Effect of Ball Burnishing on HCF of Bilayer Composite for Support Wind Turbine Blades

Abstract The cyclic deformation behavior of two metal-matrix composites, namely aluminum-based composites reinforced with a steel wire and aluminum-based composites reinforced with an aluminum alloy 3030 wire, was investigated at room temperature for wind blades support. All materials were synthesized by sand casting and subjected to mechanical surface treatment by ball burnishing. High cycle fatigue was observed under reversed bending loading at 50 Hz. The composites reinforced with volume fraction (28% and 34%) of the wire shows excellent fatigue life and endurance limit under stress-controlled conditions. Moreover, the tensile and microstructural properties of these materials were examined. The alloyed aluminum-matrix-steel-wire-reinforced composite showed higher fatigue behavior than the wire reinforced using ball burnishing of as-cast alloys.