Corrosion fatigue behavior of extruded magnesium alloy AZ80-T5 in a 5% NaCl environment

The corrosion fatigue behavior of extruded AZ80-T5 magnesium alloy has been investigated in three different environments: (1) a low humidity environment (35–40% relative humidity), (2) a high-humidity environment (80% relative humidity), and (3) a 5 wt.% NaCl environment. Fatigue tests were conducted under axial loading at a stress ratio of −1 and at a frequency of 20 Hz. It was found that in both the high-humidity environment and in the 5 wt.% NaCl environment the fatigue strength was reduced relative to the low humidity environment, especially in the NaCl environment: the reduction rates of fatigue limit under high humidity and NaCl environments were 18%, and 78%, respectively. The reduction of fatigue strength under the corrosive environments was attributed to the pit formation and growth. At low stress amplitudes, multiple pits were formed and coalesced to form a large pit under NaCl environment. A fatigue crack nucleated when the pit grew to the critical size.