Hypereutectic AlSi Alloy: Gathering of 3D Microstructure Data

Abstract

Hypereutectic and eutectic AlSi-base alloys find frequent application in casting automotive components. The properties of this type of alloy depend significantly on their solidification microstructure, especially the size, shape, and distribution of primary and eutectic silicon. The serial sectioning technique was applied for determining the three-dimensional (3D) microstructure of an Al-18wt.%Si alloy. For clear identification of both the larger primary Si particles grown in the melt and the fine lamellar eutectic Si, a series of two-dimensional equidistant cross sections were metallographically prepared. The microstructure in these cross sections was detected and observed at high resolution using a light microscope. The images were stored in a digital library. The 3D reconstruction of primary Si particles and AlSi eutectic was achieved through the application of various software tools. This provided data about the faceted growth behavior of octahedral Si particles and feathery eutectic Si. The image stack was also imported to hierarchical data format (version 5) (HDF5) open source format, thus, enabling availability of the 3D image data to the wider community. In this way, 3D reconstructions of this kind can contribute to a greater understanding of processing/microstructure property relationships in hypereutectic AlSi alloys.