Abstract
Through studying the effects of the Al–5Ti-x(Mg–30%Ce) refiner on the microstructure of the Al–7Si alloy, we investigated the hardness, tensile, and impact properties of the Al–Si alloy before and after refinement. The refinement results show that Mg–30%Ce can improve the refinement effect of Al–5Ti on Al–7Si, and also refine α-Al and eutectic Si in Al–7Si. When 2%Mg–30%Ce is added, the refining effect of the aluminum–silicon alloy is most obvious. After refinement, the hardness and tensile properties of the Al–7Si alloy improve. When 2%Mg–30%Ce is added to the refiner, the tensile properties of the Al–Si alloy are the best. Dynamic mechanical tests were conducted on refined Al–7Si alloy. The impact toughness of Al–7Si–(Al–5Ti-2(Mg–30%Ce) improved and the impact toughness reached 34.91 J/cm2, which is 78.7% higher than that of Al–7Si–(Al–5Ti) specimens. The separate Hopkinson pressure bar test results show that, under a high strain rate, the strain rate sensitivity of the prepared Al–Si alloy is significant. The specimens of Al–7Si–(Al–5Ti-2(Mg–30%Ce) demonstrated the best anti-impact performance at the same velocity.
Highlights
Aluminum alloys have a wide range of applications in various industrial fields and they are important engineering structural materials
Traditional aluminum alloys face the problems of coarse grains after casting and solidification, and defects, such as composition segregation, cracks, and shrinkage cavities, are often caused by coarse grains, which seriously affect the mechanical properties of aluminum alloy [4,5,6,7,8]
The results showed that boron-rich (Al–3B–Sr and Al–1Ti–3B–Sr) master alloys are more efficient than the Ti-rich (Al–3Ti–Sr and Al–5Ti–1B–Sr) master alloys when considering their combined grain refinement and modification effect on Al–7Si and Al–11Si alloys
Summary
Aluminum alloys have a wide range of applications in various industrial fields and they are important engineering structural materials. With the development of modern industry, the demand for aluminum alloys are increasing, as is the demand for better aluminum alloy mechanical properties [1,2,3]. Traditional aluminum alloys face the problems of coarse grains after casting and solidification, and defects, such as composition segregation, cracks, and shrinkage cavities, are often caused by coarse grains, which seriously affect the mechanical properties of aluminum alloy [4,5,6,7,8]. To refine aluminum alloy grains and optimize the microstructure, examining the mechanical properties of aluminum alloy has become a research focus. In modern industry, adding the grain refiner to aluminum melt is the most simple and effective method of refining the grain and improving the mechanical properties of aluminum alloy.
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