Aluminum alloys enable a cost-efficient and sustainable lightweight design in automotive engineering due to their high specific strength relative to their density and moderate manufacturing costs. However, these alloys are susceptible to localized corrosion attacks in the presence of chloride ions. In the context of a sustainable circular economy, a deterioration in corrosion resistance is expected due to the presence of undesirable or more corrosion-prone elements. These changed boundary conditions and their effects are not yet sufficiently researched, leading to the use of higher safety factors, which contradicts the concept of lightweight design. Currently, the effect of corrosion on the notch support effect is insufficiently understood. Experiments conducted on EN AW-6082 T6 samples show that corrosion significantly influences the notch support effect. For this purpose, samples with different stress gradients were fatigue-tested, with tests performed both in air and in a 5% NaCl solution for comparison.

Using the Local Energy Balance Method (LEBM), the remaining fatigue life of corrosion-damaged specimens can be determined. In contrast to using the long crack threshold value, the application of the cyclic R-curve concept allows for a conservative design approach. This concept was validated through fatigue tests on both non-corroded and pre-corroded samples made from EN AC-46000.

The concepts presented in this paper demonstrate how existing local fracture mechanics and notch stress-based approaches can be significantly expanded to incorporate the influence of corrosion, thus refining the lifetime assessment of aluminum components.