Abstract
There is an on-going effort to control Fe bearing intermetallic formation during solidification in direct chill (DC) casting of dilute Al alloy billets from recycled material sources, as these insoluble Fe intermetallics control the downstream processing conditions and final properties of the processed products. This paper investigates the influence of molybdenum (Mo) and grain refiner combined additions on Fe bearing intermetallic formation during casting of a 6063 Al alloy. In particular, the grain size and intermetallic phase content of the samples have been characterised using various microscopies and X-ray diffractometry. An intermetallic phase extraction technique has been used to facilitate measurement of the three-dimensional morphology and chemistry of the different Fe intermetallics present, with changes rationalized in terms of the effect of trace additions. Both “αc-AlFeSi” and “β-AlFeSi” are observed in all the castings. After the addition of Al-5Ti-1B grain refiner to the base alloy, β-AlFeSi was predominated in the casting. Further addition of Mo to the grain refined alloy promoted αc-AlFeSi in the casting. The possible mechanisms for these effects are discussed.
References
G. Rombach, Raw material supply by aluminium recycling—efficiency evaluation and long-term availability. Acta Mater. 61, 1012–1020 (2013)
S.K. Das, Designing aluminium alloys for a recycling friendly world. Alum. Alloys (Pts 1 and 2), 519–521, 1239–1244 (2006)
F.H. Samuel, A.M. Samuel, H.W. Doty, S. Valtierra, Decomposition of Fe-intermetallics in Sr-modified cast 6XXX type aluminum alloys for automotive skin. Metall. Mater. Trans. A 32, 2061–2075 (2001)
N.C.W. Kuijpers, W.H. Kool, P.T.G. Koenis, K.E. Nilsen, I. Todd, S. van der Zwaag, Assessment of different techniques for quantification of α-Al(FeMn)Si and β-AlFeSi intermetallics in AA 6xxx alloys. Mater. Charact. 49, 409–420 (2002)
S. Zajac, L.O. Gullman, A. Johansson, B. Bengtsson, Hot ductility of some AI-Mg-Si alloys, in Materials Science Forum, vol. 217–222, ed, (1996), pp. 1193–1198
H. Tanihata, T. Sugawara, K. Matsuda, S. Ikeno, Effect of casting and homogenizing treatment conditions on the formation of Al-Fe-Si intermetallic compounds in 6063 Al-Mg-Si alloys. J. Mater. Sci. 34, 1205–1210 (1999)
S. Kumar, P.S. Grant, K.A.Q. O’Reilly, Evolution of Fe bearing intermetallics during DC casting and homogenization of an Al-Mg-Si Al alloy. Metall. Mater. Trans. A 47, 3000–3014 (2016)
L. Sweet, S.M. Zhu, S.X. Gao, J.A. Taylor, M.A. Easton, The effect of iron content on the iron-containing intermetallic phases in a cast 6060 aluminum alloy. Metall. Mater. Trans. A 42, 1737–1749 (2011)
G. Sha, K. O’Reilly, B. Cantor, R. Hamerton, J. Worth, Effect of grain refiner on intermetallic phase formation in directional solidification of 6xxx series wrought Al alloys, in Materials Science Forum, vol. 331, (2000), p. I
T. Smith, K. O’Reilly, S. Kumar, I. Stone, Influence of grain-refiner addition on the morphology of Fe-bearing intermetallics in a semi-solid processed Al-Mg-Si alloy. Metall. Mater. Trans. A 44, 4866–4871 (2013)
S. Kumar, K.A.Q. O’Reilly, Influence of Al grain structure on Fe bearing intermetallics during DC casting of an Al-Mg-Si alloy. Mater. Charact. 120, 311–322 (2016)
L.F. Mondolfo, Aluminum Alloys: Structure and Properties (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1976)
A.R. Farkoosh, X. Grant Chen, M. Pekguleryuz, Dispersoid strengthening of a high temperature Al–Si–Cu–Mg alloy via Mo addition, in Materials Science and Engineering: A, vol. 620, (2015), pp. 181–189
W.Q. Ain, M.K. Faisal, M.K. Talari, W. Darham, M.M. Ratnam, Y. Kwon, N.J. Kim, A.K. Prasada Rao, Effect of Mo on the high-temperature creep resistance and machinability of a recycled Al-alloy with high iron impurity. J. Mater. Eng. Perform. 10, 1–7 (2016)
C. Hsu, D. Phil, Department of Materials (University of Oxford, Oxford, 1999)
S. Zhu, J.-Y. Yao, L. Sweet, M. Easton, J. Taylor, P. Robinson, N. Parson, Influences of nickel and vanadium impurities on microstructure of aluminum alloys. Jom 65, 584–592 (2013)
L.R. Morris, F.B. Miners, J.B. Lowe, Aluminum alloys, US patent 256,313, 1972
C.M. Allen, K.A.Q. O’Reilly, B. Cantor, P.V. Evans, Intermetallic phase selection in 1XXX A1 alloys. Prog. Mater Sci. 43, 89–170 (1998)
T.A. Association, in Standard Test Procedure for Aluminium Alloy Grain Refiners, vol. 0604500 009292 754, ed, (1990)
F. Wang, Z. Liu, D. Qiu, J.A. Taylor, M.A. Easton, M.X. Zhang, Revisiting the role of peritectics in grain refinement of Al alloys. Acta Mater. 61, 360–370 (2013)
N.A. Belov, A.A. Aksenov, D.G. Eskin, Iron in Aluminium Alloys: Impurity and Alloying Element (Taylor & Francis, Milton Park, 2002)
X.G. Chen, Effect of grain refiners on intermetallic phases in AA1xxx simulated DC castings (TMS, San Diego, CA, USA, 1999), pp. 803–809
M.W. Meredith, A.L. Greer, P.V. Evans, The influence of grain refiner on intermetallic phase selection in dilute Al-Fe alloys, in Proceedings of the 4th Decennial International Conference on Solidification Processing, 1997
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the financial support of the UK Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) Impact Acceleration Account Award, EP/K503769/1.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society
About this paper
Cite this paper
Kumar, S., Malisano, J., Ito, Y., O’Reilly, K.A.Q. (2017). Influence of Trace Element Additions on Fe Bearing Intermetallic Solidification of a 6063 Al Alloy. In: Ratvik, A. (eds) Light Metals 2017. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51541-0_41
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51541-0_41
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-51540-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-51541-0
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)