Effect of Strontium Modification on the Morphology of Primary Si in Hypereutectic Al-Si Alloys

Abstract

In the present study, hypereutectic Al-Si alloys were modified by strontium and the effect of the strontium content and holding time on the morphology of primary Si was investigated. Primary Si is modified to imperfect octahedron with primary dendrites or secondary dendrites when the amount of Sr exceeds 0.04wt.%. With extending the holding time, there is no significant difference with the morphology of primary Si. However, the size of primary Si decreases remarkably when the holding time prolongs to 120min. Further analysis reveals that the Sr content has a considerable impact on the morphology of primary Si due to growth mechanism influence, while the modifying time mainly influences the size of primary Si.