Fatigue crack propagation in fine-grained magnesium under low temperature tension-tension cyclic loading

Fine-grained magnesium was tested under stress-controlled tension-tension cyclic loading at -30 °C and the tested sample was observed using scanning electron microscope and electron backscatter diffraction to explore the fatigue behavior and crack propagation. The fatigue data showed that the material experienced cyclic softening followed by cyclic hardening before the final fracture failure. The microscopic observations demonstrated that the cracks were almost perpendicular to the loading direction with some zigzags and the cracks progressed along both small angle grain boundaries and large angle grain boundaries. Although the cracks were mainly propagated along large angle grain boundaries, the value of grain boundary angle was not the primary factor to determine the crack propagation direction. The local residual strain from the rolling process was released due to the crack propagation and there was more strain relaxation at regions closer to the cracks.