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Understanding the Co-Poisoning Effect of Zr and Ti on the Grain Refinement of Cast Aluminum Alloys

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Abstract

The “co-poisoning” effect between Zr and Ti (derived from Al-Zr and Al-Ti-B master alloy additions) on the grain refinement of cast aluminum alloys is studied from a crystallographic atom matching viewpoint. The edge-to-edge matching (E2EM) model has been used to investigate the possible “poisoning” phase containing Zr/Ti, Al, and Fe in commercial grade aluminum alloys. The results show that Al3Ti is the most likely constituent to be poisoned due to the formation of an Al8Fe4Zr coating on its surface, since the Al8Fe4Zr phase has good crystallographic atom matching with Al3Ti, but not with the aluminum matrix. Meanwhile, the partial dissolution of Al3Zr nucleant particles to compensate for the loss of solute Zr aggravates the poisoning phenomenon. This proposed mechanism is consistent with most previous experimental observations and with existing practical solutions employed in the foundry.

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Acknowledgment

The authors thank the Australian Research Council for their funding support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia

    D. Qiu (Australian Research Fellow), J.A. Taylor (Principal Research Fellow) & M.-X. Zhang (Associate Professor)

  2. CAST Cooperative Research Centre, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia

    D. Qiu (Australian Research Fellow), J.A. Taylor (Principal Research Fellow) & M.-X. Zhang (Associate Professor)

  3. ARC Centre of Excellence for Design in Light Metals, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia

    D. Qiu (Australian Research Fellow) & M.-X. Zhang (Associate Professor)

Authors
  1. D. Qiu
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  2. J.A. Taylor
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  3. M.-X. Zhang
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Correspondence to D. Qiu.

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Manuscript submitted March 17, 2010.

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Qiu, D., Taylor, J. & Zhang, MX. Understanding the Co-Poisoning Effect of Zr and Ti on the Grain Refinement of Cast Aluminum Alloys. Metall Mater Trans A 41, 3412–3421 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11661-010-0404-2

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