Low Cycle Fatigue Properties of a Low Rare Earth-Containing Me20 Magnesium Alloy

A newly-developed rare earth-containing ME20 magnesium alloy was studied in this thesis. As a potential structural material for applications in automotive industry, low cycle fatigue properties are inevitably required. Strain-controlled low cycle fatigue tests were conducted on this wrought alloy with different specimen orientations. Microstructure, tensile behaviors and low cycle fatigue properties were studied. The effect of different specimen orientations on microstructures and mechanical properties were also discussed. Results show that rare earth element addition in this alloy helped weaken the texture and specimen orientations had little influence over microstructure and fatigue properties of this magnesium alloy.