environment has a
slight eect on DKthcf, but this eect seems to be
complicated. The loading frequency has little eect on
DKthcf.

1385

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