Study on Grain Refining and Metamorphism of ZL111 Aluminium Alloys

Abstract

Abstract Vacuum sintering and ball milling methods were employed in the preparation process of Ti-C grain refinement and the ability of refiners with varying ratios of Ti and C to refine ZL111 crystal grains was tested. The refinement effect of the Ti-C ratios on tensile strength, elongation percentage, Brinell hardness, pro-eutectoid αAl and the size of the Si phase of ZL111, after modification by rare-earth and strontium nitrate, were studied by means of metallographic examination, SEM and mechanical property tests. The results show that there is an obvious increase in the tensile strength and elongation percentage of refined ZL111 with these new Ti and C refiner compounding powders, while Brinell hardness remained more or less constant. The pro-eutectoid αAl is considerably reduced in size and the Si phase shows a finer and rounder structure. The refiner exhibits a good grain refining performance when the Ti-C ratio is 25:1, for Al crystals can favorably easily form nuclei and grow up along the TiC surface thanks to the TiAl 3 generated by surplus Ti and Al. The mechanical properties have clearly been improved by the addition of strontium nitrate to ZL111. The effective factors in the modification of mechanical properties of ZL111 are in order of importance: strontium nitrate, Ti-C ratio and rare earth.