TMF–LCF life assessment of a Lost Foam Casting A319 aluminum alloy

The LFC (Lost Foam Casting) process affects the microstructure, the mechanical properties, the damage mechanisms and the fatigue failure of the materials. The first purpose of this paper is to study the cyclic mechanical behaviors, damage and lifetime of the A319 aluminum alloy manufactured by the LFC process used in the automotive industry under TMF (Thermo-Mechanical Fatigue) and LCF (Low Cycle Fatigue) conditions. A second objective is to select an effective fatigue criterion which should be easy to apply for the design of structures submitted to complex multiaxial thermo-mechanical loadings. In this way, several energy-based criteria are used to predict fatigue failure. Good agreement between predicted fatigue lifetimes and experimental results was obtained for different TMF and LCF loading conditions.