Weibull Analysis of the Effect of Modified Aging Treatments on Fatigue Life of Cast Aluminium Alloy 354

Abstract

Cast aluminium alloy 354 has extensive applications in the automobile industry. Due to its attractive combination of mechanical properties and excellent castability, it is being used in production of automobile components like the compressor wheel for turbochargers. Performance of this component under fatigue loading conditions is a critical issue. The present study explores the possibility of improving the fatigue life of the component by bringing in process changes (i) adopting a two-step aging treatment in place of the normally used single step aging treatment (ii) adopting a lower artificial aging temperature (171°C) instead of the temperature normally used for artificial aging (188°C) while performing T61 treatment. In all cases Weibull analysis of fatigue test results was carried out. Weibull analysis of Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) values obtained after artificial aging at 171°C and 188°C was also carried out. Among the four variants of two-step aging treatment carried out, the one consisting of 100°C for 5 hours followed by 170°C for 5 hours was found to have the best characteristic fatigue life for the components. The modified T61 treatment where aging was carried out at 171°C instead of the normally used 188°C yielded better characteristic fatigue life as well as better Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS).