Effects of individual and combined additions of phosphorus, boron and cerium on primary and eutectic silicon in an Al-30Si alloy

Abstract

The modification of silicon in an Al-30Si alloy was studied using optical microscopy, electron probe micro-analysis, transmission electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. It is found that phosphorus master alloys combined with boron master alloys have good modification effect on primary silicon but no evident modification effect on eutectic silicon, while boron combined with cerium has good modification effect on eutectic silicon. The results of differential scanning calorimetry show that phosphorus, boron or cerium addition and their combined addition have different undercooling effects on eutectic silicon. Many scholars thought that AlP particles were the nuclei of eutectic silicon when phosphorus was enough in the alloy. Our results show that β-(Al,Si,Fe) can still be the nucleus of plate-like eutectic silicon while AlP is the nucleus of primary silicon when there is enough phosphorus in the melt. In addition, the mechanism about the modification was also discussed.