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Effect of TiC on Microstructure and Strength of Al-Bi-Cu Alloys

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Abstract

TiC particles synthesized in situ by reacting K2TiF6 and graphite in molten aluminum were introduced into Al-Bi-Cu alloys to control its microstructure, increase its tensile strength and improve its wear performance. Al-Bi-Cu alloy has serious coarsening and macrosegregation behaviors during solidification due to the liquid phase separation. However, the coarsening and macrosegregation of Bi-rich phase were significantly impeded by adding 0.5 wt.%-2 wt.% TiC due to the heterogeneous nucleation and self-assembly behaviors provided by TiC particles. The average grain size of α-Al decreased from 36.6 μm (0.5 wt.% TiC) to 18.9 µm (2 wt.% TiC), and the average size of the Bi-rich phase decreased from 4.56 µm (0.5 wt.% TiC) to 3.26 µm (2 wt.% TiC). The results showed that the addition of TiC refines the size of grains and Bi-rich phases and solves the problem of coarsening and macrosegregation caused by liquid phase separation in the alloy. The tensile strength and elongation of the Al-Bi-Cu alloy are improved simultaneously after adding TiC particles and reach their maximum values at a TiC content of 1wt.%, which are 236MPa and 12.46%, respectively. In addition, the alloy containing 1 wt.% TiC has the lowest coefficient of friction and wear loss with the worn surface smooth and flat, indicating that the uniformly dispersed Bi-rich phase is beneficial to improve the friction and wear performance of the alloy.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No 51575151 and 51775158) and Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (No.1908085QE195)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Tribology, School of Mechanical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, People’s Republic of China

    Congmin Li, Yanguo Yin, Gang Cao, Ming Xu, Cong liu, Rongrong Li, Qi Chen & Bingxun Yang

  2. School of Mechanical Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Maanshan, People’s Republic of China

    Guotao Zhang

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  1. Congmin Li
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Li, C., Yin, Y., Cao, G. et al. Effect of TiC on Microstructure and Strength of Al-Bi-Cu Alloys. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 31, 524–533 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-021-06188-z

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