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Damage mechanisms and evolution during thermomechanical fatigue of cast near eutectic Al-Si piston alloys

Conference Paper · January 2017

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 Damage mechanisms and evolution during thermomechanical
fatigue of cast near eutectic Al-Si piston alloys
1Institute of Materials Science and Technology, TU Vienna, Karlsplatz 13, 1040 Vienna, Austria
2KS Kolbenschmidt GmbH, Karl-Schmidt-Straße, 74172 Neckarsulm, Germany
K. 1
Bugelnig , H. T. 2
Germann , 2
Steffens , 3Institute of Materials Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, D-21502 Geesthacht, Germany

3 4
F. Wilde , E. Boller , G. Requena5,6 4ESRF-The European Synchrotron, CS40220, Grenoble Cedex 9, France
5German Aerospace Centre, Linder Höhe, 51147 Cologne, Germany
6Metallic Structures and Materials Systems for Aerospace Engineering, RWTH Aachen University,

Aachen 52062, Germany

Motivation 0.416

0.323
0.429

Cast near eutectic Al-Si alloys are used in automotive pistons due to their high strength-to-weight ratio as well as excellent 0.247 0.254 plastic deformation [mm]
castability and heat conductivity. Particularly, the piston bowl rim in modern diesel engines must be able to withstand 0.207
0.203
of the piston due to
thermo-mechanical fatigue (TMF) conditions in a temperature range between 25 - 380 °C with thermal cycles of a few
seconds during service. Topological and morphological changes in the microstructure owing to chemical compositions, 0.171
thermo-mechanical
thermal heat treatments and thermo-mechanical conditions during service can have a crucial effect on performance. loading
Damage mechanisms and evolution during TMF of two Al-Si piston alloys have been studied with regards to the effect of 3D
microstructural features. 0.186 0.175 Source: KS Kolbenschmidt GmbH

Materials piston bowl rim area Methods T [°C]

Composition [wt.%] 3 sec

Alloy 380
Al Si Cu Ni Mg
AlSi12Cu3Ni2 bal. ~ 12 3 2 < 0.3 1. Gleeble 1500
AlSi12Cu4Ni2Mg bal. ~ 12 4 2 1 dT/dt
• gravity die casting = 15 K/sec
• heat treatment: T5 80 10 sec
1 cm
25 ε=0%
Microstructure in initial condition
t [sec]
3D hybrid network of rigid phases 2. Synchrotron tomography
AlSi12Cu3Ni2 AlSi12Cu4Ni2Mg aluminides eutectic Si
Beamline
primary Si Parameters P05 ID19
Storage ring
primary Si Booster Energy [keV] 23 19
Linear synchrotron Voxel- Size [µm³] (1.18)3 (0.33)3
aluminides
accelerator Sample-to-detector
30 13
distance [mm]
Exposure time [msec/proj] 1200 100
eutectic Si Nr. of proj. 900 5969
50 µm 50 µm
Beamlines total scan time [h] 1.5 0.2

Results 5. 3D visualization of damage evolution after selected

1. cyclic stress evolution 2. number of TMF-cycles to initial condition after 4 cycles
TMF cycle numbers for AlSi12Cu4Ni2Mg micro-cracks
during TMF failure through large,
200 1000
tensile first 10 cycles aluminides irregular primary
half of cycles to failure) Si (parallel to
150
range last 10 cycles 4 cycles 100 cycles 350 cycles post-mortem 10 µm 10 µm sample length)
number of cycles to failure

100
800 primary Si
after 100 cycles
stress [MPa]

50
600

0 eutectic Si micro-cracks
400
through primary
-50
σ Si (parallel &
perpendicular to
-100
200
σ sample length)
-150 compression 100 µm 40 µm

-200
range 0
0 40 80 120 160 200 240 280 320 360 AlSi12Cu3Ni2 AlSi12Cu4Ni2Mg after 350 cycles post-mortem (504 cycles)
T [°C]

4.5x10-6
number density

AlSi12Cu4Ni2Mg
of voids [µm-1]

3. evaluation of 3.0x10-6
damage during TMF 200 µm 200 µm 200 µm 200 µm σ
1.5x10-6
AlSi12Cu3Ni2
0.12 0 6. tomographic slices of the microstructure of
100 µm 100 µm
AlSi12Cu4Ni2Mg after several TMF-cycles
volume fraction

0.09
of voids [%]

AlSi12Cu4Ni2Mg
0.06

0.03
AlSi12Cu3Ni2
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 Conclusions
number of cycles to failure
 preferential damage initiation sites during TMF: micro-cracking through primary Si particles in Si clusters at junctions of coalesced primary Si
4. Damage initiation preferentially in shape of micro-cracks parallel particles
to sample length through large, irregular primary Si in clusters  after 4 thermal cycles: micro-cracks parallel to sample length due to compression stresses Cu-rich alloy is prone to form large
 after 100 thermal cycles: cracks perpendicular to sample length due to tensile loading primary Si clusters during
 shortly before failure: further growth and accumulation of cracks preferentially perpendicular to solidification
micro-cracks sample length
 failure: main crack propagates along pre-existing damage and rigid phases AlSi12Cu3Ni2 AlSi12Cu4Ni2Mg
AlSi12Cu3Ni2 AlSi12Cu4Ni2Mg
• high TMF resistance (822 ± 107 cycles) • lower TMF resistance (about 40%)
• comparatively higher ductility and lower • lower ductility and higher strength due to
σ
strength due to reduced Cu and Mg contents high volume fraction of intermetallic phases
10 µm
primary Si • comparatively small homogeneously • larger primary Si particles (~ 10 - 15 µm)
distributed primary Si particles (~ 8-10 µm)
• nearly no primary Si clusters present • primary Si clusters provoke earlier formation
resulting in less sites for damage initiation and higher accumulation of damage in these
and accumulation regions
Acknowledgements  High volume fractions of highly interconnected rigid phases can lead to a high tensile strength of
the alloy at elevated temperatures, however the consequentially low ductility limits the TMF-
This work is part of the “K-Project for Non-Destructive Testing and resistance
Tomography Plus" supported by the COMET-Program of the Austrian  Closely packed primary Si and intermetallic phases facilitate crack formation and propagation
Research Promotion Agency (FFG) as well as the Provinces of Upper  more refined structures have a positive effect on the TMF resistance Volume (primary Si) > 34500 µm³
Austria (LOÖ) and Styria, Grant No. 843540. The ESRF and DESY are
acknowledged for the provision of synchrotron facilities at the
beamlines ID19 and P05, respectively.
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Contact: katrin.bugelnig@tuwien.ac.at