QUALITY IMPROVEMENT OF SECONDARY SILUMINS BY USING REFINING-MODIFYING, HEAT AND LASER TREATMENTS

Abstract

Purpose. As a rule secondary silumins are characterized by lower quality than their primary analogues. During manufacture of alloys a large quantity of intermetallides, first of all on the basis of iron, in their structure is ignored. To achieve the optimum level of properties it is necessary to search for ways to adapt refining-modifying, heat and laser treatments to peculiarities of the structure of secondary Al-Si alloys. Methodology. The research was carried out by using standard methods of metallographic analysis, determination of foundry, mechanical and service properties of alloys according to rotatable plans of multifactor experiments. Findings. It was established, that refining-modifying treatment is a required procedure during manufacture of secondary silumins as it permits to effectively influence the iron-containing phases' segregations by changing their morphology, size and distribution and to increase the effectiveness of further treatment in solid state. It was found that standard modes of heat treatment are not optimal for secondary silumins. Laser treatment has shown high effectiveness in increasing of strength, wear resistance, corrosion and cavitation resistance of secondary Al-Si alloys, and the increased iron content contributed to additional solid solution hardening. Originality. It was established, that after refining-modifying treatment the phase Al5SiFe, which crystallizes in the shape of long stretched plates transformed into phase Al15(FeMn)3Si2 in skeletal or polyhedral shape. The relationship between iron content in secondary silumins and holding time during heat treatment that ensures optimum of mechanical properties was obtained. It was proved that the presence of iron-containing intermetallides Al5SiFe results in the decrease of hardened layer's depth during laser treatment. It was established, that with increasing of iron concentration the corrosion rate of secondary silumins in 3 % NaCl + 0.1 % H2O2 and 10 % HCl environments increases. Practical value. The offered technical solutions are instrumental in upgrading second silumins to the level which allows to utilize them as raw material for making of alloys on the basis of aluminium.