Abstract
Incipient melting of secondary phases during solution heat treatment of Al alloys is detrimental to their mechanical properties. In this research, incipient melting was analyzed in-situ using a high temperature Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope (LSCM) in a novel Al-Cu alloy. Thermal analysis and microstructural analysis were carried out on the alloy cast at fast and slow cooling rates to examine the resulting solidification and microstructural characteristics. The results showed that incipient melting was accompanied by a clustering liquid droplets followed by a complete melting of Al2Cu which occurred at approximately 548 ℃. Additionally, the use of LSCM enabled an understanding of the underlying mechanisms behind incipient melting. It was also found that incipient melting led to microstructure that consisted of a higher presence of ultra-fine eutectic clusters, needle-like Al2Cu and porosity along the grain boundaries. Lastly, the solution heat treatment temperature was optimized for the Al-Cu alloy using the data from LSCM, Differential Scanning Calorimetry and solution heat treatment experiments.
Highlights
Lightweight engineering materials are crucial in improving the fuel economy of automotive vehicles, while ensuring safety and performance are not compromised
The results showed that solution heat treatment (SHT) at temperatures of 550 and 560 °C resulted in incipient melting and oxidation
This study investigated the microstructural and solidification characteristics of a novel Al-Cu alloy, HT200
Summary
Lightweight engineering materials are crucial in improving the fuel economy of automotive vehicles, while ensuring safety and performance are not compromised. There is a need for extensive studies to gain a fundamental understanding of the high temperature behaviour during heat treatment processing This will be done using high temperature laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) as a tool for in-situ observation of the microstructural evolution of the alloy at elevated temperature. A review on the solution heat treatment of aluminum alloys is discussed This includes details on past studies on the incipient melting of secondary phases and the experimental methods used for the analyses. This includes the melting and casting experiments, thermal analysis, sample preparation, characterization techniques, solution heat treatment experiments and mechanical property evaluation.
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