See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/223852943

Fatigue behavior of A356/357 aluminum cast alloys. Part II – Effect of

microstructural constituents

Article  in  Journal of Light Metals · February 2001

DOI: 10.1016/S1471-5317(00)00009-2

CITATIONS READS

268 2,547

3 authors:

Gary Wang Diran Apelian

General Motors Company Worcester Polytechnic Institute
23 PUBLICATIONS   2,307 CITATIONS    304 PUBLICATIONS   6,662 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Diana Lados
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
94 PUBLICATIONS   2,757 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Titanium EBM View project

Recycle Lithium Ion Battery View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Gary Wang on 14 December 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Journal of Light Metals 1 (2001) 85±97
www.elsevier.com/locate/ligandmet

Fatigue behavior of A356/357 aluminum cast alloys. Part II ± E€ect

of microstructural constituents
Q.G. Wang *, D. Apelian, D.A. Lados
Metal Processing Institute (MPI), Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Worcester, MA 01609, USA

Abstract
A quantitative study of the interactions between microstructural features such as secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS), eu-
tectic structure, matrix strength, and fatigue behavior of two Al±7% Si±Mg casting alloys with magnesium contents of 0.4% and
0.7%, respectively, has been conducted. In the absence of casting defects, the in¯uence of microstructural features on the fatigue
performance becomes more pronounced. The degree and rate of microdamage (microcracking) is strongly a€ected by the strength of
the matrix, and especially by the eutectic particle size, morphology, and distribution (clustering). A soft matrix (under-aged alloys)
will generate more local microdamage compared to a peak-aged one. Large and elongated eutectic particles present in unmodi®ed
alloys result in lower fatigue lives. A decrease of fatigue life with increasing Mg and Fe content is observed, mainly due to the
increased sizes of Fe-rich intermetallic particles. Microstructures with similar eutectic particle size and morphology as the Sr-
modi®ed ones, show a minimum fatigue life at intermediate SDAS values (60 lm), which is related to the continuity of particles on
the dendrite cell boundaries. For coarser microstructures (SDAS > 60 lm), the increase in fatigue life is attributed to the reduced
damage rate along the cell boundaries. Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Aluminum castings; Fatigue; Microstructural constituents; Microdamage; Weibull statistics

1. Introduction con, and Fe-rich particles. The volume fraction of den-

It is well known that fatigue behavior of A356/357
aluminum castings is dominated by the presence of
casting defects [1±10]. As reported in [11], the fatigue life
of cast alloys containing defects can be one or two or-
ders of magnitude lower than in defect-free cast com-
ponents. The presence of casting defects shortens not
only the fatigue crack propagation period, but also the
initiation period. As the size of casting defects is usually
larger than that of microstructural features, defects
generally dominate the fatigue behavior of cast alumi-
num components. However, with improvement of cast-
ing quality and reductions in defect size, as attained in
squeeze and semi-solid castings, the in¯uence of micro-
structural features on fatigue performance cannot be
neglected.
The microstructure of A356/357 casting alloys is
composed of primary aluminum dendrites, eutectic sili-
*
Corresponding author. Present address: Materials Engineering,
Powertrain, General Motors Corp., Saginaw, MI 48605, USA.
E-mail address: qigui.wang@gm.com (Q.G. Wang).
1471-5317/01/$ - see front matter Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 1 4 7 1 - 5 3 1 7 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 0 9 - 2
drites and eutectic particles is determined by chemistry,
whereas the size and distribution of the dendrites and
eutectic particles are dominated by solidi®cation con-
ditions and eutectic modi®cation. For a given alloy, the
matrix and eutectic structure can also be a€ected by the
heat treatment. Therefore, the size, volume, and mor-
phology of microstructural constituents are functions of
chemistry, solidi®cation conditions, and heat treatment.
To delineate the in¯uence of microstructural constit-
uents such as dendrites and the eutectic structure on the
fatigue performance of A356/357 alloys, the test castings
should be defect-free. Moreover, the e€ect of secondary
dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) on fatigue can only be
evaluated if the in¯uence of the eutectic particles is
isolated. It is important that the fatigue performance of
the materials be evaluated for a range of SDAS values
with a relatively constant eutectic particle structure.
In this work, test castings were made from clean and
well-degassed melts, and HIP-ed before machining to
ensure porosity-free specimens. A permanent wedge
mold and an end-chill sand mold were employed to get a
range of solidi®cation rates and thus, a variety of SDAS
values. To study the in¯uence of aluminum dendrites on
86 Q.G. Wang et al. / Journal of Light Metals 1 (2001) 85±97

Nomenclature k SDAS (SDAS > 60 lm) and dendrite

grain size (SDAS < 60 lm)
rmax maximum stress in the fatigue cycle L average slip distance
rmin minimum stress in the fatigue cycle lm shear modulus of aluminum matrix
ra alternating stress amplitude e local relaxed strain
‰ˆ 0:5…rmax ÿ rmin †Š b Burgers vector
R stress ratio ‰ˆ rmin /rmax ] C; C1 and C2 constants
C; m constants in Paris±Erdogon fatigue rp internal stress developed on the eutec-
crack growth equation tic particles in the plastically deformed
Ni number of cycles to initiate a crack regions
Nf total number of cycles to failure lp shear modulus of the eutectic silicon
Np number of cycles to grow a crack to particles
failure ‰Np ˆ Nf ÿ Ni Š fuc volume fraction of uncracked eutectic
NC characteristic number of cycles at 63% particles
of failure a aspect ratio of eutectic particles
Fw …NP † probability of a material failed at a f …a† accumulative distribution function of
given cycle, NP particle aspect ratio
rforest image stress pc probability of fracture
rG:B: image stress induced on the grain d particle size
boundaries d0 characteristic particle size at which the
rC:B: image stress induced on the dendrite probability of particle cracking is 63%
cell boundaries r0 characteristic particle stress at which the
rtotal total stress including alternating stress probability of particle cracking is 63%
amplitude and image stress m Weibull modulus

fatigue, the alloy was Sr-modi®ed to obtain a constant
eutectic particle size and morphology over a range of
SDAS values.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials, treatments and sample preparation
The base alloy of A356 was supplied by Alcan as
commercial ingots containing 7% Si, 0.3% Mg, 0.08%
Fe, 0.1% Ti and balance Al. The increase of Mg to 0.4%
and 0.7% was achieved by adding pure Mg to the base
alloy during melting. Eutectic Si modi®cation was ac-
complished by using Al±10% Sr master alloy. The
chemical compositions of the di€erent alloys in this
work, as obtained by inductively coupled plasma-atomic
emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), are given in Table 1,
where the alloy nomenclature is also provided
(``um'' ˆ unmodi®ed and ``Sr'' ˆ Sr-modi®ed).
A more detailed description of alloy melting, casting
procedure, sample sectioning, heat treatment, fatigue
testing, metallography and microfractography is given
in [11]. Brie¯y, the alloys were ®rst melted in an induc-
tion furnace, and then held in an electric resistance
furnace for alloying and melt treatment. After degassing
with argon gas and a rotary lance degasser for 60 min
(H2 : <0.1 ml/100 g Al), the melt was quickly heated up
to 740°C and poured into a steel wedge mold and an
end-chill sand mold. The cooling rate during solidi®ca-
tion in end-chill sand castings varies from 10°C/s near
the chill to 0.1°C/s at the location 200 mm away from
the chill.
Sample blocks (13 mm  13 mm  127 mm) were
sectioned from di€erent positions in the test castings in
order to obtain fatigue specimens with various SDAS
values. Prior to T6 heat treatment, the blocks were

Table 1
Chemical analyses of the alloys (wt%)

Alloy Si Mg Fe Ti Sr Cu, Mn, Ni, Zn

356-um 7.19 0.41 0.08 0.142 < 0.001 < 0.01

356-Sr 7.0 0.40 0.09 0.153 0.0143 < 0.01
357-um 7.09 0.69 0.09 0.155 < 0.001 < 0.01
357-Sr 7.10 0.68 0.08 0.149 0.0163 < 0.01
 Q.G. Wang et al. / Journal of Light Metals 1 (2001) 85±97
subjected to either HIP-ing, Densale, or liquid HIP-ing.
HIP was carried out at 520°C and 100 MPa. Liquid
HIP-ing has been evaluated with the end-chill sand
castings (whole cast plates), pre-heated in an air circu-
lation furnace, and then pressurized at 100 MPa for 15 s
in a vessel containing liquid salt. After densi®cation, the
sample blocks were heat-treated to the T6 condition, i.e.
solution treated at 540°C (1000°F) for 10 h in an air
circulated furnace, water quenched at room tempera-
ture, naturally aged at room temperature for 20 h, and
then arti®cially aged at 170°C (340°F) for 6 h. This
treatment produced a slightly under-aged structure since
the peak hardness is reached after approximately 8 h.
In addition to the T6 heat treatment, other solution
and aging treatments were also utilized, as summarized
in Table 2, to evaluate the in¯uence of heat treatment on
the microstructure and on the resultant fatigue perfor-
mance.
2.2. Fatigue testing
After heat treatment, the sample blocks were ma-
chined into cylindrical fatigue specimens, with a parallel
gauge section 20 mm long and with 7.6 mm diameter, at
Westmoreland Mechanical Testing & Research Labo-
ratories. Fatigue specimens were prepared in accordance
with ASTM standard E466. No circumferential ma-
chining marks were observed. All polishing marks were
longitudinal. The cylindrical fatigue specimens were
tested in a servo-hydraulic Instron (8511) machine under
load control using pull±pull sinusoidal loading at a
frequency of 55 Hz. All materials were tested at room
temperature at various stress amplitudes and stress ra-
tios (ra : 70 and 100 MPa; R : 0:1 and 0.2).
2.3. Quantitative metallography
Quantitative metallographic examination was carried
out using an optical microscope equipped with an image
analysis software package (Kevex). Quoted values for
microstructural features such as SDAS and eutectic
particles were measured on the polished planes. Mea-
surements of SDAS were carried out on as-cast samples,
while eutectic particle features were measured after the
Table 2
Heat treatments
Designation Heat treatment
Solution Pre-ageing Ageing (h at
(h at 540°C) (h at RT) 167°C)
1/UA 1 12 4/155
T6 12 12 6/170
100/UA 100 12 4/155
87
solution heat-treatment. The eutectic Si and Fe-rich in-
termetallic particles were quanti®ed in terms of their
area equivalent circle diameter, aspect ratio, length and
area fraction at di€erent SDAS values. More than 5000
particles were measured for each sample.
SDAS was measured by identifying and measuring
aligned groups of secondary dendrite cells on the screen
of the image analyzer. The value of SDAS was then
calculated as SDAS ˆ L=nM, where L is the length of
the line drawn from edge to edge of the measured cells,
M is the magni®cation and n the number of dendrite
cells.
2.4. Microfractographic examination
Microfractographic examination was carried out on
the fracture surfaces of all specimens evaluated using
scanning electron microscopy, SEM (JEOL 840). Fa-
tigue crack initiators were identi®ed in each specimen.
X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was also
utilised to characterise chemical elements ± constituents
± at fatigue crack initiation sites and other crack prop-
agation regions. Backscatter electron imaging (BEI) was
taken to exhibit the distribution of intermetallic phases
on the fracture surface. Quanti®cation of fatigue crack
initiators and other particle features on the fracture
surface was conducted by capturing SEI/BEI images
from the SEM and then analyzing the image in the
Kevex image analysis program.
3. Results
3.1. Microstructure
3.1.1. Dendrite structure
As reported in [11], SDAS in the A356/357 alloys ®ts
well the empirical equation given in [12]
SDAS ˆ 39:4Rÿ0:317 ; …1†
where R ˆ dT =dt represents the mean cooling rate of the
primary aluminum dendrite cells during solidi®cation.
Experimental data of SDAS values measured on both
wedge permanent and end-chill sand test castings are
shown in Fig. 1.
3.1.2. Eutectic structure
Typical eutectic structure of unmodi®ed and Sr-
modi®ed A356/357 aluminum alloys is composed of
eutectic Si (dark constituents), Fe-bearing intermetallics
(light grey) identi®ed as b-plate (Al5 FeSi) and p-Chinese
script phase (Al9 FeMg3 Si5 ), and aluminum matrix
(white), Fig. 2. Compared with the aluminum matrix,
the eutectic silicon particles and Fe-bearing intermetal-
lics occupy a small volume fraction (7±8%). As the eu-
tectic phase is concentrated in the interdendritic regions,
88 Q.G. Wang et al. / Journal of Light Metals 1 (2001) 85±97
Fig. 1. Dendrite cell size (SDAS) as a function of freezing rate. The
highlighted section on the x-axis represents the freezing rates experi-
enced in the wedge permanent mold, as well as the range near the
copper-box.
Fig. 2. Microstructures of: (a) modi®ed, (b) unmodi®ed A356 con-
taining Fe phases.
the volume fraction of particles is far higher in the eu-
tectic region (12%). In addition, the size and mor-
phology of the eutectic phase are signi®cantly a€ected
by the eutectic modi®cation practice and the initial alloy
composition. For alloys solidi®ed at a constant solidi-
®cation rate (SDAS), strontium modi®es the eutectic
silicon particles from large ¯akes to ®ne ®bers. In-
creasing the Mg content from 0.4% to 0.7% slightly in-
creases the size of the silicon particles and
inhomogeneity of eutectic structure, but it signi®cantly
a€ects the amount and dimensions of Fe-bearing inter-
metallics [13]. In the low Mg (0.4%) A356-T6 alloys, the
Fe-bearing particles were almost exclusively small b-
phase plates; while in the high Mg (0.7%) A357-T6 al-
loys, large p-phase particles were dominant along with a
very small proportion of b-phase. As a result, the vol-
ume fraction of Fe-bearing particles increased from only
about 0.5% in A356 alloys to 1.6% in A357 alloys [14].
Fig. 3 shows the average size (area equivalent circle
diameter) of eutectic silicon particles and Fe-bearing
intermetallics in the unmodi®ed and Sr-modi®ed A356/
Fig. 3. The average size (area equivalent circle diameter) of T6-treated
silicon particles and Fe-bearing intermetallic particles as observed on a
polished section as a function of SDAS for: (a) A356 alloys, and (b)
A357 alloys.
 Q.G. Wang et al. / Journal of Light Metals 1 (2001) 85±97
357 alloys as a function of SDAS. As expected, de-
creasing SDAS by increasing the solidi®cation rate tends
to reduce the size of the eutectic particles, especially so
for the unmodi®ed alloys. The sizes of unmodi®ed sili-
con and Fe-bearing particles were reduced by as much
as 50% when SDAS value decreased from 60 to 20 lm.
In contrast, the size of the modi®ed silicon particles is
small and almost independent of solidi®cation rate.
For a given solidi®cation rate (i.e., constant SDAS),
the particle size also varies with Mg content. In the low
Mg-containing A356-T6 alloys, Fig. 3(a), the Fe-bearing
intermetallics ± in this case the b-phase plates ± are
much smaller than the silicon particles, especially under
the condition of no modi®cation. In contrast, the size of
Fe-bearing particles (mainly p-phase) in the high Mg-
containing A357-T6 alloys, Fig. 3(b), is much larger
than the one of silicon particles. This becomes more
apparent in the modi®ed A357-T6 alloys due to the re-
duced size of the silicon particles.
3.2. Fatigue behavior
3.2.1. E€ect of SDAS
Fatigue lives of Sr-modi®ed A356 alloys with various
SDAS values are shown in Fig. 4. The in¯uence of two
densi®cation processes, HIP and Densale, on fatigue
performance can be also seen. Irrespective of scatter, the
e€ect of SDAS on fatigue life is quite clear. For SDAS
values less than 60 lm, fatigue life decreases with in-
creasing SDAS values, whereas for SDAS values larger
than 60 lm, increasing SDAS does not further decrease
fatigue life as reported in the literature. In fact, the data
show that fatigue life increases with increasing SDAS
values.
Fig. 5 shows fatigue failure probability as a function
of fatigue life presented on a natural logarithmic Wei-
bull plot. A detailed description of Weibull statistics and
Fig. 4. Fatigue life of HIP-ed and Densale treated Sr-modi®ed A356-
T6 alloy as a function of SDAS.
89
m
Fw(N)= 1– exp –
N
N0
Fig. 5. Two-parameter Weibull plot for fatigue life data for Sr-modi-
®ed 356-T6 alloy as presented in Fig. 3.
procedure to convert fatigue data into a Weibull plot
has been given in [11]. In short, fatigue life data were
divided into two groups according to densi®cation
processes. For each group, fatigue life data (Nf ) were
ranked and ordered from shortest to longest, for each
assigning a probability of failure based on its rank, j, as
follows:
j ÿ 0:5
Fw ˆ ; …2†
n
where n is the total number of fatigue data points for
each group. The failure probability Fw and fatigue life
data (Nf ) were then converted into ln ln‰1=…1 ÿ Fw …Nf ††Š
and ln Nf , respectively.
From the Weibull plot of Fig. 5, no linear relationship
can be seen between ln ln1=…1 ÿ Fw …Nf †† and ln Nf for n
either of the densi®cation processes. Each data group
seems to ®t two di€erent lines with di€erent slopes. This
indicates that the population of fatigue life data for both
densi®cation processes is composed of more than one
crack initiator. Observing the fracture surfaces of all
samples from both densi®cation processes con®rmed
this hypothesis. Two kinds of fatigue crack initiators,
oxide ®lms and slip bands, were found to cause failure in
these alloys. Fig. 6 shows an example of oxide ®lms
initiating the crack, as observed on the fracture surface.
Sorting the specimens by crack initiator type and rear-
ranging the data on the Weibull plot, a very good ®tting
was obtained (Fig. 7).
By eliminating the specimens which failed from oxide
®lms (Fig. 4), fatigue life data for specimens which failed
only by slip bands is obtained and is shown in Fig. 8.
The reduced scatter shows a clear relationship between
fatigue life and SDAS. Fatigue life decreases with in-
creasing SDAS when SDAS values are less than 60 lm,
90 Q.G. Wang et al. / Journal of Light Metals 1 (2001) 85±97

Fig. 8. Fatigue life of HIP-ed and Densale treated Sr-modi®ed A356-

T6 alloys, failed from slip bands, as a function of SDAS.

and fatigue life increases with SDAS when SDAS values

are larger than 60 lm.

3.2.2. E€ect of Mg content

Fig. 9 shows the in¯uence of Mg content on the fa-
tigue life of Sr-modi®ed alloys. Both alloys show the
same in¯uence of SDAS on fatigue life. For alloys with
®ne microstructures (SDAS < 60 lm), fatigue life de-
creases with coarsening of the aluminum dendrites (in-
creasing SDAS), while fatigue life increases with SDAS
for values larger than 60 lm. A minimum in fatigue life
is observed at around 60 lm. In addition, the fatigue life
of Sr-modi®ed A357 alloys is lower than that of A356
alloys. As predicted by Weibull statistics, the charac-
Fig. 6. SEM micrographs showing oxide ®lms observed on the fracture teristic fatigue life for A356 alloys is 5:8  106 cycles,
surfaces of HIP-ed and Densale treated Sr-modi®ed A356-T6 speci- which is about four times longer than that for A357
mens. alloys (1:7  106 cycles).
Fig. 10 compares fatigue lives of unmodi®ed alloys for
a range of SDAS values. High Mg A357 alloys have
short fatigue lives, especially at intermediate and large
SDAS, as shown in Fig. 10(a). At small SDAS values,
the di€erence in fatigue lives between the two alloys
becomes negligible. This can also be observed from the
Weibull plot given in Fig. 10(b). The Weibull parameters
m
associated with low Mg A356 alloys are a Weibull
Fw(N)= 1– exp –
N
modulus of 2.25 and a characteristic fatigue life of
N0
1:22  106 cycles; these are larger than those obtained
with high Mg A357 alloys (modulus 1.892 and charac-
teristic fatigue life 8:385  105 cycles). The model also
predicts a fatigue life of 0:566  105 cycles for A356 at
0.1% failure rate, and 0:22  105 cycles for A357.
The pattern of fatigue behavior with SDAS is very
similar for both unmodi®ed A356 and A357 alloys. As
shown in Fig. 10(a), three regimes can be distinguished.
For the very ®ne microstructures (the smallest SDAS
Fig. 7. Two-parameter Weibull plot for fatigue life data shown in Figs. values), the fatigue life is usually long and decreases with
3 and 4, subsequent to sorting out fatigue crack initiators. increasing SDAS. At intermediate SDAS (between 40±
 Q.G. Wang et al. / Journal of Light Metals 1 (2001) 85±97 91

m m
N N
Fw(N)= 1– exp – Fw(N)= 1– exp –
N0 N0

Fig. 9. Fatigue life data for the HIP-ed and Densale treated Sr- Fig. 10. Fatigue life data for the HIP-ed and Densale treated un-
modi®ed A356/357-T6 alloys as a function of: (a) SDAS, and (b) two- modi®ed A356/357-T6 alloys as a function of: (a) SDAS, and (b) two-
parameter Weibull plot. parameter Weibull plot.

60 lm), the fatigue life of both alloys is independent of
SDAS. In very coarse microstructures (SDAS > 60 lm),
the fatigue life decreases with increasing SDAS.
3.2.3. E€ect of eutectic modi®cation
Figs. 11 and 12 show the in¯uence of eutectic modi-
®cation on the fatigue performance of pore-free A356
and 357 alloys. For both alloys eutectic modi®cation is
bene®cial. The overall fatigue lives of modi®ed alloys are
longer compared with those of unmodi®ed alloys. As
predicted by Weibull statistics, the characteristic fatigue
lives of modi®ed alloys are two to four times longer than
those of unmodi®ed alloys.
The pattern of fatigue behavior over a range of SDAS
is di€erent for modi®ed and unmodi®ed alloys. In the
modi®ed alloys, the fatigue life decreases with SDAS at
SDAS < 60 lm, and increases with SDAS at SDAS > 60
lm. A minimum in fatigue life is attained at an SDAS of
about 60 lm. In the unmodi®ed alloys, fatigue life de-
creases with SDAS in both ®ne and coarse structures. At
intermediate SDAS, between 40 and 60 lm, fatigue life
remains constant with SDAS. By comparing the fatigue
data of Sr-modi®ed and unmodi®ed alloys, it can be
assumed that there might be a minimum in fatigue life at
about 40 lm in unmodi®ed alloys, if the size and mor-
phology of the eutectic particles are constant over this
range of SDAS values.
3.2.4. E€ect of Fe content
The Fe content was changed only for the unmodi®ed
A357 alloys. Fig. 13 shows the in¯uence of various Fe
levels on the fatigue life of these alloys. Increasing Fe
from 0.08% to 0.14% decreases the fatigue life, partic-
ularly for very coarse microstructures (large SDAS
values). However, no signi®cant in¯uence can be seen at
small and intermediate SDAS values. Therefore, the
in¯uence of Fe content in the composition range 0.08±
0.14% is not very signi®cant. This is supported by the
Weibull analysis. As shown in Fig. 11(b), the predicted
characteristic fatigue life of low Fe A357 alloys is
8:39  105 cycles, and that of high Fe-containing alloy is
6:76  105 cycles. At a failure probability of 0.1%, the
92 Q.G. Wang et al. / Journal of Light Metals 1 (2001) 85±97
(a)
m m
N N
Fw(N)= 1– exp –
N0
Fig. 11. Fatigue life data for unmodi®ed and Sr-modi®ed A356-T6
alloys as a function of: (a) SDAS, and (b) two-parameter Weibull plot.
predicted fatigue lives for the low and high Fe alloys are
2:18  104 and 1:68  104 cycles, respectively.
3.2.5. E€ect of heat treatment
The in¯uence of heat treatment processes on fatigue
life is shown in Fig. 14. It was observed that the soft
matrix produced by two under-aged heat treatments
resulted in a lower fatigue life compared with one of the
samples having a T6, near peak-aged heat treatment. As
predicted by Weibull statistics, the characteristic fatigue
life associated with peak-aged samples is 2:63  105 cy-
cles, about two times higher than that of under-aged
samples.
For two under-aged heat treatment processes, the al-
loys with 1 h solution treatment show slightly lower
fatigue life compared to the alloys with 100 h solution
treatment. The characteristic fatigue lives associated
with 1 and 100 h solution heat treatments are 1:03  105
and 1:75  105 cycles, respectively. Longer solution
treatments reduce scatter in fatigue life. The Weibull
modules immersed from 4 to 5.7 by increasing the so-
lution trim from 1 to 100 R.
Fw(N)= 1– exp –
N0
Fig. 12. Fatigue life data for unmodi®ed and Sr-modi®ed A357-T6
alloys as a function of: (a) SDAS, and (b) two-parameter Weibull plot.
4. Discussion
Many processing variables such as eutectic modi®ca-
tion, solidi®cation rate, heat treatment, as well as com-
position have a profound in¯uence on the resultant cast
structure. In turn, these processing and compositional
variables signi®cantly in¯uence the fatigue properties of
A356 and A357 alloys. The experimental results pre-
sented are interpreted here by addressing the e€ects of
SDAS, yield strength, and eutectic structure on fatigue
performance.
4.1. E€ect of SDAS
The in¯uence of SDAS on fatigue performance can be
understood in terms of dispersion hardening. When al-
loys are subjected to either tensile or compression cyclic
loading, local yielding is inevitable, due to the inhomo-
geneous deformation, even though the maximum ap-
plied stress is well below the yield stress of the alloy. The
local yielding which takes place can be appreciated from
the slip bands (planes) as observed on the fracture sur-
 Q.G. Wang et al. / Journal of Light Metals 1 (2001) 85±97 93

face (Fig. 15). As a result, dislocations will interact with

eutectic particles and dendrite cell/grain boundaries as
deformation proceeds, leading to dispersion hardening
in the material [14±23]. Therefore, any constituent in the
microstructure that increases the resistance to disloca-
tion movement, or interacts with dislocations, will in-
crease the local internal stress and thus, local damage
rate.
The main e€ects of SDAS on dispersion hardening are
the dislocation slip distances (dendrite cell sizes), and the
degree of interaction between dislocation, eutectic par-
ticles, and dendrite cell/grain boundaries. In coarse mi-
crostructures (large SDAS values), the dendrite cells are
large and the eutectic particles are clustered along the
limited cell and grain boundaries. As a result, the indi-
vidual dendrite cell is isolated by a thick eutectic wall,
and it behaves as an individual dendrite grain. During
plastic deformation, dislocations will be blocked and
piled up along the cell boundaries, resulting in image
stresses on the eutectic particles along the cell bound-
m
N
Fw(N)= 1– exp –
N0

Fig. 13. Fatigue life data for unmodi®ed A357-T6 castings with dif-
ferent Fe contents as a function of: (a) SDAS, and (b) two-parameter
Weibull plot.

m
N
Fw(N)= 1– exp –
N0

Fig. 14. Two-parameter Weibull plot for fatigue life data of Liquid-
HIP-ed Sr-modi®ed A356 alloys heat-treated under di€erent condi- Fig. 15. Slip bands on the fracture surface indicting the local yielding
tions. and dislocation movement.
94 Q.G. Wang et al. / Journal of Light Metals 1 (2001) 85±97
aries. By contrast, in ®ne microstructures (small SDAS
values) Eutectic particles are less concentrated on den-
drite cell boundaries. The dislocations can move across
the dendrite cell boundaries where there are no eutectic
particles to block them. These dislocations are only
stopped at grain boundaries during deformation. As
grain size becomes larger than the cell size, dislocations
can move longer distances compared with the dendrite
cell size. Therefore, the interaction of dislocations with
eutectic particles is not as important in ®ne micro-
structures (small SDAS values).
The image stress induced by dislocations due to their
interaction with eutectic particles can be expressed by
the following equation [14±23]:
s
 
C1 C2
rforest ˆ Clm b e ‡ ; …3†
L k
where k ˆ SDAS (SDAS > 60 lm); ˆ dendrite grain
size (SDAS < 60 lm), L is the average slip distance, lm
the shear modulus of aluminum matrix, e the local re-
laxed strain, b the Burgers vector, and C; C1 and C2 are
constants.
The contribution to the image stress in Eq. (3) results
from two kinds of dislocations, namely, geometrically
necessary dislocations and statistically stored disloca-
tions. In general, the statistically stored dislocations are
accumulated during uniform deformation (matrix
hardening), which corresponds to the …C1 =L† term in Eq.
(3). For cast aluminum alloys, these values are:
C  1:25, and C1 =L  0:05 lmÿ1 [21].
The geometrically necessary dislocations are the dis-
locations necessary to avoid overlaps or voids around
the particles in cell or grain boundaries. The contribu-
tion associated with geometrically necessary dislocations
is expressed by …C2 =k† in Eq. (3). A graphical repre-
sentation of the contribution from the geometrically
necessary dislocations is given by Fig. 16. In coarse
microstructure (large SDAS), the image stress is domi-
Fig. 16. Illustration of image stress induced by dislocations as a
function of SDAS.
nated by dislocations interacting with cell boundaries.
Increasing SDAS increases the slip distance (k) of dis-
locations, leading to a lower hardening rate and image
stress. In ®ne microstructures (small SDAS), the inter-
action between dislocations and grain boundaries
dominates the hardening. As dislocations can slip longer
distances in ®ne structures, the hardening rate and the
resultant image stress is lower compared with coarse
structures for a given cycle. As a result, a maximum
image stress is developed at the intermediate SDAS
(about 60 lm for Sr-modi®ed alloys) where the cell
boundaries become distinct and interaction changes
from dislocations with grain boundaries to dislocations
with cell boundaries. Therefore, it can be assumed that
in coarse structures microcracks occur at the cell
boundaries, while in ®ne structures fracture takes place
along grain boundaries, Fig. 17.
In unmodi®ed alloys, this transformation occurs at
smaller SDAS (about 40 lm) since the large and elon-
gated eutectic particles result in distinct cell boundaries
at lower SDAS. As shown in Fig. 10(a), the fatigue life
®rst decreases with increasing SDAS and then it be-
comes independent of SDAS when the SDAS value is
over 40 lm. Further decrease of fatigue life with SDAS
in the very coarse microstructures is due to the large and
elongated eutectic particles. It can be assumed then that
fatigue life in very coarse microstructures will increase
rather than decrease with SDAS, if the eutectic particles
are kept constant in size and morphology over a range
of SDAS values (as in Sr-modi®ed alloys).
4.2. E€ect of yield strength
The in¯uence of yield strength on fatigue life is
complex. Based on fracture mechanics theory, increas-
ing the yield strength of the material results in a lower
value of DKth . This signi®es that the critical crack size
for fatigue crack initiation becomes smaller. The reason
Fig. 17. Illustration of microcrack preference over a range of SDAS in
Sr-modi®ed A356-T6 alloys.
 Q.G. Wang et al. / Journal of Light Metals 1 (2001) 85±97 95

for the reduction of DKth with yield strength is that
under the same nominal load condition, the increased
yield strength of a material decreases the size of the
plastic zone around the crack tip and this results in the
formation of a more ¯at fracture surface. The ¯at
fracture surface, in turn, reduces the crack closure due to
roughness-induced crack closure (RICC) and oxide-in-
duced (fretting induced) crack closure (OICC). The re-
duced crack closure results in the crack remaining open
during a larger portion of the cycle. Consequently, a
smaller amount of fretting-oxidation, due to RICC and
plasticity-induced crack closure (PICC), is developed.
The thinner oxide ®lm on the fracture surface will in
turn reduce the amount of OICC, and further decrease
DKth . As a result, microstructurally small cracks can
grow very quickly during the initiation period.
On the other hand, increasing the yield strength re-
duces the number and size of local plastic deformation
zones in the material. This decreases the possibility of
forming microcracks in front of the fatigue crack due to
the reduced interaction of dislocations with eutectic
particles at either cell or grain boundaries. In addition,
increasing the yield strength increases the matrix resis-
tance to dislocation movement within dendrite cells,
leading to few dislocations moving up to cell or grain
boundaries and interacting with the eutectic particles.
As a result, increasing the yield strength decreases the
long crack growth rate during the propagation period
due to the reduced microcracks (damage) in the mate-
rial.
where d0 ; r0 are the characteristic particle size and stress
at which the probability of particle cracking is 63%; m is
the Weibull modulus. Accordingly, large and elongated
particles tend to crack early during plastic deformation,
resulting in microcracks in the microstructure [24±28].
As deformation proceeds, microcracks continue to ac-
cumulate and grow. When the size of microcracks ex-
ceeds a critical size, a fatigue crack is formed. In
addition, the presence of microcracks in the micro-
structure will increase the fatigue propagation rate and
thus reduce the fatigue life. This can be seen in the mi-
crographs shown in Fig. 18.
The decrease of fatigue life with increasing Mg con-
tent in both unmodi®ed and Sr-modi®ed alloys can be
interpreted by the occurrence of microcracking. It is
known that increasing the Mg content increases the
eutectic particle size particularly in the Sr-modi®ed alloy
due to the formation of large Mg-containing Fe-rich

4.3. E€ect of the eutectic structure

The distribution (clustering) of the eutectic structure

has been addressed in [11]. Here the in¯uence of eutectic
particle size and morphology on fatigue life is addressed.
In plastically deformed regions, the internal stress
developed on the eutectic particles can be calculated as
presented in [14]:

Clp fuc e
rp ˆ
lp ÿ 0:4…lp ÿ lm †
Z 1 s
 
Clm C1 C2
 f …a† da ‡ p b ‡ e; …4†
0 fuc L k

where lp is the shear modulus of eutectic silicon parti-

cles, fuc the volume fraction of uncracked eutectic par-
ticles and a is the aspect ratio of eutectic particles.
The probability of fracture, pc of a particle of size d
and aspect ratio a is governed by Weibull statistics
through
"    #
3 m
d rp Fig. 18. Micrographs show the microcracks as observed in a transverse
pc ˆ 1 ÿ exp ÿ ; …5† section of fatigue specimen: (a) at the free surface, and (b) away from
d0 r0
surface. Applied stress was in the vertical direction.
96 Q.G. Wang et al. / Journal of Light Metals 1 (2001) 85±97
Fig. 19. Micrographs show the microstructures of a Sr-modi®ed A356 alloy heat-treated at various conditions. (a) 1/UA, (b) T6, and (c) 100/UA.
Applied stress was in horizontal direction.
phase [13,14,27], Fig. 3. The increased eutectic particle
size results in more particle fracture and thus short fa-
tigue lives. A similar explanation can be employed to
understand the in¯uence of Fe content and eutectic
modi®cation. The low fatigue life of high Fe content
alloy is attributed to the increased amount and size of
Fe-rich phases, particularly at the large SDAS values.
Compared with unmodi®ed alloys, Sr-modi®ed alloys
have small and round eutectic silicon particles that give
rise to longer fatigue lives.
The in¯uence of heat treatment on fatigue life results
from not only matrix strength (yield strength) but also
the resultant eutectic structure. Fig. 19 compares the
microstructures of A356 alloy produced under di€erent
heat treatment conditions. Short solution treatment (1
h) has no signi®cant e€ect on the eutectic structure.
Small Si and large Fe-rich particles can be readily ob-
served in the microstructure due to insucient dissolu-
tion [29], Fig. 19(a). By contrast, in the long (100 h)
solution treated microstructure, Fig. 19(c), no large Fe
particles can be seen and the silicon particles become
coarse due to spheroidization. T6 solution treatment (12
h) produces an optimum combination of small Fe-rich
and silicon particles, Fig. 19(b). This is precisely why
T6-treated A356/357 aluminum cast alloys have ade-
quate fatigue lives.
5. Conclusions
Based on the experimental results for the pore-free
castings, the following conclusions can be drawn:
1. In the absence of casting defects, the fatigue life of
A356/357 castings is a function of microstructural
®neness (SDAS), composition, eutectic modi®cation,
and heat treatment.
2. In unmodi®ed alloys, fatigue life decreases with in-
creasing SDAS in both ®ner (SDAS < 40 lm) and
coarser (SDAS > 60 lm) structures; while in micro-
structures with intermediate SDAS values (SDAS:
40±60 lm), the fatigue life seems constant with
SDAS.
3. In Sr-modi®ed material having ®ne microstructures
(SDAS < 60 lm), fatigue life decreases with increas-
ing SDAS values, while in coarser microstructures
(SDAS > 60 lm), fatigue life increases with increasing
SDAS values.
4. Sr-modi®ed alloys show longer fatigue lives com-
pared to unmodi®ed alloys.
5. Increasing Mg content from 0.4% to 0.7% signi®cant-
ly decreases fatigue life in both unmodi®ed and Sr-
modi®ed alloys.
6. Increasing Fe content decreases fatigue life, particu-
larly for alloys with large SDAS values.
7. Alloys having low yield strength values have shorter
fatigue lives. An adequate solution treatment time,
such as 12 h (for a T6), is bene®cial due to the disso-
lution and segmentation of the large Fe particles.
Acknowledgements
The authors are indebted to the 43 corporate partners
of the Advanced Casting Research Center (ACRC) at
the Metal Processing Institute for the support of this
work. Special thanks go to the Focus-Group co-chairs:
Dr. Paul Crepeau (GM), Dr. Peggy Jones (GM), and
Dr. Fred Major (ALCAN).
 Q.G. Wang et al. / Journal of Light Metals 1 (2001) 85±97
Bodycote and Hitchiner Corporations are acknowl-
edged for their assistance and cooperation in carrying
out the HIP work.
References
[1] A. Wickberg, G. Gustafsson, L.E. Larsson, Microstructural
e€ects on the fatigue properties of a cast Al7SiMg alloy, SAE
Technical Publication, #840121, 1984.
[2] T.L. Reinhart, ASM Handbook, vol. 19, ASM International,
Materials Park, OH, USA, 1996, pp. 813±822.
[3] N.E. Promisel, Evaluation of non-ferrous materials (1956), cited
by H.E. Boyer, Atlas of fatigue curves, American Society of
Metals, 1986.
[4] M.J. Couper, A.E. Neeson, J.R. Griths, Casting defects and the
fatigue life of an aluminum casting alloy, Fatigue Fract. Eng.
Mater. Struct. 13 (1990) 213±227.
[5] B. Skallerud, T. Iveland, G. Harkeg
ard, Fatigue life assessment of
aluminum alloys with casting defects, Eng. Fract. Mech. 44 (1993)
857±874.
[6] J.A. Odegard, K. Pedersen, Fatigue properties of an A356
(AlSi7Mg) aluminium alloy for automotive applications-fatigue
life prediction, SAE technical paper, SAE-940811, 1994, pp. 25±
32.
[7] Chih-Hsien Ting, A model for the long-life fatigue behaviour of
small notches, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Illinois, Urbana±
Champaign, IL, 1991.
[8] D.L. McLellan, M.M. McLellan, An approach to fatigue design
for aluminum castings, AFS Trans. 104 (1996) 445±449.
[9] J.F. Major, Porosity control and fatigue behaviour in A356T61
aluminum alloy, AFS Trans. 105 (1997) 901±906.
[10] Q.G. Wang, D. Apelian, J.R. Grith, Microstructural e€ects on
the fatigue properties of aluminum castings, in: M. Tiryakioglou,
J. Campbell (Eds.), Proceedings from Materials Solutions Con-
ference '98 on Advances in Aluminum Casting Technology, 12±15
October 1998, pp. 217±223.
[11] Q.G. Wang, D. Apelian, D.A. Lados, Fatigue behavior of A356-
T6 aluminum cast alloys part I-E€ect of casting defects ± part I, J.
Light Metals 1 (1) (2001) 73±84.
[12] Q.G. Wang, C.H. C aceres, Mg e€ects on the eutectic structure
and tensile properties of Al±Si±Mg alloys, Mater. Sci. Forum 242
(1997) 159±164.
[13] Q.G. Wang, C.J. Davidson, Solidi®cation and precipitation
behavior of Al±Si±Mg casting alloys, J. Mater. Sci., 2000 (in
press).
View publication stats
97
[14] Q.G. Wang, Microstructure and tensile fracture behavior of Al±
Si±Mg casting alloys, Ph.D. thesis, The University of Queensland,
Brisbane, Australia, 1997.
[15] M.F. Ashby, in: A. Kelly, R.B. Nicholson (Eds.), Strengthening
Methods in Crystals, chapter 3, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1971, pp.
137±192.
[16] M.F. Ashby, Work hardening of dispersion-hardened crystals,
Philos. Mag. 21 (1970) 1157±1178.
[17] L.M. Brown, D.R. Clarke, The work hardening of ®brous
composites with particular reference to the copper±tungsten
system, Acta Metall. 25 (1977) 563±570.
[18] L.M. Brown, D.R. Clarke, Work hardening due to internal
stresses in composite materials, Acta Metall. 23 (1975) 821±830.
[19] L.M. Brown, W.M. Stobbs, The work-hardening of copper±silica
I. A model based on internal stresses, with no plastic relaxation,
Philos. Mag. 23 (1971) 1185±1199.
[20] L.M. Brown, W.M. Stobbs, The work-hardening of copper±silica
II. The role of plastic relaxation, Philos. Mag. 23 (1971) 1201±
1233.
[21] L.M. Brown, Back-stresses, image stresses, and work-hardening,
Acta Metall. 21 (1973) 879±885.
[22] C.H. C aceres, J.R. Griths, Damage by the cracking of silicon
particles in an Al±7Si±0.4Mg casting alloy, Acta Mater. 44 (1996)
25±33.
[23] C.H. C aceres, J.R. Griths, P. Reiner, The in¯uence of micro-
structure on the bauchinger e€ect in an Al±Si±Mg casting alloy,
Acta Mater. 44 (1996) 15±23.
[24] C.H. C aceres, C.J. Davidson, J.R. Griths, The deformation and
fracture behaviour of an Al±Si±Mg casting alloy, Mater. Sci. Eng.
A 197 (1995) 171±179.
[25] Q.G. Wang, C.H. C aceres, The fracture mode in Al±Si±Mg
casting alloys, Mater. Sci. Eng. A A241 (1998) 72±82.
[26] Q.G. Wang, C.H. C aceres, On the strain hardening behavior of
Al±Si±Mg casting alloys, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 234±236 (1997) 106±
109.
[27] C.H. C aceres, Q.G. Wang, J.R. Griths, C.J. Davidson, The
e€ect of Mg on the microstructure and mechanical behavior of
two commercial Al±Si±Mg casting alloys, Metall. Trans. A 30A
(1999) 2611±2618.
[28] Q.G. Wang, C.H. C aceres, J.R. Griths, The cracking of Fe-rich
and eutectic Si particles in an Al±7Si±0.7Mg casting alloy, AFS
Trans. 106 (1998) 131±136.
[29] G. Gustafsson, T. Thorvaldsson, G.L. Dunlop, The in¯uence of
Fe and Cr on the microstructure of cast Al±Si±Mg alloys, Metall.
Trans. A 17 (1986) 45.