Fatigue crack micromechanisms on a PE Zn-Cu-Al alloy

Some Cu-Zn-Al alloy is able to exhibit an important feature: the Pseudo-Elastic behavior, commonly defined as PE alloy. The PE effect is the result of a non-diffusion microstructure changing characterized by a good reversibility at environmental temperature. Furthermore, the copper-based shape memory alloys are preferred for their good memory properties and low cost of production. In this work, fatigue crack propagation and microstructural fracture micromechanisms are analyzed in order to identify microstructure influence on fatigue behavior of Cu-Zn-Al PE alloy