Low cycle fatigue behavior of Cu‐Cr‐Zr alloy with different cold deformation

Abstract The present study addressed the cyclic deformation behavior and fatigue properties of Cu‐0.69Cr‐0.07Zr alloy with different cold deformation ( ε = 64%, 75%, and 84%) using low cycle fatigue test. Low cycle fatigue tests were conducted under fully‐reversed conditions at different total strain amplitudes. The microstructure changes and fatigue fracture characteristics were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The main findings suggest that the Bauschinger effect was significantly stronger with larger deformation at low total strain amplitude. And it was proved that the relationship between the total strain amplitude and the low cycle fatigue life of Cu‐Cr‐Zr alloy with different deformation can be expressed by the Manson–Coffin–Basquin formula. Further, the reason for the fatigue life was shorter and the cyclic softening rate decreased faster at high applied total strain amplitude was that the dislocation density decreased due to the rearrangement of the dislocations.