Experimental investigation and thermodynamic assessment of the Al–Ca–Y ternary system

Abstract

Abstract The experimental investigation and thermodynamic assessment of the Al–Ca–Y ternary system were carried out in this work. The isothermal section of the Al–Ca–Y ternary system at 673 K and 873 K was determined by using equilibrated alloys, combined with scanning electron microscopy, electron probe micro-analysis and powder X-ray diffractometry. Phase transition temperatures were measured by differential scanning calorimetry analysis. A certain range of solubility was detected between Al2Ca and Al2Y in this work, the maximum solid solubility of Y in Al2Ca was 11.9 at.% and that of Ca in Al2Y was 12.6 at.%. According to the thermodynamic data of binary systems in the literature and the ternary experimental data from this work and the literature, the Al–Ca–Y ternary system was optimized and a set of self-consistent thermodynamic parameters was obtained. Calculated phase equilibria were consistent with the experimental results.