International Journal of Fatigue 84 (2016) 916

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International Journal of Fatigue

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfatigue

Effect of grain size on fatigue-crack growth in 2524 aluminium alloy

Deyan Yin a,b, Huiqun Liu a,b,, Yuqiang Chen c,, Danqing Yi a,b, Bo Wang a,b, Bin Wang a,b, Fanghua Shen a,b,
Shang Fu a,b, Cong Tang a,b, Suping Pan a,b
a
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, PR China
b
Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Materials Sciences and Engineering, Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, PR China
c
Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, Hunan 411201, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study, industrial 2524 aluminium alloy plates with various grain sizes (0.8298 lm) were pre-
Received 25 August 2015 pared by cold rolling and heat treatment. The fatigue-crack-growth rate was studied as a function of grain
Received in revised form 6 November 2015 size through fatigue tests and microstructural observations. The results showed that grain refinement led
Accepted 13 November 2015
to a decrease in the resistance against fatigue-crack growth. Besides, the levels of crack closure in coarse-
grained samples were higher than those in fine-grained ones at low values of the range of the stress
intensity factor K, DK. This phenomenon was predicted and explained well by the crack-deflection model.
Keywords:
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Grain-size tailoring
Fatigue-crack growth
2524 aluminium alloy

1. Introduction fatigue-growth resistance with larger grain size is attributed to

AlCuMg (2000 series) aluminium alloys are widely used in
aircrafts because of their outstanding damage-tolerance and
fatigue-resistance properties. An excellent example is the 2524
alloy, which was developed by Alcoa in the 1990s and has been
used as wing and fuselage skin on Boeing 777 and Airbus A380
[14]. The safety of an aircraft is closely related to the fatigue prop-
erty of the alloy used. Earlier studies revealed that experimental
conditions such as applied loading and environmental factors play
significant roles on an alloys fatigue properties [5,1,6,7]. However,
recent studies indicated that intrinsic factors, including physical
metallurgical properties, of the alloy have stronger effects on its
fatigue properties [812].
Among the physical metallurgical properties, grain size is one of
the most important factors. Grain size significantly influences both
fatigue-crack initiation and propagation behaviour [13,14]. On the
basis of previous work on microcrystalline metals (the grain sizes
were typically above 1 lm) and ultra-fine-grained crystalline met-
als (the grain sizes were typically in the range of 100 nm to 1 lm),
it is generally recognized that a structure with relatively larger
grain size tends to have a higher fatigue-crack-growth threshold
(DKth) and lower crack-growth rate [14,15]. The increase in
Corresponding authors at: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central
South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, PR China (H. Liu). Tel./fax: +86 731
88836320.
E-mail addresses: liuhuiqun@csu.edu.cn (H. Liu), yqchen1984@163.com
(Y. Chen).
the decrease in driving force of changes in the crack path, which
is induced by the microstructure and possible contact between
facets of rough cracks [16]. It is well known that this beneficial
effect is typically more pronounced at a low range of the stress
intensity factor K, DK, where both the size of cyclic plastic zones
and the opening displacement of cyclic crack tips are smaller than
the size of grains [17].
In order to study the effects of grain size on fatigue behaviour,
researchers have obtained alloys with different grain sizes using
different methods such as electrodeposition, equal-channel angu-
lar pressing, and cryomilling [1822]. These methods have inevita-
bly introduced different characteristics, such as dislocations and
defects, which increase the complexity when comparing the effects
of grain size on the fatigue behaviour of these alloys. Besides, as it
is difficult to obtain sufficient number of large samples by these
methods, some works have been conducted on non-standard sam-
ples, which might have affected the validity of the experiments.
Therefore, it is important to obtain materials with significantly dif-
ferent grain sizes under the same processing conditions to examine
their effects on the fatigue behaviour of the 2524 alloy.
In our present work, we successfully prepared 2524 aluminium
alloy plates with widely varying grain sizes through conventional
cold rolling and heat treatment. The fatigue-crack-growth beha-
viour of these plates was investigated in detail with a fatigue test-
ing machine, an optical microscope, a transmission electron
microscope (TEM), a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and a
three-dimensional microscope. The aim of this work is to reveal

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijfatigue.2015.11.011
0142-1123/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
10 D. Yin et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 84 (2016) 916
the influence of grain size on the fatigue-crack-growth behaviour
of 2524 aluminium alloy.
2. Materials and experimental methods
A commercial hot-rolled 2524 alloy plate with thickness of
6 mm was provided by Southwest Aluminium Co. Ltd., China. Its
nominal composition was 4.2% Cu, 1.41% Mg, 0.56% Mn, 0.08% Fe,
0.06% Si (in wt.%), and the balance was Al. The processing and
heat-treatment parameters of plates with four different grain sizes
(sample 1, sample 2, sample 3, and sample 4) are listed in Table 1.
Tensile tests were carried out on a CSS-4400 testing machine
along the transverse (T) direction. Fatigue-crack propagation and
crack-closure tests were carried out on an 250-kN fatigue machine
(8803, Instron, USA) using the middle-tension sample M(T) (see
Fig. 1). Specimens were taken from alloy plates along the T direc-
tion and pre-cracked under mode-I. A sinusoidal loading was
applied at a frequency of 10 Hz and load ratio of 0.1. The length
of the fatigue crack was measured by an optical microscope
(1 lm) attached on the fatigue machine. The following equation
was used to determine the stress intensity factor:
r applied stress intensity factor range) for the four samples are plot-
DP pa pa
DK sec ; 1
B 2w 2
where P is the load (in MPa); B and w are the thickness (in cm) and
width of the sample, respectively; a is the crack length (in cm); and
a = 2a/w.
The morphology of the fracture surface on each sample after
cyclical deformation was observed by a three-dimensional micro-
scope (Kh7700, Hirox, Japan). Metallographic specimens were pre-
pared in a standard procedure and etched in a solution consisting
of HF (2 mL), HCl (3 mL), HNO3 (5 mL), and H2O (200 mL). The
microstructure was observed by multifunction optical microscopy
and using an SEM (JSM-5600LV, JEOL, Japan). The microstructure of
some samples was characterized by a TEM (TecnaiG2 20, FEI, USA)
operating at 200 kV. Disks with diameters of 3 mm were cut from
fatigue-tested samples for TEM observation. These disks were first
ground to a thickness of 0.1 mm and then double-jet polished elec-
trolytically in a solution of 33% HNO3 and 67% methanol at 30 C.
3. Results
3.1. Grain structure and tensile properties
The microstructures of the 2524 aluminium alloy samples with
different grain sizes (samples 1, 2, 3 and 4) were characterized by
Table 1
The processing and heat treatment routes of 2524 alloy plate samples.
Samples The processing and heat treatment routes
Sample 1 6 mm hot rolled plate ? solid solution (500 C/1 h) ? cold
rolling to 1.2 mm ? annealing (380 C/1 min) ? 12% pre-
deformation before natural aging for 96 h
Sample 2 6 mm hot rolled plate ? cold rolling to 3.6 mm ? solid
solution (500 C/30 min) ? cold rolling to 1.2 mm ? solid
solution (500 C/30 min) ? 12% pre-deformation before
natural aging for 96 h
Sample 3 6 mm hot rolled plate ? cold rolling to 1.2 mm ? annealing
(330 C/30 min + 380 C/30 min + 420 C/30 min) ? solid
solution (500 C/1 h) ? 12% pre-deformation before natural
aging for 96 h
Sample 4 6 mm hot rolled plate ? eight passes cold rolling with 10%
reduction for each pass, and intermediate annealing (330 C/
30 min + 380 C/30 min + 420 C/30 min) after each rolling
pass ? solid solution(500 C/1 h) ? 12% pre-deformation
before natural aging for 96 h
TEM and OM, as shown by the results in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively.
The average measured grain sizes of the four samples are shown in
Table 2. The mean grain size of sample 1 was about 0.8 lm, which
was associated with the low-density dislocation and without pre-
cipitates at the interior of the grains. The grain structures of sam-
ples 2 and 3 were relatively equiaxed; the measured grain size of
sample 2 was 25, 16, and 29 lm in the longitudinal (L), short trans-
verse (S), and T directions, respectively; the grain size of sample 3
was 59, 46, and 66 lm in the L, S, and T directions, respectively.
The grain structure of sample 4 was the most coarse, with grain
sizes of 324, 298, and 345 lm in the L, S, and T directions, respec-
tively. As shown by their tensile properties, listed in Table 3, the
four samples obeyed the HallPetch relationship and clearly
revealed the effect of strengthening by grain refinement. For exam-
ple, sample 1, which had ultra-fine grains, had a higher ultimate
strength of 500 MPa, while the strength decreased for samples
with larger grain sizes.
3.2. Fatigue-crack-growth rate and fatigue-crack closure
The curves of the fatigue-crack-growth rate versus DK (the
ted in Fig. 4. Sample 1 exhibited higher fatigue-crack-growth rates
with ultrafine grain size (0.8 lm). With increases in grain size, DKth
increased and the fatigue-crack-growth rate decreased signifi-
cantly, especially in the region near DKth. When DK > 27 MPa m1/2,
the fatigue-crack-growth rates of samples 2, 3, and 4 were almost
the same. Since the grain size effect on fatigue crack propagation is
more obvious under low DK, thus the following analyses focus on
the regime DK < 27 MPa m1/2.
The crack-closure results of the four samples are shown in Fig. 5
in terms of DKeff/DK and Fig. 6 in terms of Kop/Kmax, where DKeff =
Kmax  Kop is the effective stress intensity factor, Kmax is the maxi-
mum stress intensity level, and Kop is the stress intensity level
measured at the onset of closure. It can be seen that DKeff of sample
1 had a higher value than those of the other three samples. The
value of DKeff decreased with increases in grain size, which implies
that sample 1 with finer grains had higher fatigue-crack-growth
rate than those with coarser grains. This is attributed to the higher
closure level for larger grains at low DK levels (i.e. increasing DKeff/
DK and decreasing Kop/Kmax).
3.3. Fatigue-crack fracture
Three-dimensional reconstructions of the fracture-surface mor-
phology of four samples at DK = 12 MPa m1/2 are shown in Fig. 7.
Line profile of these fracture surfaces were drawn according to
the method in ref. [23].
The standard deviation of asperity heights (r0) is often used to
quantify the surface roughness, which is given as followings [24]:
 Pn 
i zi
r0 2
n1
wherein zi is the height of asperity and n is the total number of
asperities.
A statistical work on the asperity height was carried out and the
standard deviations of asperity heights (r0) for four samples were
calculated to be 3.5 lm, 10.3 lm, 27.3 lm and 68.6 lm, respec-
tively. It reveals that the fracture-surface roughness increases sig-
nificantly with the increase of grain size. r0 value of sample 4 is
almost 20 times greater than that of sample 1. But the fracture-
surface roughness increases with the grain size is apparently
non-linear, since the grain size of sample 4 is about 300 times than
that of sample 1.
 D. Yin et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 84 (2016) 916 11

Fig. 1. The fatigue crack propagation test sample (All dimensions in mm).

The scanning electron and optical micrographs of crack-

propagation profiles of four samples, observed along the S direc-
tion, are shown in Fig. 8. The crack-propagation path in sample 1
was smooth because of its ultra-fine grains (Fig. 8a). For sample
2, 3 and 4, although some intergranular growth was involved,
transgranular growth of the crack was predominant, as shown in
400nm Fig. 8(b)(d).
Since no precipitates were observed in sample 1, at the same
time, sample 2, 3 and 4 were T3 tempered, GP zone was the main
strengthening phase. The GP zone is believed to have less resis-
tance to dislocation slipping, and thus can hardly shorten slip
length. Therefore, as the crack propagates through a grain, it is
quite straight and scarcely deflected (Fig. 8(b)(d)). However, the
crack always deflects when it crosses grain boundaries. This is
probably due to the reason that the crack deviates to the most
favourable crystallographic orientation [25] (e.g., {1 1 1}Al) during
its propagation.
Moreover, closure of the fatigue crack occurred in sample 4, and
the crack path was more tortuous than that in the fine-grained
sample, as shown in Fig. 8(d). The crack closure in sample 4
showed a short periodic characteristic, especially at the position
Fig. 2. TEM image of sample1 showing fine grain size. of the bending crack.

(a) (b)

300m (c)

Fig. 3. Optical microstructure of (a) sample 2, (b) sample 3 and (c) sample 4.
12 D. Yin et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 84 (2016) 916

Table 2
Grain size (lm) of 2524 alloy plate samples.

Direction Sample 1 Sample 2 Sample 3 Sample 4

L 25 59 324
S 0.8 16 46 298
T 29 66 345

Table 3
Mechanical properties of 2524 alloy plate samples (T direction).

Samples Yield strength, r0.2 Tensile strength, rb Elongation, d

(MPa) (MPa) (%)
Sample 1 442 500 19
Sample 2 325 443 23
Sample 3 305 405 23
Sample 4 286 383 24

Fig. 6. Fatigue crack closure level (DK eff =DK) vs. applied DK of four samples at room
temperature, load ratio R = 0.1, frequency 10 Hz.

fatigue-crack growth and better damage tolerance. Thus, we can

Fig. 4. Fatigue crack growth rates vs. applied DK of four alloys at room temperature,
load ratio R = 0.1, frequency 10 Hz.
conclude that grain refinement in an alloy serves to reduce the tor-
tuosity of the crack path, especially in the regime near DKth.
In general, the effective driving force required to propagate a
deflected crack is typically smaller than that for propagating a
straight crack at the same DK [16,26]. On the other hand, compared
with the straight crack, the deflected crack has a longer path when
propagating across the same distance, that is, the propagation rate
of the deflected crack is lower than that of the straight crack.
Additionally, the crack-closure effect further improves the appar-
ent driving force for the propagation of a deflected crack [8,16].
The collective effect of these factors was the reason the coarse-
grained sample in our study had greater resistance to fatigue frac-
ture than the fine-grained one.
Considering the effects of deflection and closure of periodically
deflected cracks, a crack-deflection model [16] was introduced to
analyse the experimental results and predict the fatigue-crack-
growth rates. Schematic diagrams showing crack propagation
paths are shown in Fig. 9, where h is the kink angle, D is the
extended distance of tilted crack along the kink, and E is the
extended distance of the crack on the propagated plane and normal
to the tensile direction.
In Fig. 9, the local tensile opening (Mode I) and sliding (Mode II)
stress intensity factors for crack growth along the kink, kl and k2,
respectively, can be expressed as followings:
 
h
k1  cos3 KI 3
2

   
h h
k2  sin cos2 KI 4
2 2

wherein DKI is the nominal far-field stress intensity factor range.

Considering the deflections in crack path, the effective stress
intensity range (DKdef), in each segment (of span D + E) of this
non-planar crack, can be given by
Fig. 5. Fatigue crack closure level (Kop/Kmax) vs. applied DK of four samples at room 

temperature, load ratio R = 0.1, frequency 10 Hz. D cos2 2h E ~ DK I

4. Discussion
In this study, a sample with coarser grain size showed crack
deflections and had a higher level of crack closure. This implies that
the coarse-grained sample possessed higher resistance against
DK def DK I D 5
DE
As well as known, for Mode I fatigue cracks are loaded in purely
uniaxial far-field cyclic tension, substantial Mode II displacements
develop around the crack tip if the crack faces are not flat [27,28]
(Mode II displacements were measured to exceed Mode I displace-
ments near the crack tip in some investigations [29]). It could lead
 D. Yin et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 84 (2016) 916 13

(a) Crack propagation direction (b)

Crack propagation direction

(c) (d)

Crack propagation direction

(e) (f)

Crack propagation direction

(g) (h)

Fig. 7. Three-dimensional metallographic photographs and surface line profiles of fatigue fracture surface morphology of four samples at DK 12 MPa  m1=2 (a) three-
dimensional metallographic photograph of sample 1, (b) line profile of sample 1, (c) three-dimensional metallographic photograph of sample 2, (d) line profile of sample 2, (e)
three-dimensional metallographic photograph of sample 3, (f) line profile of sample 3, (g) three-dimensional metallographic photograph of sample 4 and (h) line profile of
sample 4.
14 D. Yin et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 84 (2016) 916

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

200m

(e) (f) (g)

Fig. 8. SEM and metallographic photographs of fatigue crack profile for (a) sample 1, (b) sample 2, (c) sample 3, (d) sample 4, (e) crack closure in sample 4, (f) crack closure in
sample 4 and (g) crack closure in sample 4.

D uI
uII

(a) (b)
E

Fig. 9. Schematic diagrams of crack deflection (a) in fully opened condition (b) in premature closure condition led by mismatch between fracture surfaces.

the crack undergo a premature closure at positive (tensile) loads Combining Eqs. (5)(8), the effects of crack deflection, crack closure,
due to kinematically irreversible mismatch between two fracture and the ratio of ranges of global and local effective stress intensity
surfaces [30], as illustrated in Fig. 9(b). factor can be expressed as follows [8]:
uI and uII are defined as normal (Mode I) displacement and in-
plane (Mode II) displacement, respectively. The mismatch degree  !  1 !
DK eff D
cos2 2h 1 k tan h 2
(k) when the fracture surface begins to contact after unloading E
1 9
can be expressed as [16] DK D
E
1 1 k tan h

uII A statistical work on the topographical parameters (D/E and h)

k 6
uI of sample 2, 3 and 4 was performed based on the observation in
Fig. 7. The results are shown in Table 4. As can be seen, the value
In terms of stress intensity factor, the magnitude of the closure
of D/E increases obviously with the increase of grain size. This is
effect can be expressed as [16]
 1
k tan h 2
DK cl DK I 7 Table 4
1 k tan h Topographical parameters associated with alloy fracture surfaces.

Since DKdef could be further deduced by fracture surface mismatch, Samples Samples 2 Samples 3 Samples 4
the effective stress intensity (DKeff) becomes D/E 3.3 5.7 7.8
h 48.7 47.5 47.9
~ DK I  DK cl
DK eff D 8 k 0.048 0.068 0.481
 D. Yin et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 84 (2016) 916 15

consistent with previous work [31] that larger grain size makes
more tortuous fatigue crack path. However, it can also be noted
that the grain size has little or no effect on the value of h. Since fati-
gue cracks are generally prone to propagate along slip bands [12],
it is reasonable to expect that the h value is more sensitive to grain
orientation rather than grain size.
If k is assumed to remain constant during the crack propagation,
its value can be calculated by the following equation:
8"  #2 9
1 < D
cos2 h
1 =
tan h 
E

2
  1 10
k : D cos2 h 1  eff D 1
DK ;
E 2 DK E

The calculated value of k for sample 2, 3 and 4 are shown in

Table 4. It shows that the k value increases apparently as the grain
size increases, which suggest that the crack-closure caused by frac-
ture surface mismatch is more evident for the alloy with coarser
grains.
Fig. 11. Fatigue crack growth rates predicted by the crack deflection model and the
Considering the extra length of the crack during deflection, the experimental results of sample 3. The crack of growth rate of sample 1 is assumed
straight-crack-growth rate (da/dn)L can be modified as [8] to be equal to (da/dn)L in Eq. (11).

  
da D cos h E da
11
dn DE dn L

Assuming that the crack-growth rate of the straight crack is

known and the value of k remains the same during the whole crack
propagation, we can then use Eqs. (9) and (11) to predict the crack-
growth rate as a function of DK for the deflection crack.
As mentioned above, the fatigue cracks of sample 1 were
approximately straight (in Fig. 8), and the crack-growth rate of
sample 1 can be taken as the growth rate of the straight crack,
(da/dn)L. Therefore, the crack-growth rates of sample 2, sample 3,
and sample 4 can be estimated.
Figs. 1012 show the crack-growth rates predicted by the crack-
deflection model. As can be seen in Figs. 10 and 11, when the stress
factors are at low DK levels, the calculated crack growth rates are
near between sample 2 and 3. But at high DK levels
(DK > 27 MPa m1/2), the predicted fatigue-crack-growth rates devi-
ate from the experimental data. This coincides with the results in
Fig. 4 which shows that the crack-growth rates are insensitive to Fig. 12. Fatigue crack growth rates predicted by the crack deflection model and the
the grain size when DK > 27 MPa m1/2. experimental results of sample 4. The crack of growth rate of sample 1 is assumed
However, as shown in Fig. 12, only when DK < 22 MPa m1/2, the to be equal to (da/dn)L in Eq. (11).
calculated fatigue-crack-growth rates are close to that of sample 4.
When DK < 22 MPa m1/2, the predicted fatigue-crack-growth rates
It is generally known that the growth behaviour of a crack is
deviate from the experimental data obviously.
closely related to the size of the plastic zone near crack tip
[32,33]. If the plastic zone size is large enough, the crack growth
behaviour will be not related to microstructure but to mechanical
properties of alloy [34]. Under uniaxial cyclic loading condition, the
plastic zone size (rp) can be expressed as [8]
 2
K
rp / 12
r0:2
As can be seen, rp increases with the increase of K, but decreases
with the increase of r0.2.
For a given r0.2, the fatigue-crack-growth rate is less sensitive to
the crack-closure at a high K level due to larger rp. This resulted the
gradual deviation of the predicted fatigue-crack-growth rates of
sample 2 and 3 from the experimental data when
DK > 27 MPa m1/2. Compared to sample 2 and 3, this deviation
appeared in sample 4 at an even lower DK level (i.e., 22 MPa m1/2).
The reason is that the smaller r0.2 value of sample 4 produced a lar-
ger rp and thus weakened the crack-closure effect.
Fig. 10. Fatigue crack growth rates predicted by the crack deflection model and the
Besides, it can be noticed that the measured fatigue-crack-
experimental results of sample 2. The crack growth rate of sample 1 is assumed to growth rates are obviously larger than the predicted ones when
be equal to (da/dn)L in Eq. (11). DK > 30 MPa m1/2. This could also be attributed to that the low
16 D. Yin et al. / International Journal of Fatigue 84 (2016) 916
strength of sample 4 accelerated the crack growth rate at the later
stage of crack propagation, so, at such high DK levels the crack
growth behaviour mainly depended on the mechanical properties
of alloy.
5. Conclusions
Plates of the 2524 aluminium alloy with significantly different
grain sizes were obtained by conventional processing methods,
and their fatigue crack growth rates as functions of grain size were
investigated. The following conclusions were drawn.
Sample 1 with ultrafine grains (0.8 lm) had higher fatigue-
crack-growth rates than other alloy samples with coarser grains.
As the grain size increased among the samples, DKth increased
and the fatigue-crack-growth rate decreased significantly, espe-
cially in the region near DKth. The levels of crack closure in a
coarser-grained alloy were higher than that in a fine-grained alloy,
especially at low DK levels. The crack path in the coarse-grained
alloy was more tortuous than that in the fine-grained alloy. The
crack deflection model was used to predict the crack-growth rate
as a function of DK for the deflection crack, and it provided a good
explanation for the decrease in fatigue-crack-growth rate in the
coarse-grained sample.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No. 51071177, and Grant No.
51405153), the Major State Basic Research Project of China (Grant
No. 2012CB619506) and the Key Projects in the National Science
and Technology (No. 2014BAC03B05). The hot-rolled aluminium
alloy plate used in this experimental study was made available
by Southwest Aluminium Co. Ltd.
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