This content is not included in your SAE MOBILUS subscription, or you are not logged in.

Fatigue Behavior and Life Prediction for Aluminum Castings in the Absence of Casting Flaws

Journal Article
2011-01-0193
ISSN: 1946-3979, e-ISSN: 1946-3987
Published April 12, 2011 by SAE International in United States
Fatigue Behavior and Life Prediction for Aluminum Castings in the Absence of Casting Flaws
Sector:
Citation: Wang, Q. and Jones, P., "Fatigue Behavior and Life Prediction for Aluminum Castings in the Absence of Casting Flaws," SAE Int. J. Mater. Manuf. 4(1):289-297, 2011, https://doi.org/10.4271/2011-01-0193.
Language: English

Abstract:

Cast aluminum alloys are increasingly used in cyclically loaded automotive structural applications for light weight and fuel economy. The fatigue resistance of aluminum castings strongly depends upon the presence of casting flaws and characteristics of microstructural constituents. The existence of casting flaws significantly reduces fatigue crack initiation life. In the absence of casting flaws, however, crack initiation occurs at the fatigue-sensitive microstructural constituents. Cracking and debonding of large silicon (Si) and Fe-rich intermetallic particles and crystallographic shearing from persistent slip bands in the aluminum matrix play an important role in crack initiation. This paper presents fatigue life models for aluminum castings free of casting flaws, which complement the fatigue life models for aluminum castings containing casting flaws published in [1].