Porosity formation and fatigue properties of AlSiCu cast alloy

Abstract

The need for aluminium alloys having a good toughness, high strength, adequate damage tolerance capability, good fatigue resistance and good corrosion resistance for use in the industries applications of aerospace, automotive and even commercial products led to study of the properties and structure of the AlSi9Cu3 cast alloy. The most important metallurgical parameters affecting the aluminium alloy's resistance to fatigue load are the amount, types and size of casting defects. Therefore quantitative analysis was used for determination of casting defects size by optical microscopy on metallographic sections and an analysis of the size distribution by extreme value statistics. The software NIS Elements was used for quantitative analysis of casting defects and results show that porosity have a great influence on to the fatigue properties of AlSi9Cu3 cast alloy.