Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) was used to study cross sectional profiles and dimensions of fatigue striations in 2017-T351 aluminum alloy. Their widths(SW) and heights (SH, SH(sub)h, SH(sub)ι) were measured from the cross sectional profiles of three-...
Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) was used to study cross sectional profiles and dimensions of fatigue striations in 2017-T351 aluminum alloy. Their widths(SW) and heights (SH, SH(sub)h, SH(sub)ι) were measured from the cross sectional profiles of three-dimension AFM images. The following results that will be helpful to understand the fatigue crack growth mechanism were obtained. (1) The relation of SH=$\alpha$(SW)(sup)1.2 was obtained. (2) The ratio of the striation height to its width SH/SW, SH(sub)h/SW and SH(sub)ι/SW did not depend on the stress intensity factor range ΔK and the stress ratio R( =P(sub)min/P(sub)max = K(sub)min/K(sub)max). (3) Effect of precipitate on the morphology of striation was changed by the relative dimensional difference between the striation width SW and the precipitates. From these results, the applicability of the AFM to nano-fractography is discussed.