Effect of corrosion on the fatigue life and fracture mechanisms of 6101 aluminum alloy wires for car manufacturing applications

Adrien Laurino (1) , Eric Andrieu (1) , Jean-Paul Harouard (2) , Grégory Odemer (1) , Jean-Claude Salabura (1) , Christine Blanc (1)

1 CIRIMAT - Centre interuniversitaire de recherche et d'ingenierie des matériaux
2 LEONI WIRING SYSTEMS FRANCE (FRANCE)

An innovative solution for the automotive industry is to replace the copper used for wiring harnesses with aluminum alloys, such as the aluminum–magnesium–silicon 6101 alloy. Wiring harnesses are composed of thin strand arms obtained by a wire drawing process. These strands are susceptible to exposure to a corrosive environment and fatigue solicitations simultaneously. The fatigue endurance of this alloy was studied using the stress-life approach for three metallurgical states representative of three colddrawing steps. Fatigue tests performed in corrosive media tests highlighted a strong decrease of the 6101 alloy lifetime due to fatigue–corrosion interactions and a modification of failure modes.

Mots clés: Aluminum alloy; Scanning electron microscopy; Fatigue endurance; Fatigue–corrosion; Automotive components

Domaines: Matériaux

Adrien Laurino, Eric Andrieu, Jean-Paul Harouard, Grégory Odemer, Jean-Claude Salabura, et al.. Effect of corrosion on the fatigue life and fracture mechanisms of 6101 aluminum alloy wires for car manufacturing applications. Materials & Design, 2014, vol. 53, pp. 236-249. ⟨10.1016/j.matdes.2013.06.079⟩. ⟨hal-01168963⟩