Effects of Cerium Addition on Fatigue Fracture Behavior of Magnesium Single Crystals

Abstract

Single crystalline thin sheets of pure Mg and two alloys containing cerium ® 0.016 mol% Ce and 0.028 mol% Ce ® were subjected to plane bending fatigue tests so as to clarify effects of cerium addition on fatigue fracture behavior of magnesium. Both fatigue limit and fatigue life were found to improve by cerium addition. With increasing cerium concentration, fatigue crack initiation lives shorten, while crack propagation rates decrease. Critical resolved shear stress for second order pyramidal slip decreased by cerium addition, resulting in short fatigue crack initiation lives. [