In this paper, local sharp-cut 6061-T6 aluminum alloy tubes with different cut depths subjected to cyclic bending was experimentally and theoretically investigated. The tube-bending machine and curvature-ovalization measurement apparatus were used to conduct the curvature-controlled cyclic bending test. Five different cut depths of 0.4, 0.8, 1.2, 1.6 and 2.0 mm were considered. The finite element software ANSYS was used to analyze the moment-curvature and ovalization-curvature relationships. Because the failure type was the fatigue fracture, the ANSYS was used to calculate the maximum and minimum stresses for each cyclic bending case. Finally, a simple fatigue model was proposed for predicting the fatigue life of local sharp-cut 6061-T6 aluminum alloy tubes with different cut depths subjected to cyclic bending.

Full text: IJEIR_1917_Final.pdf