How to Determine Consumed Fatigue Life in Cast Aluminum Parts?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around determining the consumed fatigue life of cast aluminum parts, particularly in automotive applications. Participants explore non-destructive testing methods that could be employed to assess the condition of a used part without prior usage data.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Technical explanation, Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant inquires about methods to assess the consumed fatigue life of a cast aluminum part, emphasizing the need for non-destructive testing due to lack of usage history.
  • Another participant expresses uncertainty about the concept of "consumed fatigue life" and suggests that fatigue cracks develop over time, which can be detected through inspection methods like liquid penetrant inspection (LPI) or eddy current inspection.
  • A further inquiry is made regarding the indicators of material degradation prior to cracking, questioning whether the material undergoes any changes during cyclic loading that could signal impending failure.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on how to determine consumed fatigue life, and multiple viewpoints regarding inspection methods and material behavior under stress are presented.

Contextual Notes

The discussion highlights the complexity of assessing fatigue life without prior usage data and the potential limitations of the proposed inspection methods in providing definitive answers.

rikcardo
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How to determine in a cast aluminum part its consumed fatigue life?

Lets imagine I get a cast aluminum part that looks good, but I have no idea for how many km it has been used (automotive). Which kind of non destructive tests or methods could I use to determine the consumed fatigue life, and that way know if it should be replaced?

I can only compare to a new part, I have no other information whatsoever.

Help would be great appreciated :)

best regards

R.
 
Engineering news on Phys.org
complicated topic I see :) no one?
 
I don’t know how you would determine the “consumed fatigue life,” whatever that is. Fatique cracks take time to develop and can be picked up with an inspection program using liquid penetrant inspection (LPI) or eddy current inspection.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dye_penetrant_inspection
 
But what I would like to know is how close am I from having a crack. There are no symptoms in the material? There material does not change somehow during cycling before cracking?
 

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