Fatigue Properties of Hot-Dip Galvanized AISI 1020 Normalized Steel in Tension–Compression and Tension–Tension Loading

Since hot-dip galvanizing causes a heat effect on cold-worked steel substrate and produces a coating layer comprised of distinct phases with varying mechanical properties, the fatigue mechanism of hot-dip galvanized steel is very complex and hard to clarify. In this study, AISI 1020 steel that has been normalized to minimize susceptibility to the heat effect was used to clarify the effect of the galvanizing layer on the tensile and fatigue properties. The galvanizing layer causes a reduction in the yield point, tensile strength, and fatigue strength. The reduction in the fatigue strength was more significant in the high cycle fatigue at R = 0.5 and 0.01 and in the low cycle fatigue at R = 0.5. The galvanizing layer seems to have very little effect on the fatigue strength at R = −1.0 in the low and high cycle fatigue. Since the fatigue strengths at R = 0.01 and −1.0 in the low cycle fatigue were strongly related to the tensile strength of the substrate, the cracking of galvanized steel was different than that of non-galvanized steel. The fatigue strength of galvanized steel at R = 0.5 dropped remarkably in the low cycle fatigue in comparison to the non-galvanized steel, and many cracks clearly occurred in the galvanizing layer. The galvanizing layer reduced the fatigue strength only under tension–tension loading. We believe that the findings in this study will be useful in the fatigue design of hot-dip galvanized steel.