Durability assessment of automotive aluminium parts

摘要

Automotive chassis components made from aluminium alloys are often used without any paint or corrosion protection system. Therefore, the fatigue performance under corrosive environments has to be assessed as part of the design process. Literature data reveal a diffuse picture with regard to the extent of fatigue strength reduction due to corrosive environments. On the other hand, there is no standard or well-established guideline on relevant details of corrosion fatigue tests. Thus the definition of such tests has to be based on individual judgement. After a brief review of corrosion fatigue data and trends collected from the literature, test results are reported for components tested under simplified spectrum load cases in 3.5% NaCl including spectrum variations via omission and truncation. These data backed up by a numerical fatigue life prediction exercise have been used to support decisions on test conditions to be adopted for proof testing.