Abstract:In this investigation, 2024 aluminium alloy plates were friction stir welded, a sequence of experiments was performed including fatigue and crack propagation tests in air, under pre-corrosion and in a 3.5% NaCl solution, in combination with fractography analyses of near-threshold region, Paris region and finial fracture region with the aid of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results showed that the corrosive environment caused a dramatical decrease in fatigue lives of FS welds, the corrosion fatigue lives of FS welds were almost a half of those of the as-welded specimens. The crack growth rates in FS welds were higher than their counterparts in base materials, under the corrosive environment, the crack growth rate differences between base materials and FS welds become increasingly apparent with the increase of stress intensity factor range ΔK, but the pre-corrosion process had little effect on the FS welds’ crack propagation behavior except for shortening the crack initiation lives greatly.

Key words: friction stir welding; aluminium alloy; fatigue; crack growth rate; corrosion