| Low cycle fatigue tests were carried out using four kinds of Al-7%Si-0.4Mg cast alloys, i.e., two kinds of sand mold casts, permanent mold cast and semi-solid die cast. They were heat-treated in the condition of under aging and over aging to investigate effects of precipitates on fatigue. All tests were conducted under axial plastic strain amplitude control. Stress level of cyclic hardening curves increased sensitively with needle like eutectic Si particle, refined grain size and dendrite arm spacing(DAS). In particular, the refined grain structure of under aged matrix was more effective encourager for cyclic hardening compared with DAS and eutectic Si particle size. After rapid increase in cyclic hardening during several number of cycles, the stress amplitude kept increasing steadily until fracture in under aged alloys strengthened by shearable G.P. zone. On the other hand, over aged alloys strengthened by non-shearable β` precipitates generated more drastic initial hardening and the stress amplitude reached the saturation state in quite early stage of the fatigue. |
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