Ligas de alumínio que contém lítio são conhecidas por serem materiais atraentes devido à sua baixa densidade, alta elasticidade, alta resistencia mecânica e boa resistência à corrosão. A degradação do material devido à fadiga e corrosão são os dois principais fatores que contribuem para o envelhecimento de uma aeronave, e a previsão de corrosão e fadiga sob corrosão são muito importantes para sua integridade estrutural. A ocorrencia de pites de corrosão pode reduzir significativamente a iniciação da trinca de fadiga e diminuir a variação da intensidade de tensão limite destas ligas em até 50%. Com o objetivo de analisar novas ligas Al que estão no mercado, este trabalho compara o comportamento mecânico, de fadiga de baixo ciclo e eletroquímico das ligas de aluminio 2525 T3 e 7050 T7451 utilizadas pela EMBRAER, com o das ligas T851 2198 e 7081 T73511. Assim, ensaios de nucleação de trinca por fadiga foram realizados ao ar e em espécimes pré-condicionadas por 15 dias em névoa salina 5%, para a obtenção de curvas S-N. Curvas de polarização potenciodinâmicas foram obtidas para a investigação eletroquímica do comportamento destas ligas em um ambiente corrosivo. Também foram feitos ensaios de resistência à tração e dureza. Os resultados obtidos da série 2XXX mostram que as ligas são menos susceptíveis à corrosão por pites por apresentarem valores de Epite mais positivos que as ligas da série 7XXX. Porém, seus valores de jcorr também são mais positivos, o que aumenta a velocidade de corrosão das ligas, uma vez iniciado o processo. Tal fato se deve à presença de precipitados e elementos de liga que agem de modo a elevar o potencial para valores mais altos. Análises metalográficas por microscopia ótica e de varredura foram realizadas para se determinar os precipitados presentes em cada uma das ligas estudadas. O comportamento em fadiga das ligas pré-condicionadas em ambiente salino foi inferior em relação ao comportamento das ligas mantidas ao ar. Os pites funcionaram como concentradores de tensão, aumentando a ocorrência de nucleação de trincas de fadiga. A resistência à fadiga ao ar das ligas estudadas foi ligeiramente inferior ao das ligas bases. Entretanto, as quatro curvas obtidas para os espécimes pré-condicionados apresentaram-se superpostas. Isso indica que a ação dos pites rege o mecanismo de nucleação das trincas, enquanto que em ar, adiciona-se a ação do acabamento superficial. / Lithium-containing aluminum alloys are known to be attractive materials because of their low densities, high elastic modulus, high strengths and good corrosion resistance. Material degradation due to fatigue and corrosion are two major factors that contribute to the aging of an aircraft, and the prediction of corrosion and corrosionfatigue are very important for the structural integrity of aircrafts. The presence of corrosion pits can significantly shorten the fatigue crack initiation life and decrease the threshold stress intensity of an alloy by as much as 50%. The purpose of this work was to compare mechanical, fatigue and electrochemical behavior of the new \'AL\' alloys, 2198 T851 and 7081 T73511 that are on the market, with those used by EMBRAER, named 2525 T3 and 7050 T7451. The comparisons also considered fatigue resistance in pre-corrosion confining in salt environment. Therefore, air and 15-day-confined 5% salt environment specimens were submitted to crack nucleation tests to obtain S-N curves. Potentiodynamic polarization curves were also plotted to study the electrochemical behavior of this alloys in a corrosion environment. Tensile and hardness tests were performed. The obtained results for the 2XXX series showed that these alloys are less susceptible to pitting corrosion due to more positives Epite compared to 7XXX series. However, their jcorr values are also more positive, increasing the corrosion speed once it has begun. This happens due to the presence of some precipitates and a few elements that react in a way to increase the potential to higher values. Optical and electronic microscopy analyses were performed to determine the nature of precipitates of each alloy. The fatigue behavior of the salty-pre-confined environment specimens was much inferior compared to air test specimens according to each corrosion environment. Pits work as tension concentration, increasing fatigue crack nucleation. Air fatigue resistance of the new alloys was slightly inferior than the base alloys, but when the tests under pre-confined environment were conducted, the four curves overlapped. This implies that the pit action governs crack nucleation mechanism, while in air, surface finishing is an additional factor.

Este projeto faz parte de uma Rede Interdisciplinar de Pesquisa em Superligas no Brasil (Projeto Pró-Engenharias - CAPES), que tem como objetivo o desenvolvimento técnico e científico do Brasil nesta classe de materiais. A rede é composta por especialistas de estabelecida competência em assuntos fundamentais para o desenvolvimento de materiais estruturais, tais como: fusão em vácuo, solidificação direcional, relações orientação-propriedade, tratamentos térmicos, fluência, fadiga em alta temperatura, oxidação e corrosão a quente. Assim, na parte que compete a este pesquisador, foram estudadas as propriedades de fadiga em altas temperaturas da liga MAR-M247 e de uma nova liga, a liga MAR-M247 modificada pela substituição do Ta pelo Nb, e sendo doravante denominada MAR-M247(Nb). Foram desenvolvidos estudos correlacionando parâmetros intrínsecos do material, como composição química e microestrutura adicionalmente a parâmetros extrínsecos, tais como: temperatura, estudo de oxidação, propriedades de fadiga, ensaios de tração em temperatura ambiente, 250, 500, 700, 800, 900 e 1000ºC, conforme as normas AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR TESTING AND MATERIALS (ASTM) E 8M-00 e ASTM E 21-00. Em relação aos ensaios de fadiga foram realizados ensaios de nucleação de trincas , conforme a norma ASTM E466-07 e os resultados foram apresentados na forma de curvas S-N e analisados estatisticamente segunda a norma ASTM E739-10. Para auxiliar na definição dos micromecanismos de fadiga, as superfícies de fratura foram analisadas utilizando o microscópio eletrônico de varredura (MEV) e microscópio ótico estereoscópico (MO). Foi realizado ensaio de oxidação para verificar a susceptibilidade a oxidação das ligas, sendo este um dos fatores que afetam a vida em fadiga em alta temperatura. / This project is part of an interdisciplinary network of Research in Super League in Brazil (Project Pro-Engineering - CAPES), which aims to technical and scientific development of Brazil in this class of materials. The network is composed of experts of established competence in matters fundamental to the development of structural materials, such as: vacuum melting, directional solidification, relationships property-oriented, heat treatment, creep, fatigue in high temperature oxidation and hot corrosion. Thus, at the racing this researcher, were studied the fatigue properties at high temperatures MAR-M247 alloy and a new league, which in reality is the MAR-M247 alloy modified by replacing the Ta by Nb, and being hereinafter referred to as MAR-M247 (Nb). Were designed studies correlating parameters intrinsic material, such as chemical composition and microstructure, with extrinsic parameters such as: temperature and type of loading, with the properties fatigue. Thus, tensile tests at room temperature environment, 250, 500, 700 and 900ºC, and tests for compression at temperatures of 700 and 900ºC were performed to determine the elastic behavior and elastoplastic material, according to the ASTM E-8M 00, ASTM E 21-00 and ASTM E209-00. Were also conducted testing of fatigue crack nucleation, as ASTM E466-07. The results were presented at form of SN curves and statistically analyzed the second ASTM E739-10. To assist in the definition of micromechanics of fatigue, the fracture surfaces were examined in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and stereoscopic optical microscope (OM). Was oxidation test performed to check susceptibility to oxidation of the alloy, which is the factor affecting the fatigue life.

Este projeto faz parte de uma Rede Interdisciplinar de Pesquisa em Superligas no Brasil (Projeto Pró-Engenharias - CAPES), que tem como objetivo o desenvolvimento técnico e científico do Brasil nesta classe de materiais. A rede é composta por especialistas de estabelecida competência em assuntos fundamentais para o desenvolvimento de materiais estruturais, tais como: fusão em vácuo, solidificação direcional, relações orientação-propriedade, tratamentos térmicos, fluência, fadiga em alta temperatura, oxidação e corrosão a quente. Assim, na parte que compete a este pesquisador, foram estudadas as propriedades de fadiga em altas temperaturas da liga MAR-M247 e de uma nova liga, a liga MAR-M247 modificada pela substituição do Ta pelo Nb, e sendo doravante denominada MAR-M247(Nb). Foram desenvolvidos estudos correlacionando parâmetros intrínsecos do material, como composição química e microestrutura adicionalmente a parâmetros extrínsecos, tais como: temperatura, estudo de oxidação, propriedades de fadiga, ensaios de tração em temperatura ambiente, 250, 500, 700, 800, 900 e 1000ºC, conforme as normas AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR TESTING AND MATERIALS (ASTM) E 8M-00 e ASTM E 21-00. Em relação aos ensaios de fadiga foram realizados ensaios de nucleação de trincas , conforme a norma ASTM E466-07 e os resultados foram apresentados na forma de curvas S-N e analisados estatisticamente segunda a norma ASTM E739-10. Para auxiliar na definição dos micromecanismos de fadiga, as superfícies de fratura foram analisadas utilizando o microscópio eletrônico de varredura (MEV) e microscópio ótico estereoscópico (MO). Foi realizado ensaio de oxidação para verificar a susceptibilidade a oxidação das ligas, sendo este um dos fatores que afetam a vida em fadiga em alta temperatura. / This project is part of an interdisciplinary network of Research in Super League in Brazil (Project Pro-Engineering - CAPES), which aims to technical and scientific development of Brazil in this class of materials. The network is composed of experts of established competence in matters fundamental to the development of structural materials, such as: vacuum melting, directional solidification, relationships property-oriented, heat treatment, creep, fatigue in high temperature oxidation and hot corrosion. Thus, at the racing this researcher, were studied the fatigue properties at high temperatures MAR-M247 alloy and a new league, which in reality is the MAR-M247 alloy modified by replacing the Ta by Nb, and being hereinafter referred to as MAR-M247 (Nb). Were designed studies correlating parameters intrinsic material, such as chemical composition and microstructure, with extrinsic parameters such as: temperature and type of loading, with the properties fatigue. Thus, tensile tests at room temperature environment, 250, 500, 700 and 900ºC, and tests for compression at temperatures of 700 and 900ºC were performed to determine the elastic behavior and elastoplastic material, according to the ASTM E-8M 00, ASTM E 21-00 and ASTM E209-00. Were also conducted testing of fatigue crack nucleation, as ASTM E466-07. The results were presented at form of SN curves and statistically analyzed the second ASTM E739-10. To assist in the definition of micromechanics of fatigue, the fracture surfaces were examined in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and stereoscopic optical microscope (OM). Was oxidation test performed to check susceptibility to oxidation of the alloy, which is the factor affecting the fatigue life.

Ligas de alumínio que contém lítio são conhecidas por serem materiais atraentes devido à sua baixa densidade, alta elasticidade, alta resistencia mecânica e boa resistência à corrosão. A degradação do material devido à fadiga e corrosão são os dois principais fatores que contribuem para o envelhecimento de uma aeronave, e a previsão de corrosão e fadiga sob corrosão são muito importantes para sua integridade estrutural. A ocorrencia de pites de corrosão pode reduzir significativamente a iniciação da trinca de fadiga e diminuir a variação da intensidade de tensão limite destas ligas em até 50%. Com o objetivo de analisar novas ligas Al que estão no mercado, este trabalho compara o comportamento mecânico, de fadiga de baixo ciclo e eletroquímico das ligas de aluminio 2525 T3 e 7050 T7451 utilizadas pela EMBRAER, com o das ligas T851 2198 e 7081 T73511. Assim, ensaios de nucleação de trinca por fadiga foram realizados ao ar e em espécimes pré-condicionadas por 15 dias em névoa salina 5%, para a obtenção de curvas S-N. Curvas de polarização potenciodinâmicas foram obtidas para a investigação eletroquímica do comportamento destas ligas em um ambiente corrosivo. Também foram feitos ensaios de resistência à tração e dureza. Os resultados obtidos da série 2XXX mostram que as ligas são menos susceptíveis à corrosão por pites por apresentarem valores de Epite mais positivos que as ligas da série 7XXX. Porém, seus valores de jcorr também são mais positivos, o que aumenta a velocidade de corrosão das ligas, uma vez iniciado o processo. Tal fato se deve à presença de precipitados e elementos de liga que agem de modo a elevar o potencial para valores mais altos. Análises metalográficas por microscopia ótica e de varredura foram realizadas para se determinar os precipitados presentes em cada uma das ligas estudadas. O comportamento em fadiga das ligas pré-condicionadas em ambiente salino foi inferior em relação ao comportamento das ligas mantidas ao ar. Os pites funcionaram como concentradores de tensão, aumentando a ocorrência de nucleação de trincas de fadiga. A resistência à fadiga ao ar das ligas estudadas foi ligeiramente inferior ao das ligas bases. Entretanto, as quatro curvas obtidas para os espécimes pré-condicionados apresentaram-se superpostas. Isso indica que a ação dos pites rege o mecanismo de nucleação das trincas, enquanto que em ar, adiciona-se a ação do acabamento superficial. / Lithium-containing aluminum alloys are known to be attractive materials because of their low densities, high elastic modulus, high strengths and good corrosion resistance. Material degradation due to fatigue and corrosion are two major factors that contribute to the aging of an aircraft, and the prediction of corrosion and corrosionfatigue are very important for the structural integrity of aircrafts. The presence of corrosion pits can significantly shorten the fatigue crack initiation life and decrease the threshold stress intensity of an alloy by as much as 50%. The purpose of this work was to compare mechanical, fatigue and electrochemical behavior of the new \'AL\' alloys, 2198 T851 and 7081 T73511 that are on the market, with those used by EMBRAER, named 2525 T3 and 7050 T7451. The comparisons also considered fatigue resistance in pre-corrosion confining in salt environment. Therefore, air and 15-day-confined 5% salt environment specimens were submitted to crack nucleation tests to obtain S-N curves. Potentiodynamic polarization curves were also plotted to study the electrochemical behavior of this alloys in a corrosion environment. Tensile and hardness tests were performed. The obtained results for the 2XXX series showed that these alloys are less susceptible to pitting corrosion due to more positives Epite compared to 7XXX series. However, their jcorr values are also more positive, increasing the corrosion speed once it has begun. This happens due to the presence of some precipitates and a few elements that react in a way to increase the potential to higher values. Optical and electronic microscopy analyses were performed to determine the nature of precipitates of each alloy. The fatigue behavior of the salty-pre-confined environment specimens was much inferior compared to air test specimens according to each corrosion environment. Pits work as tension concentration, increasing fatigue crack nucleation. Air fatigue resistance of the new alloys was slightly inferior than the base alloys, but when the tests under pre-confined environment were conducted, the four curves overlapped. This implies that the pit action governs crack nucleation mechanism, while in air, surface finishing is an additional factor.

An experimental method was further developed to quantify the anisotropy of multi-site fatigue crack initiation behaviors in high strength Al alloys by four-point bend fatigue testing under stress control. In this method, fatigue crack initiation sites (fatigue weak-links, FWLs) were measured on the sample surface at different cyclic stress levels. The FWL density in an alloy could be best described using a three-parameter Weibull function of stress, though other types of sigmoidal functions might also be used to quantify the relationship between FWL density and stress. The strength distribution of the FWLs was derived from the Weibull function determined by fitting the FWLs vs. stress curve experimentally obtained. As materials properties, the FWL density and strength distribution could be used to evaluate the fatigue crack nucleation behaviors of engineering alloys quantitatively and the alloy quality in terms of FWL density and strength distribution. In this work, the effects of environment, types of microstructural heterogeneities and loading direction on FWLs were all studied in detail in AA7075-T651, AA2026-T3511, and A713 Al alloys, etc. It was also found that FWLs should be quantified as a Weibull-type function of strain instead of stress, when the applied maximum cyclic stress exceeded the yield strength of the tested alloys. In this work, four-point bend fatigue tests were conducted on the L-T (Rolling-Transverse), L-S (Rolling-Short transverse) and T-S planes of an AA7075-T651 alloy plate, respectively, at room temperature, 20 Hz, R=0.1, in air. The FWL populations, measured on these surfaces, were a Weibull-type function of the applied maximum cyclic stress, from which FWL density and strength distribution could be determined. The alloy showed a significant anisotropy of FWLs with the weak-link density being 11 mm-2, 15 mm-2 and 4 mm-2 on the L-T, L-S and T-S planes, respectively. Fatigue cracks were predominantly initiated at Fe-containing particles on the L-T and L-S planes, but only at Si-bearing particles on the T-S plane, profoundly demonstrating that the pre-fractured Fe-containing particles were responsible for crack initiation on the L-T and L-S planes, since the pre-fracture of these particles due to extensive deformation in the L direction during the prior rolling operation could only promote crack initiation when the sample was cyclically stressed in the L direction on both the L-T and L-S planes. The fatigue strengths of the L-T, L-S and T-S planes of the AA7075 alloy were measured to be 243.6, 273.0 and 280.6 MPa, respectively. The differences in grain and particle structures between these planes were responsible for the anisotropy of fatigue strength and FWLs on these planes. Three types of fatigue cracks from particles, type-I: the micro-cracks in the particles could not propagate into the matrix, i.e., type-II: the micro-cracks were fully arrested soon after they propagated into the matrix, and type-III: the micro-cracks became long cracks, were observed in the AA7075-T651 alloy after fatigue testing. By cross-sectioning these three-types of particles using Focused Ion Beam (FIB), it was found that the thickness of the particles was the dominant factor controlling fatigue crack initiation at the particles, namely, the thicker a pre-fractured Fe-containing particle, the easier it became a type-III crack on the L-T and L-S planes. On the T-S plane, there were only types-I and III Si-bearing particles at which crack were initiated. The type-I particles were less than 6.5 μm in thickness and type-III particles were thicker than 8.3 μm. Cross-sectioning of these particles using FIB revealed that these particles all contained gas pores which promoted crack initiation at the particles because of higher stress concentration at the pores in connection with the particles. It was also found that fatigue cracks did not always follow the any specific crystallographic planes within each grain, based on the Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) measurement. Also, the grain orientation did not show a strong influence on crack initiation at particles which were located within the grains. The topography measurements with an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) revealed that Fe-containing particles were protruded on the mechanically polished surface, while the Si-bearing particles were intruded on the surface, which was consistent with hardness measurements showing that Si-bearing particles were softer (4.030.92 GPa) than Fe-containing ones (8.9 0.87 GPa) in the alloy. To verify the 3-D effects of the pre-fractured particles on fatigue crack initiation in high strength Al alloys, rectangular micro-notches of three different types of dimensions were fabricated using FIB in the selected grains on the T-S planes of both AA2024-T351 and AA7075-T651 Al alloys, to mimic the three types of pre-fractured particles found in these alloys. Fatigue testing on these samples with the micro-notches verified that the wider and deeper the micro-notches, the easier fatigue cracks could be initiated at the notches. In the AA2024-T351 samples, cracks preferred to propagate along the {111} slip plane with the smallest twist angle and relatively large Schmid factor. These experimental data obtained in this work could pave a way to building a 3-D quantitative model for quantification of fatigue crack initiation behaviors by taking into account the driving force and resistance to short crack growth at the particles in the surface of these alloys.

This dissertation aims to study the benefit of rail grinding on service life of railroad rails, focusing on failures due to rolling contact fatigue (RCF) at the rail head. Assuming a tangent rail with one-point contact at the running surface, a finite element analysis of a full-scale wheel-rail rolling contact with a nonlinear isotropic kinematic hardening material model is performed to simulate the accumulation of residual stresses and strains in the rail head. Using rolling stress and strain results from the sixth loading cycle, in which residual stresses and strains are at their steady-state, as input, two critical plane fatigue criteria are proposed for fatigue analyses. The first fatigue criterion is the stress-based approach—namely the Findley fatigue criterion. It suggests an important role of tensile residual stresses on subsurface crack nucleation and early growth in the rail head, but applications of the criterion to the near-running-surface region are limited because of plastic deformation from wheel-rail contact. The second fatigue criterion is the strain-based approach—namely the Fatemi-Socie fatigue criterion. Contributed mainly from shear strain amplitudes and factorized by normal stress components, the criterion also predicts fatigue crack nucleation at the subsurface as a possible failure mode as well as fatigue crack nucleation at the near-surface, while maintaining its validity in both regions. A collection of fatigue test data of various types of rail steel from literature is analyzed to determine a relationship between fatigue damages and number of cycles to failure. Considering a set of wheel loads with their corresponding number of rolling passage as a loading unit (LU), optimizations of grinding schedules with genetic algorithm (GA) show that fatigue life of rail increases by varying amount when compared against that from the no-grinding case. Results show that the proposed grinding schedules, optimized with the exploratory and local-search genetic algorithms, can increase fatigue life of rail by 240 percent. The optimization framework is designed to be able to determine a set of optimal grinding schedules for different types of rail steel and different contact configurations, i.e. two-point contact occurred when cornering.