Fatigue life analysis for 6061-T6 aluminum alloy based on surface roughness

Surface condition is one of the dominant factors affecting fatigue life. Considering the complexity of surface condition, a relatively efficient and economic approach based on surface reconstruction and interpolation method was proposed. The effect of surface roughness on the fatigue life of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy is studied to analyze the fatigue life by surface roughness parameters. Surface topography was simplified into a series of elliptic micro notches, and empirical formula for stress concentration factor is established based on simulation work. Then the extraction method of surface curve is proposed to effectively represent the real surface roughness through 3D model reconstruction. Experiment of surface roughness verified the correctness of the model. The relationship between surface roughness and fatigue life is established and the calculated value of the fatigue life is compared with the test results. The maximum error is 15.65%, indicating that the formula established is reasonable and effective.