Journal of Advanced Materials in Engineering (Esteghlal)

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The formation of microporosity in modified Al-Si alloys has been reviewed in the present study. A major concern in modification is the increased tendency to form microporosity in the macro-shrinkage free Al-Si alloy castings. It has also been demonstrated that at low hydrogen contents (0.1cc/ 100g, Al), where only shrinkage porosity should occur, the effect of Sr-modification on porosity content is not considerable, indicating that the increase in porosity is due to an increase in gas porosity. Modification treatment, however, does not add hydrogen to the melt, nor does it increase the rate of regassing of the liquid, revealing that it can not enhance pore formation by increasing the melt hydrogen content. Modification treatment raises the freezing range (4-10 oC), but this increased freezing range exerts only a very small effect on microporosity formation, which cannot, by itself, explain the increased tendency to microporosity formation observed in modified alloys. The presence of modifiers slightly decreases the surface tension of the melt (5%), although this decrease in surface tension is not sufficiently high to considerably enhance pore formation in modified alloys. Many researchers have reported that modification treatment might favour the formation of porosity due to its effect on oxide use in the heterogeneous pore formation although the systematic observation of pores has shown that SrO does not take part in pore fomation in Sr-modified alloys. Strontium and other modifiers which increase pore formation (Na and Ca) in Al-Si alloys have a high chemical affinity to form complex intermetallic compounds with Si and Al. Systematic observation of pores have shown that Sr-rich intermetallics take part in pore formation. Thus, Sr-modification may increase the porosity content through the formation of Sr-rich compounds during solidification.

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Fabrication and characterization of aluminum matrix composites containing different volume fractions of Ni3Al powder (5-40 Vol%) were investigated. Ni3Al powder was produced by mechanical alloying of elemental nickel and aluminum powder mixture. Al-Ni3Al composite parts were prepared using a powder metallurgy route involving two stages Al and Ni3Al powder mixtures were first compacted under 500MPa and then hot-pressed under 250MPa at 420 oC for 10min. The microstructure and hardness of consolidated parts were investigated by x-ray diffractometery, optical and scanning electron microscopy and hardness measurements. Results showed that consolidated Al-Ni3Al samples included no significant porosity with a nearly uniform distribution of Ni3Al particles. Additionally, structural examinations showed that no significant reaction between Ni3Al and aluminum matrix occurred during sintering process. Al-Ni3Al composites exhibited a higher hardness value compared with pure aluminum sample prepared under identical conditions. The hardness value of Al-Ni3Al composites increased linearly as Ni3Al content increased.

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In this study, the effect of mechanical alloying on the microstructure and phase constituents of Mg-6Al-1Zn-1Si system was investigated. To understand the thermal behavior, isothermal annealing was performed at three different temperatures of 350, 400 and 450 °C for 1h. The results showed the grain size initially decreases with increasing the milling time up to 35h and then slightly increases. In contrast, the lattice strain increases sharply with increasing the milling time up to 35h and then decreases. Second-phase intermetallic particle Mg2Si was produced during annealing and the amount of this phase was increased with increasing annealing temperature. The mechanical alloying process decreased the formation temperature of Mg2Si.

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Sodium molybdate (Na₂MoO₄) as a grain refiner was used to refine the microstructure of Al-0.7Fe alloy. Al-Fe samples with the addition of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 wt.% sodium molybdate were fabricated by casting in sand molds at 750 ͦC. The microstructures of the as-cast samples were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the present phases were revealed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The effect of sodium molybdate on the microstructure was examined by measuring the average grain sizes of the alloys, determining the widths of intermetallic compounds and carrying out hardness and tensile tests. The results showed that the addition of sodium molybdate modified the microstructure of Al-Fe alloy by reducing the average grain sizes. Also, it was found that the optimum amount of sodium molybdate to add to Al-0.7Fe alloy melt was 0.3 wt.% in this study.

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In this study, centrifugal casting process was used for producing Al/Mg bimetal. Molten Mg was poured at 700 ^oC, with 1.5 and 3 melt-to-solid volume ratio (Vm/Vs) into the 450 ^oC preheated solid Al rotating at 800, 1200, 1600 and 2000 rpm. Castings were kept inside the centrifuged casting machine and cooled down to 150 ^oC. Investigating the effect of melt-to-solid volume ratio showed that increasing volume ratio from 1.5 to 3 results in diminishing metallurgical bonding in Al/Mg interface, because the force of contraction overcomes the resultant force acted on the interface. The results of study by scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that bimetal compounds of Al₃Mg₂, Al₁₂Mg₁₇ and δ+Al₁₂Mg₁₇ eutectic structure (δ is the solid solution of Mg in Al) are formed in the interface. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) image of Al surface showed that the surface was rough in atomic dimentions, which can result in the formation of gas pores in the interface.

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The purpose of this article is to study the formation of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) at the interface of Al/Cu bimetal produced by compound casting of molten Al in solid copper tubes. The mechanism of the intermetallic compounds formations at the interface, the effects of molten aluminum pouring temperature and solid copper tubes preheating tempreture, were investigated on the IMCs type and thickness and Al/Cu interface microstructures were characterized by optical microscope (OM) and electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA). Results show that the interface consists of three main layers, where Layer (I) is α-Al/Al₂Cu eutectic structure, layer (II) is intermetal of Al₂Cu and layer (III) constituites several intermetallic compounds such as AlCu, Al₃Cu₄, Al₂Cu₃ and Al₄Cu₉. Considering the components of hypereutectic melt at the interface, initially layer (II) was formed by θ phase nucleation and growth mechanism, then layer (I) was formed by Al and Cu dissolving and solidification. Finally layer (III) was formed by solid-state phase diffusion. Raising molten Al temperature and preheating solid Cu leads to increase of the intermetallic compounds thickness at interface which consequently increases the specific electrical resistance and decreases the Al/Cu bond strength. From experimental results it seems that the bond strength is affected by the thicknesses of layer II and III.

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