Modification performance on 4032 Al alloy by using Al–10Sr master alloys manufactured from different processes

Abstract

The microstructures and modification performance on 4032 aluminum alloy of the Al–10Sr master alloy wire prepared from “direct reaction-hot extrusion” and the trapezoidal block from “direct reaction” were systemically studied by using optical metallurgical microscope, XRD and SEM. It was found that the preparation processes exhibited a significant effect on the microstructures of the Al–10Sr, which thereby influenced its modification performance. It has been found that when the Al–10Sr alloy wire was used, a desirable modification was obtained after 2min and reached to the best performance at 60min, and the optimum Sr addition amount was 0.04–0.06wt%, and the good modification performance was kept even after 300min. However, when the Al–10Sr alloy trapezoidal block was used, a desirable modification was started after 30min and reached to the best performance as long as 120min, and the optimum Sr addition amount was 0.06–0.08wt%, and the effective modification period was only 180min. Therefore, comparing with the Al–10Sr alloy trapezoidal block, the Al–10Sr alloy wire had better modification efficiency, which not only reduced the Sr addition amount of about 30%, but also greatly decreased the incubation time and improved the ability of anti-fading.