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Improvement of impact properties of Al–Si–Mg alloy via solution treatment and joint modification with Sr and La

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Abstract

An effort to obtain superior impact properties for Al-7Si-0.35 Mg alloy is presented, where modification with 0.02 wt% Sr and 0.1 wt% La as well as solution treatment was jointly employed. The samples were solution treated at 535 °C for 15 min to 12 h. The microstructure, fracture mechanism, and their correlation with the impact properties of the alloy were studied in detail mainly through optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and oscillography impact test. The results show that the addition of Sr and La refined the eutectic Si particles significantly from ~ 2.05 μm (modified with Sr alone) to ~ 0.75 μm in as-cast microstructure, leading to a very homogeneous distribution of spheroidized Si particles in the alloy solution treated at 535 °C for 8 h. The alloy exhibits excellent impact toughness up to 75 J·cm−2, which is much higher than the maximum impact toughness of the alloys modified by Sr alone (~ 46 J·cm−2). The major reason for this remarkable increase in the impact property is the dramatic increase in crack initiation energy. The dispersoid-free zones (DFZs) near the eutectic regions mainly consist of the ductile Al-matrix, which exhibits excellent ductility. The ductile Al-matrix of the DFZs hinders the crack propagation, resulting in a significant increase in crack propagation energy.

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摘要

为了提升铸造铝合金的冲击韧性，本文对铸造Al-Si-Mg合金进行Sr和La变质，并对变质后的合金进行固溶处理。通过光学显微镜（OP）、扫描电镜（SEM）和示波冲击试验等手段，研究了合金的微观结构、断裂机理和冲击性能的相关性。结果表明，添加Sr和La可以大幅细化铸态合金中的共晶Si颗粒，颗粒尺寸从~2.05 μm（单独用Sr改性）大幅细化到 ~0.75 μm。Sr和La变质的合金经过535 ℃固溶处理8小时后具有相对最佳的共晶Si形貌。该合金表现出优异的冲击韧性，最高可达 75 J·cm-2，远高于Sr单独变质合金的最大冲击韧性（~46 J·cm-2）。冲击韧性的提高主要原因是裂纹形成能的显著增加，而裂纹形成能的增加与共晶Si颗粒的形貌有关。同时，固溶过程中形成的无弥散相区（DFZ）主要由韧性的Al基体组成，而韧性的DFZ可以进一步阻碍裂纹的扩展，导致裂纹扩展能显著增加。这项工作表明Sr和La变质及固溶处理的联合使用可以有效提高铸造Al-Si-Mg合金的冲击性能。

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by Beijing Natural Science Foundation (No. L223001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials Processing Technology, Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Xiong-Ling Zheng, Shao-Xiang Li, Jia-Le Ma, Qing-Yan Xu & Zhi-Qiang Han

  2. National Engineering Research Center of Near-Net Shape Forming for Metallic Materials, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510641, China

    Hai-Dong Zhao

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Zheng, XL., Li, SX., Ma, JL. et al. Improvement of impact properties of Al–Si–Mg alloy via solution treatment and joint modification with Sr and La. Rare Met. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-024-02622-y

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