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The study presents an analysis of S355J2+N steel and AA5083 aluminum alloy welded structural joints using explosion welded transition joints of reduced thickness. The transition joint thickness reduction significantly hinders the welding of the joints due to the risk of damage to the Al/steel interface as a result of the high temperatures during welding. In the previous article, the strength of the transition joint was analyzed but ship structures, apart from static loads, are subjected to many different cyclical loads. Welded structural joints are analyzed to determine the welding influence on the fatigue life and fracture type of the transition joints. The results of the fatigue tests show that the fatigue damage in the specimens occurs in the aluminum welded joint, and not in the explosively welded joint. The damage obtained was characteristic of cruciform welded joint specimens and both types of root and toe damage occurred. Based on the obtained results, fatigue curves for the joint were determined and compared to the fatigue curves for the AA5083 base material. The experimental fatigue curve was also compared with the design curve for welded aluminum structures from Eurocode. The conducted analysis showed the possibility of using Al/steel explosion welded transition joints of reduced thickness to transfer cyclical loads.

At present, due to advanced fatigue calculation models, it is becoming more crucial to find a reliable source for design S-N curves, especially in the case of new 3D-printed materials. Such obtained steel components are becoming very popular and are often used for important parts of dynamically loaded structures. One of the commonly used printing steels is EN 1.2709 tool steel, which has good strength properties and high abrasion resistance, and can be hardened. The research shows, however, that its fatigue strength may differ depending on the printing method, and may be characterized by a wide scatter of the fatigue life. This paper presents selected S-N curves for EN 1.2709 steel after printing with the selective laser melting method. The characteristics are compared, and conclusions are presented regarding the resistance of this material to fatigue loading, especially in the tension-compression state. A combined general mean reference and design fatigue curve is presented, which incorporates our own experimental results as well as those from the literature for the tension-compression loading state. The design curve may be implemented in the finite element method by engineers and scientists in order to calculate the fatigue life.

Accurate knowledge of the plastic zone of fatigue cracks is a very direct and effective way to quantify the damage of components subjected to cyclic loads. In this work, we propose an ultra-fine experimental characterisation of the plastic zone based on Vickers micro-indentations. The methodology is applied to different compact tension (CT) specimens made of aluminium alloy 2024-T351 subjected to increasing stress intensity factors. The experimental work and sensitivity analysis showed that polishing the surface to #3 μm surface finish and applying a 25 g-force load for 15 s produced the best results in terms of resolution and quality of the data. The methodology allowed the size and shape of both the cyclic and the monotonic plastic zones to be visualised through 2D contour maps. Comparison with Westergaard's analytical model indicates that the methodology, in general, overestimates the plastic zone. Comparison with S355 low carbon steel suggests that the methodology works best for alloys exhibiting a high strain hardening ratio.

The paper presents the experimental fatigue test results for cyclic constant amplitude loading conditions for the case of the torsion of the PA4 (AW-6082-T6), PA6 (AW-2017A-T4) and PA7 (AW-2024-T3) aluminum alloy for a drilled diabolo type test specimen. The tests have been performed for the stress asymmetry ratios R = -1, R = -0.7, R = -0.5 and R = -0.3. The experimental results have been used in the process of a fatigue life estimation performed for a random generated narrowband stress signal with a zero and a non-zero global mean stress value. The calculations have been performed within the time domain with the use of the rainflow cycle counting method and the Palmgren-Miner damage hypothesis. The mean stress compensation has been performed with the S-N curve mean stress model proposed by Niesłony and Böhm. The model has been modified in terms of torsional loading conditions. In order to obtain an appropriate R = 0 ratio S-N curve fatigue strength amplitude, the Smith-Watson-Topper model was used and compared with literature fatigue strength amplitudes. The presented solution extends the use of the correction model in terms of the torsional loading condition in order to obtain new S-N curves for other R values on the basis of the R = -1 results. The work includes the computational results for new fatigue curves with and without the mean stress effect correction. The results of the computations show that the mean stress effect plays a major role in the fatigue life assessment of the tested aluminum alloys and that the method can be used to assess the fatigue life under random conditions.

The paper presents experimental static and fatigue tests results under random loading conditions for the bending of 0H18N9 steel. The experimental results were used in performing calculations, according to the theoretical assumptions of the spectral method of fatigue life assessment, including elastoplastic deformations. The presented solution extends the use of the spectral method for material fatigue life assessment, in terms of loading conditions, above Hooke's law theorem. The work includes computational verification of the proposal to extend the applicability of the spectral method of determining fatigue life for the range of elastoplastic deformations. One of the aims of the proposed modification was to supplement the stress amplitudes used to calculate the probability density function of the power spectral density of the signal with correction, due to the plastic deformation and its use for notched elements. The authors have tested the method using four of the most popular probability density functions used in commercial software. The obtained results of comparisons between the experimental and calculation results show that the proposed algorithm, tested using the Dirlik, Benasciutti-Tovo, Lalanne, and Zhao-Baker models, does not overestimate fatigue life, which means that the calculations are on the safe side. The obtained results prove that the elastoplastic deformations can be applied within the frequency domain for fatigue life calculations.