Effect of La Addition on Microstructure and Properties of Al-0.2Fe-0.06Cu Alloy

Yawu Xu,Wenlong Zhang,Zixuan Peng,Dongyan Ding,Guozhen Chen,Yongqi Liao,Yongjin Gao,Yonglin Xie

doi:10.3390/met12020211

Abstract

The increasing application of lithium-ion batteries has led to higher requirements being imposed on the performance of current collectors. In this work, the effect of La content on the microstructure and properties of Al-0.2Fe-0.06Cu alloy was invested through optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and mechanical/electrical/electrochemical performance tests. Experimental results indicated that the addition of La was beneficial to grain refinement and promote the formation of La-containing compounds. However, excessive La addition weakened the refinement effect. Grain refinement played a major role in affecting the mechanical properties of the alloy, but had little effect on the conductivity. In comparison with Al-0.2Fe-0.06Cu, the La-containing alloys had lower corrosion potential, which indicated that the addition of La element could improve the corrosion resistance of the Al-0.2Fe-0.06Cu alloy. The addition of La improved the mechanical properties of the alloy at room temperature and 50 °C. When the La addition was 0.1wt.%, the alloy had the best mechanical properties. The corrosion resistance of the alloy continued to improve with increases in the La content.

Highlights

Aluminum (Al) is the most abundant metal resource stored in nature, constituting about 8wt.% of the entire crust
Its electrical conductivity is about 60% of copper, but if the electrical conductivity is calculated per unit mass, the electrical conductivity of aluminum metal will exceed that of copper; (3) Excellent corrosion resistance
In order to quantitatively compare the grain sizes of alloys with different La content, the software of IPP6.0 (Image Pro Plus 6.0, Media Cybernetics, Rockville, MD, USA) was used to measure the grain size by the intercept method, which evaluated more than 100 grains for each alloy

Summary

Introduction

Aluminum (Al) is the most abundant metal resource stored in nature, constituting about 8wt.% of the entire crust. Rare earth elements react with alloying elements to form refractory compounds These refractory compounds can be uniformly dispersed in the aluminum alloy matrix, and work for refining grains and strengthening grain boundaries [12,13,14]. Jiang et al [15] studied the effects of rare earth Ce and La on the microstructure tensile properties and fracture behavior of A357 alloy under as-cast and T6 conditions. They found that the addition of rare earth elements significantly reduced the sizes of the α-Al primary phase and the eutectic Si particles, and improved the morphology of the eutectic Si particles. The purpose of our investigation is to evaluate the effect of La content on the microstructure and properties of Al-0.2Fe-0.06Cu alloy through microstructural characterization, tensile testing, electrical and electrochemical tests

Materials and Methods

Microstructure

Mechanical Properties

Electrochemical Performance