| Summary: | This work studies the influence of the saline atmospheric corrosion on the fatigue strength of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy. For this purpose, this alloy was subjected to tests in a salt spray corrosion chamber at different exposure times (1, 2, and 3 months) according to ASTM B117 standard. The morphological study of the pits was carried out by confocal microscopy. Subsequently, fatigue tests were performed at variable stresses whose maximum stress (<i>S<sub>max</sub></i>) was between 30% and 95% of the yield strength (<i>S</i><sub>0</sub>) in order to keep them within the zone of elastic behavior of the material. Data were analyzed using the Basquin equation and the maximum likelihood function method. The results show a similar decrease in the conventional fatigue limit (2 × 10<sup>6</sup> cycles) after one month (98 MPa) and two months (91 MPa) of corrosion. After three months of corrosion, the material showed a very important reduction in the fatigue limit (68 MPa) with respect to the uncorroded material (131 MPa). The data of <i>S<sub>e</sub></i>/<i>S</i><sub>0</sub> (fatigue limit/yield strength) versus the ratio <i>P<sub>m</sub></i>/<i>D<sub>m</sub></i> (pit average depth/pit diameter at zero depth) can be fitted to a logarithmic curve.
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