An experimental study on effect of thermal cycling on monotonic and cyclic response of cast aluminium alloy-SiC particulate composites

Effects of thermal cycling on the monotonic and cyclic deformation behaviors of a cast aluminium alloy discontinuously reinforced with fine particulates of silicon carbide are studied experimentally. The discontinuous particulate reinforced aluminium alloys are monotonically and cyclically deformed to failure at room temperature under strain rate or strain-amplitude controlled conditions. The underlying mechanisms governing the deformation and fracture behavior of the materials with and without thermal cycling during monotonic and cyclic loadings are studied. The availability of superposition and the measured interactions between the effect of reinforcement, thermal cycling and mechanical cyclic loading on the mechanical properties are examined quantitatively.