Environmental effects on crack grwoth in flight-simulation tests on 2024-T3 and 7075-T6 material Supplement: Compilation of test data from an investigation on the effect of environment on crack growth under flight-simulation loading

Flight-simulation tests based on a standardized gust load spectrum were carried out in normal air, very dry air and salt water. Specimen thicknesses were t = 2 mm and t = 10 mm, mean stress in flight was 70 or 55 MN/m². In all cases a significant effect of the environment was found. Fatigue lives for t = 10 ram were much shorter than for t = 2...

The significance of cladding for fatigue of aluminium alloys in aircraft structures

Flight-simulation tests were carried out on sheet specimens notched "by an open hole (Kt = 2.66). The material was 2024-T3 in three conditions; Alclad, bare and chemically milled. The crack initiation period and the crack propagation period were considerably shorter for the Alclad material. The significance of the cladding, both for constant...