Abstract
The fatigue behaviors of mechanically alloyed Al-4Mg alloys dispersed with either $Al_2O_3$ or $MgAl_2O_4$ oxide particles were investigated. This study maily concerned with the role of coherency of dispersed particles with the matrix on the fatigue behavior of the alloys. The $MgAl_2O_4$ which has a spinel structure with the lattice parameter of exactly the twice of Al showed the habit relation with the matrix. The mechanically alloyed Al-4Mg alloys showed stable stress responses with fatigue cycles from start to failure regadless of strain amplitudes and of existence of dispersoids. The Al-4Mg alloy dispersed with $MgAl_2O_4$ showed not only the better static mechanical properties but also the better low cycle fatigue resistance than that with $Al_2O_3$, i.e., much higher plastic strain energy dissipated to failure, at low strain amplitude. However, this alloy showed inferior fatigue resistance to that dispersed with $Al_2O_3$ or that without dispersion at high strain amplitude. These results imply that $MgAl_2O_4$ may promote lowering the stacking fault energy of the alloy inherited from the coherency with the matrix so that dislocations shuttle back and forth on the same slip plane without cross slipping to other planes during fatigue at low strain amplitude resulting in long fatigue life.