Effect of Specimen Thickness on Aging and Fatigue Strength of Al-Zn Alloys

Repeated tensile fatigue strength of the low temperature age-hardened Al-Zn alloys is investigated varying the specimen thickness. Fatigue strength of the age-hardened specimens decreases with the specimen thickness when the specimen is thinner than a certain thickness, whereas fatigue strength of non age-hardened specimens, i.e., pure aluminum and dilute Al-Zn alloy, does not depend the specimen thickness. The dependence of fatigue strength on the thickness of age-hardened specimen is considered to be caused by the decrease of the strength of specimen as a whole, as a result of increase in volume ratio of the soft surface layer formed after age-hardening with decreasing specimen thickness.