Effect of Shrinkage Defect on Fracture Impact Energy of A356 Cast Aluminum Alloy

Internal defects, such as shrinkage during casting, cause stress concentrations and initiate cracking. Therefore, it is important to understand the effects of internal defects on the mechanical properties including the impact behavior. This study evaluates the effects of internal casting defects on the impact performance of A356 Al-alloy castings. The internal shrinkage defects in the casting impact specimen are scanned using an industrial Computed Tomography (CT) scanner, and drop impact tests are performed with varing impact velocities on the A356 casting aluminium specimen (10 mm × 10 mm section area) in order to locate the fracture energy under an impact load. The specimens with defects with a diameter less than 0.35 mm exhibit equivalent fracture impact energies of approximately 32 J and those with a 1.7 mm diameter defect reduced the fracture impact energy by 35%.