Influence of rare earth additions on rheological behaviour of Al–5Cu alloy in solid-liquid coexistence zone

Abstract

A rheological model was constructed and the influence of rare earth (RE) additions on the rheological behaviour of an Al–5 wt-%Cu alloy in the solid-liquid coexistence zone (SLCZ) was investigated, using an apparatus specially designed by the authors for studying the rheological properties of aluminium alloys. It was found that the rheological behaviour of an Al–5Cu alloy can be described by a combination model (the series arrangement of the Hooke model with the Kelvin and Bingham models). It was shown that RE additions can increase the values of the rheological parameters (shear modulus G, viscosity η, and yield strength τs) of Al–5Cu in the SLCZ to some extent, and can decrease the temperature at which the retardation time η2/G2 of the Kelvin model is a minimum and the Kelvin model temperature TK. Also, RE additions can reduce the effective temperature zone ∆TK of the Kelvin model.MST/1357