Effect of T6 heat treatment and artificial aging on mechanics and fatigue properties of A356.0 aluminum alloy produced by 350 rpm centrifugal casting

In this experiment, the effect of T6 heat treatment and artificial aging on fatigue properties was investigated from A356 aluminum alloy for motorcycle wheel produced by 350 rpm centrifugal casting. The pouring temperature was set at 750 °C and the mold temperature was preheated at 250 °C. The sample was solution heat treated at 540 °C for 4 hours followed by fast quenching immersing into the water at room temperature. Then, samples treat by natural aging at 30 °C and artificial aging at 150, 175, 200 °C for 2 h respectively. The result shows fatigue cycles is a significant increase. The highest fatigue live is 371,411 cycles from the sample by T6 heat treatment and aging temperature at 175 °C. It is shown that fatigue live of motorcycle wheel from A350 aluminum alloy by 350 rpm centrifugal casting can be improved by heat treatment, in this study by artificial aging with the temperature of 175 °C. It indicates that heat treatment can improve fatigue live of motorcycle wheel from A350 aluminum alloy by 350 rpm centrifugal casting.