The cast Al–Si–Cu–Mg alloy 354 is used for the production of critical components for the automotive sector, such as the compressor wheel for the turbocharger. With steady improvements taking place in the design of automotive engines, increasing demands are being placed on the performance of the compressor wheel castings. Making advancements in technology of production of the alloy castings has hence been the subject of many researches. This paper examines the effect of fluidized bed (FB) processing on the behavior of the castings under cyclic loading conditions. FB treatment was found to result in fatigue life close to that obtained after conventional heat treatment, but with major savings in the total heat treatment time. © 2019, The Indian Institute of Metals - IIM.

Nageswara Rao M

Department of Manufacturing Engineering

School of Mechanical Engineering

Vellore Campus

Dinesh Babu G

Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) is a private university located in&nbsp;Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 1984, as Vellore Engineering College, the institution offers 20 undergraduate, 34 postgraduate, four integrated and four research programs. It has campuses in Vellore, Amravati, Bhopal and Chennai.

VIT is one of the top ranked private universities in India according to NIRF, THE and QS Rankings.&nbsp;Govt. of India has recognized&nbsp;VIT, Vellore as an&nbsp;Institution of Eminence. This has allowed VIT to take independent quality initiatives and move up in world ranking.

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VIT University

Transactions of the Indian Institute of Metals

With the drive to build higher performance automobile engines, there has been a steady demand to further improve the mechanical behavior of the cast aluminum alloy 354 through improvements in processing. The present study explores the possibility of improving the tensile properties, quality indices Q &amp; QC and fatigue life of the alloy over those obtained by standard T61 treatment by adopting different modified aging treatments. These include i) lowering the artificial aging temperature ii) interrupted aging cycles similar to T6I4 referred to in the published literature and iii) artificial aging in two steps instead of in single step. Based on the results, a few modified aging treatments could be identified which lead to a comparable combination of tensile properties, but with improved fatigue life and a shade higher quality level. © 2014 The Minerals, Metals &amp; Materials Society.

Light Metals 2014

Effect of Modified Aging Treatments on the Tensile Properties, Quality Indices and Fatigue Life of Cast Components of Aluminum Alloy 354

Cast aluminum alloy 354 is used extensively for production of critical automobile components, owing to its excellent castability and attractive combination of mechanical properties after heat-treatment. With the advent of higher performance engines, there has been a steady demand to further improve the mechanical behavior of the castings made of the alloy, among others, through improvements in processing. The present study explores the possibility of improving tensile properties of the alloy by adopting certain non-conventional aging treatments. The non-conventional treatments include aging cycles similar to T6I4 and T6I6 referred to in the published literature, artificial aging in two steps instead of in single step and artificial aging preceded by various natural aging times. The results show that none of these non-conventional treatments leads to improvement of all tensile properties compared to the standard T61 treatment. Significant hardening takes place in the alloy due to natural aging. Changing the time of natural aging preceding artificial aging was found to have little effect on tensile properties.

Advanced Materials Research

Effect of Non-Conventional Aging Treatments on the Tensile Properties of Non-Hipped Castings of Aluminum Alloy 354

Cast aluminum alloy 354 is used extensively for production of critical automobile component, owing to its excellent castability and attractive combination of mechanical properties. With the advent of higher performance engines, there has been a steady demand to further improve the mechanical behavior of the alloy, among others, through improvements in processing. The present study explores the possibility of improving mechanical behavior and quality levels of the alloy by adopting certain non-conventional aging treatments. Quality indices Q and QC have been used for quality rating. The non-conventional treatments include aging cycles similar to T6I4 and T6I6 referred to in the published literature, artificial aging in two steps instead of in single step and artificial aging preceded by various natural aging times. The results show that none of the non-conventional treatments leads to improvement of all tensile properties compared to the standard T61 treatment. However, some specific treatments could be identified which lead to a comparable combination of tensile properties and a shade higher quality level. Increasing the time of preceding natural aging does not help in improving the tensile properties after artificial aging.

Effect of Non-Conventional Aging Treatments on the Tensile Properties and Quality Indices of Hipped Components Made of Cast Aluminum Alloy 354

Cast aluminum alloy 354 is widely used in the automobile industry due to its attractive set of mechanical properties and excellent castability. The compressor wheel in turbochargers, for example, is used for the production of this alloy. Apart from mechanical properties like fracture toughness and tensile strength, the fatigue life of the component is also a critical issue while considering the performance. This study makes an attempt to improve the fatigue life of a component made out of this alloy by subjecting it to interrupted aging cycles similar to T6I4 and T6I6 (discussed in the published literature) instead of the normally used T61 standard aging treatment. Results show that subjecting the material to these interrupted aging treatments gives lower fatigue life than that obtained after subjecting it to standard T61 conditions.Also, T6I4 treatment yields better fatigue life as compared to T6I6.

Weibull Analysis of the Effect of Interrupted Aging Treatments on the Fatigue Life of Components Made of Cast Aluminium Alloy 354

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).

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ISSN	0972-2815
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