Influence of Loading Sequence Effect on Cyclic Hysteresis Characteristics of an Al–Mg–Si Alloy.

The alloy materials of automotive chassis are subjected to sequential time‐varying loads due to road unevenness. The continuous change of the loading mode and the stress ratio leads to cyclic plasticity of the material, which induces cyclic hardening. The estimation of hardening effects seriously affects the structural's fatigue properties. Therefore, herein, a hardening model and the corresponding fatigue life prediction model are proposed. Then, the loading sequence effect's influence on an Al–Mg–Si alloy's cyclic hysteretic characteristics is analyzed. The steering knuckle is taken as the verification object. The acquired load spectrum is transformed into three sequential forms according to the equivalent damage principle for the verification test. The test results verify the conjecture of the loading sequence effect and confirm the accuracy of the proposed prediction model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]