Fatigue behavior of magnesium alloy and application in auto steering wheel frame

Abstract The low-cycle fatigue behaviors of AZ91HP-F, AZ91HP-T6, AZ91HP-T4 and AM50HP-F were investigated, and the potential application of AM50HP-F in steering wheel frame was studied. The steering wheel properties were characterized by bend fatigue and tensile testing, and the fatigue fracture was analyzed by SEM. The results show that the fatigue lives of AZ91HP-F and AZ91HP-T6 have little difference by comparing the low-cycles fatigue properties of different heat treatment states. The crack propagation velocity of AZ91HP-T4 is lower than that of AZ91HP-F and AZ91HP-T6. The die casting technological parameters of the magnesium steering wheel have been optimized with the aid of flow-3D software. The tensile testing results of the different part of magnesium steering wheel show that the ultimate tensile strength and elongation in the wheel arm and wheel rim have no difference and the average value are 220 MPa and 5%, respectively. The fracture is in the brittleness mode and the fatigue crack initiates at the outside of the wheel rim.