Fatigue Behaviour in Al (LM4) - (Al2O3SiO2) PMMC

The fatigue behaviour of Aluminium alloy (LM4)
Alumina silicate (Al2O3SiO2) particulate composite is investigated in comparison with unreinforced LM4 aluminium alloy in this work. Four different volume fractions (0.05, 0.15 and 0.20) of Alumina silicate particulates of size 10 m are introduced into the melt. The fabrication of specimen is carried out by stirring followed by squeeze casting. The fatigue strength tests are conducted on these specimens with a stress ratio (R) of 0.1. The composite specimens have longer fatigue lives than matrix alloy in lower stress state and exhibited a reduced fatigue lives at elevated stress state irrespective of their reinforcement volume fraction.

Based on investigations, it is revealed that the role of aluminum silicate particulates with LM4 aluminum alloy metal matrix composites during fatigue life at R = 0.1, the following conclusions can be made.
The fatigue strength of the Aluminium alloy (LM4)
Alumina silicate (Al2O3 SiO2) particulate compositesoftwarealso has good agreement with the experimentalresult. The composite gives longer fatigue life thanunreinforced alloy in lower stress state. The fatiguelife for 5% volume fraction of composite is also higherthan the unreinforced alloy. Moreover, the volumefraction of above 5% particle reinforcement has noappreciable effect on fatigue properties.