High temperature fatigue tests of a Cu-Be alloy and synthesis in terms of linear elastic strain energy density

The present paper summarises the results from uniaxial-tension stress-controlled fatigue tests performed at different temperatures up to 650°C on Cu-Be specimens. Two geometries are considered: hourglass shaped and plates weakened by a central hole (Cu-Be alloy). The motivation of the present work is that, at the best of authors' knowledge, only a limited number of papers on these alloys under high-temperature fatigue are available in the literature and no results deal with notched components. The Cu-Be specimens fatigue data are re-analyzed in terms of the mean value of the Strain Energy Density (SED) averaged over a control volume. Thanks to the SED approach it is possible to summarise in a single scatter-band all the fatigue data, independently of the specimen geometry.