Fatigue crack growth under large scale yielding condition in a cast automotive aluminum alloy

Low Cycle Fatigue crack growth tests have been performed at 250 degrees C in order to study fatigue crack growth under large scale yielding conditions in a material widely used at high temperature by the automotive industry for cylinder head applications. The studied material was a cast aluminum alloy AlSi7Cu3Mg (close to A319) produced by Lost Foam Casting. Two different microstructures were investigated: one containing large natural pores and another where pores have been removed by Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP). Fatigue Crack Growth Rates (FCGR) have been measured by in situ surface optical microscopy for different loading conditions all inducing generalized plasticity and compared to assess the influence of pores on the FCGR. In situ observations coupled to post mortem analysis revealed strong crack interactions with both pores and large hard particles on specimen surfaces and in the bulk. FCGR ranging between 10(-6) and 10(-4) m/cycle appear to be mainly sensitive to applied strain amplitudes. Although pores promoted secondary crack initiations and crack coalescences, they seemed to have a limited effect on steady-state FCGR which has been analytically modeled using energy densities.