Abstract: Fully reversed total strain-controlled low-cycle fatigue tests were conducted at room temperature in air to study fatigue behavior of AZ91HP in as high pressure die casting and subsequently heat treatments. All the specimens in different heat histories exhibited cyclic strum hardening in different degrees. It was difficult to distinguish the fatigue behaviors of the die-casting specimens from the solution-aging specimens. However the solution treated specimens showed longerfatigue life at high strum amplitude and shorter fatigue life at low strain amplitude than die-casting and the solution-aging specimens though they had the lowest yield strength with higher strain hardening. Fatigue fracture surfaces for strain amplitude larger than 0.005 showed very similar to those of the monotonic tensile tests. The SEM examination revealed that regions of fatigue crack growth and final fracture could be characterized by quasi-cleavage mech anisms, but some shallow dimples, slip bands and secondary cracks were found on the fracture surface in the fracturs crack growth areas.

Key words: low-cycle fatigue, die casting, magnesium alloy, heat treatment