Tensile and fatigue properties of a cast aluminum alloy with Ti, Zr and V additions

The development of aluminum alloys for automotive powertrain applications is in high demand due to the required weight reduction and fuel efficiency. The aim of this study was to evaluate the microstructure and mechanical properties of a newly developed Al-7%Si-1%Cu-0.5%Mg cast alloy with further additions of Ti, Zr and V. The microstructure of the alloys consisted of Al dendrites surrounded by Al-Si eutectic structures with Mg/Cu/Fe-containing Si particles, and contained nano-sized trialuminide precipitates in the Ti/Zr/V added alloys. The alloys had a significantly (60-87%) higher yield strength but lower ductility than A356-T6 and 319-T6 alloys. With the addition of Ti/Zr/V both monotonic and cyclic yield strengths increased, but ductility and hardening capacity decreased due to reduced dislocation storage capacity caused by stronger interactions between dislocations and trialuminide precipitates. The Zr/V-modified alloy had a longer fatigue life, and all the alloys exhibited cyclic stabilization at low strain amplitudes and cyclic hardening at higher strain amplitudes. With increasing strain amplitude, the extent of cyclic hardening increased. Both cyclic yield strength and cyclic strain hardening exponent were higher than the corresponding monotonic yield strength and strain hardening exponent, indicating that a stronger cyclic hardening ability of the alloys developed. Fatigue cracks were observed to initiate at near-surface defects, and crack propagation was mainly characterized by the formation of fatigue striations together with secondary cracks. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.