Enhancing fatigue crack propagation resistance of heterostructured Al composites and multistage crack mechanisms

High tensile strength and low fatigue crack propagation (FCP) rate are hard to achieve simultaneously in aluminium (Al) based materials, which has been a long-lasting topic. It is because the traditional strengthening mechanisms may lead to the increase in FCP rate. In this work, we developed dual-level heterostructures by incorporating the in-situ synthesized TiB₂ particles into Al matrix, to create particle-lean zones (PLZs) and particle-rich zones (PRZs) by extrusion. Fine grains were introduced by particle-associated local recrystallization in PRZs. By means of particle and grain size distribution, a heterostructured Al composite featuring with the coarse grains in PLZs and fine grains in PRZs was fabricated. It was found that simultaneous enhancement of both the strength and FCP resistance of Al composite was achieved through the development of heterostructures. During FCP, the PRZs can retard the growth of slip bands and increase crack deflection frequency while the PLZs increase the crack deflection distance and plastic deformation capability at crack tip. The fracture behavior of composite during FCP depended on grain characteristics, particles and stress intensity range. The detailed cracking behavior for typical <100>_Al and <111>_Al grains in different FCP stages was identified. The associated models were developed for different FCP behaviors. Particularly, the quantitative relationship between Pairs parameters and microstructure features was established, which was critical to understand fatigue properties of Al composite reinforced by small particles. These findings can provide a strategy to design metal materials with an excellent combination of both static and dynamic mechanical properties.