Fatigue and Crystal Recovery in Aluminum

Abstract

The previous x-ray work on fatigue in metals is reviewed. Such work has been confined to copper, silver and steel. The present note reports on the results of an investigation of service fatigue fractures in high voltage transmission cables made of commercially pure aluminum. The crystals composing the shallow surface layer of the fractures were found to have recovered sufficiently from the microscopic distorsion due to cold drawing that individual monochromatic diffraction spots could be identified. Two possible contributing causes are suggested to explain this crystalline recovery.