Analysis of Fatigue Crack Evolution Using In-Situ Testing

The objective of the current work is to investigate the feasibility of an in-situ technique to characterize the evolution of fatigue failure in conventionally manufactured aluminum parts in real time. An in-situ fatigue testing setup integrated with ultrasonic transducers and a digital microscope allows for the systematic study of fatigue crack evolution in aluminum specimens. The resulting data from experimentation, characterization, and analysis are integrated to gain unprecedented insights into the evolution of fatigue failure in wrought aluminum parts. The learning from this work will be further implemented on additively manufactured specimens.