A case study of dispersion behaviors of TiC nanoparticles in molten Al

Abstract

In this paper, the effect of interface stacking types, interface elements, contact angle, temperature, and nanoparticle size on dispersion behaviors of TiC nanoparticles in molten Al was systematically investigated. The surface energy, adhesion work, contact angle, interfacial energy and bonding nature of different interfaces were calculated using first-principles method. The results showed that C-site interfaces with good wettability in molten Al were most stable structure. In addition, the further studies of dispersion behaviors indicated that for the Al(1 0 0)/TiC(1 0 0) interface, when the Hamaker constants of Al was 266 zJ , TiC nanoparticles with the radius of 20 ∼ 79.30 nm could self-disperse in molten Al at 933 K. However, when impurity elements (Sr, Na, S, Mg, Zn, P, and Cu) were added to molten Al, the adhesion work of Al(1 1 0)/TiC(1 1 0) C-site interface decreased, which resulted in pseudo-dispersion of TiC nanoparticles in Al alloy. The case study provided an important reference for guiding the manufacturing process.