Fatigue life time modelling of Cu and Au fine wires

In this study, the influence of microstructure on the cyclic behaviour and lifetime of Cu and Au wires with diameters of 25μm in the low and high cycle fatigue regimes was investigated. Low cycle fatigue (LCF) tests were conducted with a load ratio of 0.1 and a strain rate of ~2e-4. An ultrasonic resonance fatigue testing system working at 20 kHz was used to obtain lifetime curves under symmetrical loading conditions up to very high cycle regime (VHCF). In order to obtain a total fatigue life model covering the low to high cycle regime of the thin wires by considering the effects of mean stress, a four parameter lifetime model is proposed. The effect of testing frequency on high cycle fatigue data of Cu is discussed based on analysis of strain rate dependency of the tensile properties with the help of the material model proposed by Johnson and Cook.