Abstract
From the viewpoint of measures against global warming and environmental protection, improvement of fuel economy of transportation machines is required, and weight reduction of a vehicle is cited as a solution means. Currently, the high-speed railway vehicle body is predominantly made of aluminum alloys, but by substituting magnesium alloys that are lightest among the commercially available metallic materials, it is possible to reduce the weight of the railway vehicle body. In order to realize this, flame-retardant magnesium alloys with calcium addition attract attention. Although fatigue crack propagation behavior parallel to the rolling (T-L) direction of the newly developed AZX 811 was previously investigated in comparison with that of a commercially available AZX611 (both alloys are flame-resistant), no investigation has been made in the direction perpendicular to the rolling (L-T) direction. Therefore, in this research, as a basic research to elucidate the fatigue characteristics of the developed AZX 811 magnesium alloy, evaluation of fatigue crack propagation behavior in L-T direction of the alloy is performed in comparison with commercially available AZX 611 and AZ 31 alloys.
